An Esten Epic.

After two nights off chasing Pike, I decided to fish the lake 30 yards north of the previous nights venue. This lake we do have a name for, its Esten. Upon arriving at the parking lot, I started talking with a couple of guys finishing for the day. The had caught one fish...........a really nice 10lb Northern. Nice fish.

Being my first time on the water, I spent alot of time getting a feel for the lake through my depth finder. When I eventually started fishing, I found the smallmouth in about 14' of water mixed in with the weeds. If I had landed everything I hooked tonight I would have felt like a damn hero. In one of those episodes that we fisherman are prone to, I managed to lose a half dozen nice bass one after the other to start the night off. No point in getting miffed about it, I just had to laugh. All of those fish were lost in the same patch of water.

That was a productive piece of aquatic real estate. Even after botching all those fish, I managed to come back 10 minutes later ( after changing flies in an attempt to get passed missed fish ) and hook and land a good number of fish. From 7pm til the end of the evening, if I could find tall weeds in 14' of water, I would find smallies. I also caught a good number of fish off a shoreline beaver hut. After leaving that area, I eventually came across the residents. Those two foul tempered rodents chased me out of the vicinity rather quickly when we encountered each other. One followed me for a while. 20 yards from in the weeds by the shore. For every foot I moved, so did he. Until eventually he hit the weed edge. I was looking at him, then he looked at me. We held each others gaze for an exaggerated moment, then he dove into the water, heading in my direction. I was out of there as fast as my flippers could take me.


It was flies all the way tonight. They were picking flies up like they had never seen them before. I used two flies. A size 6 Olive Bead Head Wooly Bugger, and a fly of my own design. The way I tie that is, like all my flies, really simple. Put on a beadhead. Tie in a marabou tail. Tie in the rabbit strip. Remember, it is going to be pulled over the back, so it should be tied in inverted. Tie in some marabou by its tip. Wrap forward and tie it in behind the bead head. Pull the rabbit strip forward over the back and tie in. Finish off. Done. Never seen this before, until something else happens along I am calling this a Rabbabou Streamer. It is pictured below, though tied differently than described. I am still working on how I like it tied best.

A pretty impressive first outing on Esten. I can see myself putting in more hours there in the future.

Rabbabou Streamer.

My standard fly rod setup on most outings is a 5 or 6 wt ( mostly five ) with a weight forward line. I use a 9' leader of 10lb whatevershandy. More often than not, my flies are weighted. The current reel I am using is a Basspro house brand. Hobbs Creek White River.

It is a large arbor reel that cost me a whopping 40$. Extra spool ( with a full sink I put on it ) another 20$. Lemme tell you, I have spent a lot more in the past and got a lot less. Being on a budget that could be termed beyond restrictive, I certainly appreciate the bang for the buck. I bought it as a backup/loaner originally. It has become my main reel, for a number of reasons. One big one is that if it happens to go overboard, I won't be out much. The drag has so far proven solid. I have it set pretty tight. I put the boots to fish pretty hard and so far I have had no issues what so ever. The only negative I have ever seen in any real review is it country of manufacture.............Korea.