I currently have no access to the net. Or TV, telephones, etc. So, updates will be sporadic. This one was written 2 weeks ago, only posting now.
I've spent the last month watching a lake thaw. It has been a slow, painful affair. For the past week however, it has been clear. I have taken a few paddles around to see whats up, even cast a few spoons. So far, the only life I have seen in the lake have been a few bugs hatching off the surface, and some plant life starting to emerge. Still going to be a bit before I start to fish it seriously it seems. More telling on that front, more than my eager amaturish observation is that so far I haven't seen anyone else out there yet. They're on other lakes not to far south, so I should see some activity here soon.
Top flies of 2014 ( Bass )
I recently cataloged footage shot last year, and noted what flies were doing what for me. Here is my selection of top bass getters from last year, though it would probably have been the same previously.
#1 Clouser Minnow. This fly has caught me many, many, big bass. The base pattern for this fly is very durable, but can be tarted up to the tyers content. My versions are tied sparse, generally yellow and red ( throat ), and on the smaller side....sizes 6 -8.
#2 Green Fish Critter. This is a pattern I whipped up for bass in southern ontario. I have supreme confidence that if a bass will hit a top water bait, than it will hit this. I have always found it more likely to produce than any other top water pattern I own. I also use it on full sinking lines to good effect.
#3 Muddler Variants. Think Marabou Muddlers (or often I use rabbit strips) Chamois Muddlers, etc. These also account for a lot of fish. I say variants simply because thats what I tie. I'm sure the original pattern would also produce.
Honourable Mention................the Wooly Bugger. In Black or Olive.
First Fish of 2015.
This fish made me happy for a number of reasons.
I was desperate to go fishing. Not chuck at some water in hopes that some fish might have come in, but to use my head to figure out what my best chance for a fish would be. So I chose a river ( been open longer than the lakes ), and for my quarry, trout. Specifically, brookies. If you have followed my blog, this may seem like an odd choice. My only trouting up here so far has consisted of a couple of 'look and see's' expedition resulting in not much to speak of. I was bouyed however by the knowledge of some water I had spied and deemed as fishy, did indeed hold fish and was worth more than a 5 minute fly-by. This confidence was inspired by a lengthy conversation with a fellow fly angler.That was all the confidence I needed, and I was more than glad to dust off one of my 3wts that had been neglected the past few seasons.
I had to go north for 40 minutes or so to hit my destination. Pretty much the same time it took me to get from Georgetown to the Hwy 24 stretch of the Upper Credit. When I got there I was delighted to find some insects coming off. Some big mays I wan't familiar with from my Southern Ontario days, and some caddis. No fish rising though. That would have been grand. Just watching those bugs however, made my heart happy. That is one thing I have sorely missed since moving. The hatches.
I did intially try some dries.........trying to entice a surface strike, but it was for naught. I wasn't seeing any signs of fish taking nymphs. So, I decided on banging the bottom as being my most likely chance hook up with a fish. For this purpose I chose a Clouser. It wasn't many casts before it produced. For my first brookie of not just this year, but since I moved up here, it was extremely satisfying. Not huge, but at 14" it was no dink either. This was my first fish dinner of the year, and also marks the first trout I have eaten in over 3 decades..................at least that I have caught.