Weather......or not.

The weather has been a little problematic lately, but I've still been getting out for a bit on most days. Last night saw some really nice angling as dusk approached. The first time in a while that the fish where more than eager to suck up topwater offerings. A floating damsel fly nymph did very well.

I carry two rods on my outings. One floating line, one sinking. For the past couple of weeks, I'm not sure that I have changed flies. A hex nymph on the sink, and a floating damsel on the floater. I haven't had too many reasons to change up. Not sure if this is a good thing, or bad. My hex has been chewed up thoroughly  though. The fish have done enough damage to the dubbing that it now appears to have a trailing shuck.

Hex,

Hex Spinner

Working on a hotfix.

So, after a spell of great fishing, you can understand my consternation when for no apparent reason, the fish shutdown on me. This can happen for various reasons. I knew it wasn't the weather, as that had been stable for some time. Where I had been hitting fish deep, they no longer seemed interested. The shallows didn't have anything better for me. So what's up?

I knew the fish were there. I was trying to work out in my head a solution to my difficulties when a solution came in sight. Literally. I was getting a glass of water late at night, looked out the kitchen window, and saw a Hex sitting there..............and I wondered. Is that it? Are the fish on Hex's? I remembered an article where the author related a tale from his youth where his father and uncle ( bait fisherman ) complained about how bad the fishing was when these were hatching. As a fly fisherman, the author of course found the exact opposite when fishing an imitation of the Hex's.

........fish crack.

So the next night I had a few Hex Duns for trial. More or less. By that I mean I tied some Half and Half's...........a hybrid Mayfly/Caddis deal. Not the resounding success I was hoping for. I did move some fish........but not enough to be satisfied. I wasn't finished though. I knew before I even tried the duns I was far better of fishing the nymph. Hex's come off after dark. Some do come of during the light sporadically, and that keeps some fish looking up. The nymph however would be much more accessible to the bass.

I tied up a really basic impression and tried it the next night. It was an instant success. I started hitting fish as soon as I started and it continued that way for most of the night. May have been the greatest number of bass I have ever caught. I was nailing fish in anywhere from 6-22' of water. I never changed the fly I started with. No reason to. It was producing, despite the fact it got turned into an unrecognizable mess.

More of a thrill than the fish, was just figuring them out. I love that S#!T! It is very satisfying to have ones efforts rewarded.

Needless to say, I am anticipating my next outing. Probably even tie up some half way decent nymph's.

More on top.

Heading out

If you've been following this blog long enough you will know..........I like big fish. Thats usually what I fish for. They are what I hunt. However, this isn't through snobbery, or disdain for smaller fish/species. One of the other things I've mentioned throughout this blog is that it's got to be easy. That is, due to my health issues, I have to try and find the best possible fishing, with the least amount of effort. For the record, not putting out the effort is hardly the recommended course of action. Effort is often rewarded in this sport. However, my circumstances require a somewhat different approach.

I prefer catching to fishing. Over the past couple of evenings, despite some effort, I couldn't find any pigs to play with. There was other games to be had. Specifically, smaller bass have been feeding on top in the evenings. One night witnessed a tremendous hatch ( which I didn't identify ), with all sorts of fish breaking the surface, taking emergers. The other nights have been very sporadic surface activity, though the fish would still respond to a caddis or stimulator. I have been catching a lot of fish on the 3 wt and its been a lot of fun.

a look back at home

We have an insane amount of caddis up here. They're are also a ton of bugs I am not familiar with. Mayflies? Well, working on that. Saw my first Hex on the lake I live on. That was cool, but I'm not sure in the numbers that will come off. Not sure any exact identification is needed as far as fishing goes. The fish respond well well to anything small, and floaty. I've thrown a number of different flies that are very different, but produce very much the same results. I prefer throwing caddis. The resulting takes ( and hook sets )are exactly like you'd expect with trout. A nice throwback as I haven't done that kind of fishing in a few years now.

Vid Clip.

Haven't been shooting a lot of video lately.........though I did take the camera out for a few days this week. The trend continues of having to fish deep for good fish. As much as I would like to be throwing my floater, it's just not getting the job done at the moment. I've taken good fish at almost 40'.

For the past week all I have been throwing is a Wooly Bugger. Always impressed at how consistently well this old fly produces.

Scene's from the Lake.

Things a flyfisher sees.

boom.

Down Deep.

Splish splash, I was catching this bass.........

So, last time I talked about talking a note from the Bassmaster pro's in regards to fighting bass. There is more they can show us about flyfishing for bass.

Conventional writing on the subject tends to tell us that when fishing for bass with a fly, it can mostly be done on a floating line. There are occasions when they note an intermediate sink might be required if the fish are 'deep'. Deep being 20' according to some authors. For the most part, they may be right. However, if you've watched the guys on TV gearing fish.........there are times when the are pulling fish out of weeds more than 20'. Substantially more.

........from the depths..........

I can tell you from my own experience, there are days that have been saved by dragging the bottom. The fish in the last post was caught in close to 30' of water that way. The fish in this post was caught the next day in the same spot. Often. I will use a fly with some buoyancy ( GFC, Muddler, etc......) to keep it suspended off the bottom, and hopefully away from snagging up on rocks or weeds.

Now, I'm not trying to sell you a full sink. Just trying to offer a bit of perspective. Just because a technique may not be popular, does not mean its not effective. I do not carry intermediate sinks anymore. For myself I find I am much better suited with a floating and full sink rig. Mind you, this choice is also affected greatly by the lakes and conditions I encounter. Other anglers experience may dictate they never fish anything other than a floater. Mileage varies by driver. You can be guaranteed that the guy fishing largemouth in Texa's encounters a different experience to the fisherman in Northern Ontario.

Fightin' words.

Straight outta Dunlop.

Bass are not trout. I say this because I have seen many fly fisherman who don't adapt their game to match the species. Specifically I want to talk about how to fight bass. I'll tell you now, you are far better off emulating the Bassmaster pro's than you are some flyfishing T.V. hosts.

With trout, we often fish light tippets. With large fish on light tippets, there are all sorts of ways to pooch it up. A 20+" fish on 6x is going keep an angler on there toes. Too much pressure your poing to pop the leader, to little and the fish will take forever to tire. Got to find that happy medium.

Bass? Well, we're not talking light tippets are we? My standard rigging is 10lb monofilament. No tippet material needed. No way on earth is any smallmouth going to break that..................assuming it has been nicked. Even the largest bass can be absolutely manhandled. The only time your going to want to let it tire is when you get it by the boat. Then all your going to do is basically hold it in place. It will try to dive, and you may have to feed it a couple of feet of line, but I do this as I'm more concerned about my rod tip than I am the leader.

Beat the crap out of those fish! Don't ever let a bass dictate the fight to you. You beat the drum. On of the best pieces of advice I received from a fellow angler was from my buddy Pete. he told me " If your scared of losing a big fish, your never going to land one." Although he was talking about big browns at the time, this advice has always held true.