Not Just Me.

Its not just me.

The bass have been less than playful as of late. The weather has been yoyo'ing up and down, and the fish have noticed.

Now, I had been second guessing myself a bit on recent outings. I was doing all the things that I thought should equate to success, but they weren't panning out. Why? Me? The fish? The weather? The planetary alignment? A butterfly flapping its wings in China???

I had to meet with my builder at the house recently. He is also a fly guy. I hate to say it, but I was a little happy when he started telling me that he was having to work for his fish lately. Hey! So, it's not me. He, like I, are both suspecting the weather. Makes the most sense.

We have had three days of high temps, with fairly stable weather, so I was hopeful for this evening. I wasn't disappointed. Things were definitely more active tonight. I hooked into a good number of bass, and some sizable ones. Had I landed them all, it would have been a stellar outing. As luck would have it, few fish actually made it to hand. Still, much better than things were.

Most of the fish were caught deep, on a muddler variant. Some fish were hooked up top, but the numbers were nowhere as good as subsurface.

Esten

So, I finally made it out.

Recently, its either been the weather, or my banged up body, but I have only rarely made it out. When I did, the results weren't up to par. Things weren't a whole lot better tonight, but better it was.

It was pretty windy, much more than I prefer. Usually I would have passed on such a night. However, it had been a while and I was itching to play. I caught enough fish so that it was fairly steady action. None were great, and only one landed would qualify as 'good'. Most of the fish were caught on a popper, though the larger fish were all hooked subsurface.

Bottom banging.

I decided to take a full sinking line with me tonight. The fish have been hanging down deep. Today I found them in a little shallower water than the last few outings, but they were still hugging bottom. My floating line setup with a Clouser just wasn`t doing the trick.

In the few hours I was out, I managed a few bass. One was fairly decent. I tried the floating setup to no avail. All the fish were deep. The perch to. No interest in flies at the mid to high part of the water column. Down deep the flies would get a fair amount of attention. I managed a good number of perch. Also on the clouser.

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.

New Fly.

..........nice camo pattern.

So, I was thinking last night about a new pattern. The Clouser has been serving me well, but there are times it hasn't produced. Even more annoyingly, for whatever reason, the perch haven't been hooking up as much as they should. I also was looking to impart more action to the fly. Not that Clousers don't have action, they do,  but I was looking for something more..................undulating?

What I came up with is very simple. Like all my flies. I tied them on size 8 hooks with a bead head. Tied in an underbody of green crystal flash. On top of that a 2" strip of chamois, thin and tapered front and back. An overbody of crystal flash, and yellow hackle wound behind the bead head. Crystal flash cut to match the chamois in length. F'in deadly. It was killer on perch as well as bass. I think I may have caught more perch tonight than on any other outing of my life. Nailed some real nice bass too.

.............and up we go!

I'll post pictures and better instructions for the fly at some point. I am very happy with the results. I could not have hoped for a better debut.

Video of a couple of the bass from tonight. Both bass were caught on the new pattern. Actually all fish tonight were. One fly even, and it was partially destroyed by the first half dozen fish. Now it is pretty mangled and will be retired.

Crisis Averted.

I had thought my pontoon boat had sprung a leak. I freaked out. I can`t afford to replace it, and its worth its weight in gold to me. What I thought was a slow leak was likely an improperly inserted valveìsh type part. Whatever. It was in ship shape this evening.

.......ate a Wooly Bugger this one did.

I have mentioned previously about finding perch, and the smallies are there? Well, worked to perfection tonight. No more wandering around checking things out. With the help of the fish finder, I located the fish, and beat up on'em. It was a fantastic night.

My goal was actually perch related. Since I knew where they were, I figured to get myself some for a fry. All schooled up, I could pretty much `shop` for the biggest and best, so to speak. I was only looking for larger perch..............easier to clean............and I accomplished this task rather handily. The one perch I got on video was way to small for my liking, as you will see.

..........airborne bass.

Also on tap were the smallies. I did really well on them. Some on spin, some on the fly. One fish caught on the fly, and video, was extremely acrobatic. Caught a few fish this evening that went completely ballistic. God I love smallies. A fish that loves a fight.

I got irratated with Clousers, I was having a horrible time hooking up, missing fish after fish. Figured the fly was cursed for the night. All my fly caught bass came on a Wooly Bugger. I'd love to tell you more about the worm I was using.........like the pro's and T.V. do, but there is not much to say. Being new to spin, I picked up a bunch of different soft plastic kits from Bass Pro. The worms I have been using all have come from their shaky head kit, which I think cost 6$ and came with 50 worms. A great deal if you consider bang for the buck. One worm can last me several outings.

As I came to shore, I met and chatted with a gentleman from the London area, currently in the process of moving up here. The fishing was a big selling point with him as well, though he seems to have put in more time than I scouting out trout and salmon opportunities. A pontoon fisherman as well, he was curious as to how I mounted my fish finder. I was more than happy to rave about the fantastic product from floattubefanatics. I can`t even begin to tell you how advantageous the finder is on the toon. Until this year I had never used one. The number of fish it has gotten me into is incredible.

Here is a video of a few of the fish from tonight.

More Bass tooning.

.....video still of a good bass.

So, I headed out to Horne again. Was hoping for some perch for a fry and to play with whatever else came along. It was rather windy today, and I wasn't really relishing kicking the 'toon around in it. I'm glad I did.

Things started of quick. After several minutes, as I was heading to my favoured hunting ground and trolling a Clouser Minnow, I hooked into a very decent smallie of 3lbs. I was a little surprised. So far this year I hadn't caught any bass doing the shore trolling thing. And especially not in the area where I was. It turned out to be a good sign.

......another Luna Moth.

I was out for about 4 hours. The where was a lull of maybe half an hour where I couldn't find fish, but other than that, things were pretty steady. I got a good number of fish. Biggest was three pounds and a good number of 2 - 2 1/2lber's. A fair number of good size perch too. So, tomorrow those perch will fry.

The biggest bass was taken on a yellow and red Clouser Minnow. The fish were split between the Clouser, and the good old soft plastic worms. Very enjoyable night on the water.

Yeah , yeah.............video angle sucks, my tune sucks, etc, etc. First video since moving, so whatever. The fish make it worth it IMO. Due to the amateurish nature of the vid, watch the top right corner for jumping fish.

More on Horne.

Well, it is interesting how things go. Last night it was the fly gears night to shine, tonight, not so much. Now, keep in mind, after last nights success, I was thinking repeat. Didn't happen. I did find the fish in pretty much the same type of water, but my bass all came on spin gear.

.......love this addition.

Not sure if I mentioned it, but I had one day were I missed a number of good fish on soft plastic worms. The hook set was something much different to what I am used to from fly fishing. Tonight I seem to to have figured it out. Still lost a number of decent fish, but I also hooked a few as well.

......note the FloatTubeFanatic mount
for the finder.

......not easy taking pics solo in a pontoon

Lots of little bass and panfish were caught. The number of large fish landed were three. 2 of the fish were the 2 - 3lb average fish. I managed to hook into another big fish that probably was slightly larger than last nights 4lb'er. It hit one of my poppers as soon as it touched the water. Since it was pretty much as long a cast as I could make, it made for one helluva fight. I have not hooked a bass up here that does not go airborne. And bass this big? Man-o-man, what a show. I actually thought I had it licked when a final aerial attempt dislodged my lure.

...........obviously I struggle trying to come up with pic ideas.

As an interesting note, I seem to lose far less fish with barbless flies, than I do with barbed trebles. Or the barbed hooks I use for plastics. I wonder if the thinner gauge of the flies gives for more penetration, and this maybe why. Meh, something to ponder while I'm fishing I suppose.

One thing I should mention. Look at a map and see where Horne Lake is located. Its right in the middle of town! Its a small lake at that, and it produces great fish. Gotta love it. :)

By the way, yes, I do realize a swivel is not the best idea on plastic rigs. What can I say? I am lazy. There were a number of lures I planned on using, and I am so damned lazy I preferred not to knot.

Porridge Pike.

http://elliotlakeflyfishing.com/

...........looking south at Porridge Lake

So, I was out tonight for a while on a new lake I had recently scoped out. I do a lot of looking at water. One determination I made recently was the necessity for some form of watercraft. After some internal debate, I went with my trusty old pontoon boat.

One new addition to the `toon was a fish finder. Got to tell you, I thought trying to get it attached to the tooner would be a headache. Fortunately, some research sent me the way of a website called floattubefanatics. http://www.floattubefanatics.com/

Their mounts do an incredible job. Definitely a product I am happy to have purchased. I have a Garmin Echo 150 attached to it.

I`m going to have to get used to the fish finder. First one I have ever owned. Did a great job of giving me data on depth and structure. I had figured the fish were deeper, and this was the case.

.......south shore pines.

Porridge Lake is pretty shallow. Averages about 6` in most places. The deeper sections extend to 13`. This is where I found the pike. Not a lot of fish, but 2 nice specimens did come to hand, pinned by the old streamer, the Black Ghost. I lost a few as well. So all in all, a pretty decent couple of hours you will never hear me complain about. Not even the blackflies.

I think I may have gotten Pike out of my system. Thinking a new species should get the spotlight next.