6-30-10

Some new flies...I have heard stories of large fish eating baby birds....I even witnessed a baby duck get taken down one day by something large...A friend of mine made mention of a baby duck fly. He had never seen one made that was fishable and somewhat realistic....So I made one....And a new streamer....This should bring all the predators to the surface....

6-27-10

Where to begin....What a great day...My fishing chum and I were dropped off today...This was a 2 car deal....5 minutes after the car left....with no cell service...the rain begins....Fishing, kayaking are both water sports and the fish are already wet so who cares....It stopped not too long after it began anyway....I made a new streamer pattern to fix the problem with short strikes...I took my go to smallie pattern and articulated it.....Worked like a charm...

We started to boat some fish...Steve caught a walleye and a few nice smallies...He struggled a bit today getting hook ups...It happens, everyone has those days...

We encountered some beautiful areas of creek that I have never seen before. Lots of area that people don't spend too much time on....That's one of the things I love about kayak fly fishing...Going where no one else is...Just the water, you, the fish and nature....To me, in my world, it doesn't get any better...












I had a good day fish catching as well....Landed smallies and small carp....about 25 were put in the boat....I missed more then I caught...I only photograph bass over 13 inches....So I only have a few photos...We hit a lot of smaller ones today....My crayfish pattern that I have been working on hooked some fish today as well....No photos of that yet...







There are som many stories to tell about this trip...Kayaking mishaps....I shot my boat down a riffle section with some strong current. There was an undercut bank with a deep pool and a fallen tree in the middle of it. Well, the current took me and slammed me into the tree, my net was sacrificed to the river....My extra fly rod caught in the tree, and me slammed in to the branches..Had to shore the boat and brave the current to get my rod back....Steve had a similar experience, current and a tree....Held him up good...Sideways, while the boat began to fill with water....Everyone survived, a good time was had....Lots of laughs and slimy fish hands....Tight lines

6-26-10

Today was a day in humility.....Back to my creek....Back to the kings and queens of the river fish.....My smallies....I consider myself to be a fairly decent bass and warmwater fly angler and tyer. I carry tons of flies at all times for every possible situation. I tie everything myself, some of which are my own design for the waters that I frequent. I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable in fish behavior and feeding habits....Well today, as well as many days to come and days that have passed, I was schooled by my beloved small mouth. I was not prepared for short strikes on my flies. Usually the patterns that I throw cause a violent reaction from the fish, attacking it with all they have. Something slowed them down today, they were only nipping at the tail....I had nothing with a trailing stinger hook on it with me....I must tie new flies now for tomorrows trip.....My bouncing crayfish pattern, which was being tested today for the first time....worked excellent, even the rock that stole it liked it....Back to the bench...Fish won....a lesson learned....Managed a walleye on the fly and one smallie to the boat....Tight Lines...

6-25-10

Spent the morning chasing some bigger bluegills at the local resevoir with my fishing buddy. Not a lot of fish, but about as big as they get in this particular place. I took a stab at making some foam hopper patterns....They worked like a charm....Caught a small large mouth as well, about 10 inches....Sorry...No photo of the dinks....A bunch of smaller gills, no photos until they grow up....Enjoy...

6-23-10

So anyone that has never had the pleasure of just strolling along the banks of a little pond, a stream or your local resevoir tossing flies to gills is just missing out. Pound for pound they fight harder then most fish. A light weight fly rod, some poppers, some dries, some nymphs.....They can be just as finicky, just as tricky and just as spooky as a trout....They have beautiful colors and patterns....They are almost always found in a beautiful environment....So what's stopping you?...Like most people you are probably thinking back to the childhood days of tossing a worm on a bobber, waiting a second to watch it disappear, then setting the hook and dragging it in....Bream fishing with a fly is nothing like that. It will offer challenging situations to any experienced fly angler...Difficult casting angles, wind, sight casting to rising gills, dropper fishing, lots of surface action, nymphing with no indicator....The best of all.....Lots of hand sized fish to put a bend in your fly rod....A big thanks to Bill Trussell.....He sent me a few flies to try out and they worked magic today.....Tight Lines....

6-22-10

AHHHH....Back to my local Small Mouth stream today....The kings of river fishing.....There is nothing in the world to me like floating down my local stream catching smallies on the fly.....I have found enlightenment on the river.....I have had enough swampy, lake, weeds, cattails, grass and lily pads for a little while....I needed some clear, rocky moving water to fill my soul....The water unfortunetly was a little murky, still recovering from all the rain on and off the last weeks....We needed the levels to go up though..So all is good....Slower fishing, darker colors....Usually I would throw bigger flies, but today they were eating smaller stuff....First cast, first fish, 17 inches.....Second fish, threw up a 3 inch crayfish in my boat....16 inches.....Then a couple of little guys....Under 13 inches I don't take pics.....Enjoy....

6-20-10

So I was invited to fish at a private fish and game club bass lake today...Which is why I had designed the frog....What a beautiful lake...Bass everywhere....Big bass....a 7 pounder was caught there 2 weeks ago....A 28 inch catfish last week....Good stuff....I some how in all of my excitement forgot how to fish....Within the first 2 minutes of our host entering the water....a spin fisherman...he had hooked a nice 2 pound bucket....then another...then another....I throw my frog into the weeds....BAM......Huge fish.....about a second later he spit it....This happened about5 more times...My hook sets were so off yesterday.....Between the frog pattern a dn my bluegill popper...I hit 7 bass and only landed 2...I haven't had a day like that in a while...That lake shuts down about 10am or so....The fish start sunning themselves above the weedline, and nothing you do will elicit a strike...So off we went to our next stop...A river in the area....We had a little rain last night....By the looks of the river it rained chocolate milk.....So we continued down the road....Next stop, the bay where the river flows into a giant lake...Weedy, swampy, nasty and full of giant bluegills, large mouth and pickerel....I hooked 3 pickerel, 1 large mouth, and a few gills....Not the best of fishing days, but it sure as hell beats a good day at work...My camera that I bring fishing with me has taken its share of abuse...I've dropped it, smashed it, drowned it....It's duct taped together...So sometimes it works, sometimes not....I take photos when it works quickly, so not to stress the fish more waiting for me fiddling with my camera...I have the photos in my memory for the ones that escaped a still shot...Here's some pics that worked....

6-19-10

So I took off to my local resevoir this morning in search of the giant shallow lurking smallies that continue to taunt me....I caught this very stout perch instead...No complaints...

Hooked a few smaller bass, but the big ones continue to evade my attempts...I did however have a couple of very impressive follows with one fish I would estimate at 5 lbs or more breaking the surface in a mad dash chasing my rainbow trout DNA pattern....He wouldn't hit it though, only chase and smash water next to it....I was out for about an hour. I was thinking about Sundays trip to a large mouth lake I was invited to. I was told the bass there love the bullfrogs that surround the lake. He said they are huge. I had this brainstorm of a new frog pattern so I had to run home and whip it up before my slippery mind let it go. So off I went....This is what I came up with....Deer hair body, super stiff collar, big rattling eyes, double weed guard, rabbit strip legs held apart with a loop of 30 lb mono in between them, rubber legs in front....Epoxy on the belly to ensure in lands right side up and has a little shine to it....When this frog hits the water, every bass in the lake knows it. When stripped in, it makes a kerplunk like no other....Happy deer trimming....