A Family Day

It was a great day of casting, paddling, and a little catching in the mix as well..but most of all it was a great day hanging with my Father, Step Father and Brother in Law...Everyone got on some fish, good talks, laughs and some sunshine....what was there not to like...

The water is in rough condition though...dirty, smelly, very low and the fish population seems to be very down...With time it will all bounce back, but for now it's a sad scene...The fish we did hook into were strong and healthy...so that's a good sign..The crayfish have appeared and there were nymphs under the rocks and baitfish in the shallows...

Salties

I live in the middle of NYS...which means that I don't get to fish salt water all that often...other then a few basic patterns, and doubling some of my fresh water patterns as salties...I don't tie salt water flies that frequently...Which leads me to this post...I was offered up a challenge of sorts, at least I looked at it that way...I was given a list of baitfish by a man, instead of a list of flies and told to go to work...Create what I thought was right...so hear it is...

Sand Eel...

Anchovy

Silver Side

Shrimp

Bunker

I tested them all in the water...fresh water...they seem to move well...only the customer and the fish pics he sends will let me know how well they fool the stripers...

Pike

Oh man...I have a new addiction...they were on the small side...but my oh my....the explosive takes but these little snot rockets is something that will make noises come out of your mouth like you never new were in you...My first Pike on the fly today...landed 3, missed another 5...including 2 that were in the 3 foot range...1 in particular came back 4 times and slashed at my fly, but missed each time...can't wait for next time...

The fly that hit them all....

Fat Heads and Buckets

I took one of my Fat Head Deceivers out with me today to test on flat water...oh my....that's all I have to say. They were designed to be swung...but man do they move and groove on flat water..they shake their tails enough to make Shakira concerned about her future...they were designed to imitate smelt and be used to catch Atlantics....I have to tell you...the bass and the pickerel could not keep them out of their mouths today...A lot of nice fish....I missed as many as I caught..not all that I caught are on here...

This fish below...the big mama jamma....this is the biggest large mouth I have caught to date...it measured 23 1/2 inches....and weighed in at 7 1/2 pounds....a safely released trophy bass by anyone's standards...

and at the end of the day....the fly still looks brand new....a fly that I can stand behind and now offer on my site... Super Fly webstore

Fat Head Deceiver

I made a fly....I know, it's the usual story...although these flies I made for a fly shop in Canada to help them catch more Atlantic Salmon. They have a smelt run and apparently the Atlantics enjoy these juicy snacks. The anglers use muddlers and things of that sort on the swing, chucking all sorts of fluff with spey rods and T-14 to get them down...So...I made them some flies..."Fat Head Deceiver"

Smelt pattern...

I also made them some randomly colored ones to give a whirl...These are made with a specially dyed schlappin feather, the patterning is called "Rattlesnake"