Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Practice Makes Perfect SUCKER!



I spent the morning of April 22nd 2014 at a local river system nymphing for a fish that most anglers would consider garbage, that being the sucker. It seems to me that fly anglers are more relaxed to the idea of fishing for many different species compared to those who say spin cast but there is still a stigma with some species of fish. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I had friends call me crazy or stupid for targeting pan fish when bass fishing was all the rage on the rivers and ponds. While they sat at home because there was no "good" fishing to be had I was on the water catching scrappy gills, pumpkin seeds and crappie having a blast.

Since switching over to the fly I have put a large number of new species under my belt in a very short time. It seems that all the fly fishing techniques that I learn and try to master help me down the road when targeting all sorts of fish and each new thing I learn is just another valuable tool to keep in the tool box for when different situations arise.

My first time on the river this spring was the perfect example. A good friend of mine helped me to refine some nymphing techniques on pre spawn suckers that can be very finicky and technical. With a short lesson and some help setting up proper rigs I was into fish in no time and having a blast. I took the same techniques learned this day and used them a month later on a steelhead river with stone fly nymphs and had an unbelievable amount of success. For many fly anglers sucker are not an interesting species to target but I tell you these guys fight almost like salmon for the first part of the fight, freaking out and stripping line off at record speed and strength.

I started the day running 4-5X tippet before switching over to 6lb fluorocarbon to stop these tough fish from breaking me off. On the menu for the day was a tungsten weighted hares ear nymph and unweighted pheasant tail nymphs on the dropper. I am glad that I had the practice that day with suckers in order to take the same technique with me to nymph for steelhead. The first day using only this technique I must have hooked 40+ steelhead, I doubt the same thing would have taken place if I did not have that practice session with the "garbage" fish.

The point of my ramblings? Never turn down an opportunity to fish. All of the techniques and presentations that fly anglers use can be adapted to different species and situations so look at each time out on the water as an opportunity to learn, try something new and refine your skills for later battles.



Monday, May 5, 2014

Steelheading Spring 2014 - Part 2

I just finished up the last little bit of steelheading over my holidays and I must say that I had an absolute blast. I lucked out with water levels and conditions after a hard dumping of rain earlier in the week. I could not have had a better week and wanted to share a few pictures and a bit of information with those who follow the blog.

Articulated Bunny Leechs

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On this day I hit two fish and managed to land one. The first tug of the day came on a black bunny leech and was only on for a very short time before the hook came launching back at my head. This second fish took the same fly on the swing, low and slow with a 10ft section of T-14 as a tip. She was in good condition but looked to be dropping back from spawning.




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This day the conditions were PERFECT and I managed to hit 4 fish in total and land 2 of them. The first was a nice little male drop back who took a copper and brown fish taco variant on the swing...HARD. My second fish came on a crayfish pattern that I actually tied and intended to use for carp fishing. Low and slow yet again. Nice average sized female drop back.



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This just goes to show quality over quantity. This fish was not only the biggest I have caught to date as far as steelhead go, but also the freshest. I swung flies all day without any luck and choose to try out some nymphing. I hooked this beautiful fresh fish and knew right away she was something special. After a long winded fight and some help from a friend to land her I got a quick picture and released her back on the way to find an area to spawn. This was an amazing way to end a week long binge of steelheading and I have to say thank you again to all my friends who I fished with over this time. I have learned a lot over this week and feel that I am finally starting to dial things in with catching fish on the swing.




In the near future I may do a step by step guide so I can share some patterns with you all that clearly are effective and work wonders.

For now I will be taking notes, contemplating and looking back fondly on steelhead fest 2014!







Thursday, May 1, 2014

Steeheading Spring 2014 - Part 1


Well the trip up to a Lake O tributary has come and gone...normally I would go into great detail on the trip, events, how the conditions were, techniques and flies...however I am still exhausted from that trip and hitting the local waters today so I will just briefly go over what went on.

I started off the day swinging flies and after three hours I switched over to nymphing stonefly-esq patterns and boy did the action pick up. Over the entire two days of fishing I hooked 55+ fish easily and landed perhaps 9 or 10. The reason for so many long distance releases I think was due to the fact that I was using barbless nymph hooks and in a few cases hooks that were not up to the task of fighting feisty steelhead. On the second day I started swinging again for a while and hooked two fish that I did not land. After that I started to accidentally foul hook fish in the run so switched back to nymphing for the remainder of the day. Here are a few photos of fish that I caught, as well as a few caught by my good friend Mike B and some of the flies that did not stand the test of Mr. Steel.