Warm water prep

Here are some flies that I make sure that are always available in my fly box for warm water fishing.  As you can see I started with some popper production. 

Then I started the job of painting them and then finished them off with a little fox for the tail and then wrapped some hackle.  You should always have some yellow, olive, chartruese and black when you are going for smallies.  I am trying red this year too.  Will have to see how they all work.  

 

Then I moved on to replentishing my clouser patterns.  They are always fun to tie.  I am trying a couple of the clousers with rabbit strips.  I am really anxious to see how they work.  I like to have at least the gray/white, chartruese/white, and fire tiger (green/yellow/orange) in my box.  I added a few extra colors with the white/red/white, and brown/orange.

 

Never leave home without a few crayfish patterns.

 

 

This year, I added a few Hammer Head Croakers.  These subsurface frog flies have produced well for me when chasing large mouths and catfish.  I want to see how the smallies react to them this year.

Kermit

Here are some Kermits that went in the mail recently. Enjoyed tying this trusty old pattern.

Ribbit, Ribbit

I got a little time today to fish a farm pond. I had a couple new fly patterns I wanted to test. I had one fly that did an outstanding job for me that I didn't even try the other patterns. The fish gave their approval on my swimming frog pattern. I was even surprised with a couple catfish that just hammered this fly. Here are some of the fish that fell to the swimming frog. The fly is still a work in progress and I don't have a good picture of it yet but you can see it in the pictures.

Stuck my Hiney in the Piney

I recently spent some time with extended family up in Blackwell, PA.  Every year we have a family gathering of my wife's family at a cabin that sits within walking distance of the Big Pine Creek and the rails to trails path that follows along this creek.  A lot of the family likes to spend time on the bikes enjoying the scenery.  They ride up through portions of the PA Grand Canyon or they ride down to Cedar Run for ice cream.  Sometimes I tag along but other times I would rather be in the creek. 

Unfortunately I forgot my camera.  I had some awesome experiences on the water the one evening.  I had a black bear cross the creek just down stream of me.  Then I had a bald eagle fly overhead.  And then I had a mother pin tail duck swim by me with her brood of young.  She had 24, yes 24 babies that she guided up around me.  Oh and the fishing was good too.

Sometimes I can get into a few trout but it wouldn't be happening this time.  There hasn't been a lot of rain and the water was really low.  I knew right away as I stepped into the creek that this would be a bass day.  The water felt like a mildly warm bath.  The air temps were in the 90's and the water had to be close to 80.  It didn't even feel refreshing as I was wet wading in this water.  I was trying some new popper designs and they produced well for me.  I also was using the ice magic, which is a new design I have been working on.  It produced well on the smallies.  It was a black and chartreuse model.  Most of the smallies that I caught were on the smaller side.  I have never caught any that were too large.  I know they are there but they have never cooperated with me very well. 

This night was different though.  But I found out that this fish was better than I was tonight.  I was using this new popper.  I had been catching small fish on it and was used to their little splash takes.  All of the sudden my popper was engulfed by a large fish.  I had a good fight on my hands.  This fish got down and dirty in the fight, then would rocket out of the water!  He did this three times that he launched himself out of the creek.  This smallie was the largest fish I had ever hooked on this creek.  It's depth of body told me it was the king of this section of water for sure!  And he proved to be too tough to handle.  Just before he jumped the third time he started spooling line.  Something happened with my drag and when he stopped running, the reel didn't and there was some slack line.  It took this opportunity to jump, spit the hook and say C-YA!  I was bummed that I didn't get it to hand but was happy to know I can hook up with the big boys.

Warm water bite is on

My friend Mike and I spent some time on the West Branch of the Susquehanna this Memorial Day weekend. Saturday when we went out on his boat, it was a great day of fishing. The water was crystal clear and was running about 68 degrees.  The water was a little up from the average flows but it was great for fishing.  You could see to the bottom in 7' of water with no problems.  Actually we could see several large smallies just swimming along the bottom.  Mike had some outstanding fish.  He was using either spinner baits or tubes.  One of the crazy, exciting moments was when we had the fantastic double.  We both hooked up at the same time.  As we were bringing in our fish, both fish danced on the water side by side at the same time!  It was awesome to see that. 


I didn't have the quantity he had but I liked the results of some of the new patterns.  The Stoned Claw Crazy did well to bring several to hand.  We were catching several smallies and we got into some really big red eyes, rock bass, or whatever other names you have for these fish.  I was using the brown and also tried a new color, orange/brown. 

I got some fish on the modified clouser. I extend the body with a bead chain body.  I have some flash and arctic fox at the end of the bead chain. 

I had tied up a few of this new pattern.  It is basically rabbit strips, flashabou, craft fur head, and pheasant feather for the cheek.  I used a worm hook.  It does good for getting in and around weeds.  Not that it is completely weedless but it did well being fished around thick stuff.  I also got a positive response from the fish!  Here is one of the rock bass that attacked this new pattern.  My problem I had with this pattern is that I lost a couple due to the fact that I forgot to check my tippet and knots often.  With dragging it in and around the thick stuff the line got weak and I lost them.  I know for sure that I will be tying up more of this pattern! 

On Monday morning we went out at first light and fished till about 10:00 before we headed home for the weekend.  There was a haze or fog cover and cloudy when we first started but when the sun burned through the fog, it was clear blue skies.  The high pressure that moved in had the fish reacting sluggish.  Mike was picking up several fish on tubes.  He mentioned that he could hardly feel the bite on several of his fish, which was totally opposite of Saturday's fishing experience.  I have heard of guys saying the bite was soft but this was just crazy.  I felt like I was trout fishing, as I got a lot of refusals and short strikes on all the patterns I used. 

Here was one of Mike's nice bass from this morning.  The way it was going for me, I thought I was going to get skunked.  Luckily, I brought out the "Ice Magic" and it ended the drought.  Here was my lone bass for Monday.  It wasn't very big but it put on a great fight.

Memorial Day 2012

This weekend I am really looking forward to. We always go to a friend's cabin. There are a bunch of kids and they have a blast hanging out and playing together. There is nothing like creating your own games and fun times in the mountains. They will also get some of the older kids to take them on golf cart rides. They take the carts out on the groomed paths around the cabin. This always seems to be one of the highlights from the weekend.

While the kids are doing their thing my friend and I head out to do some fishing. We often take his boat out on the Susquehanna river and do some bass fishing. I am always fly fishing and he spin casts. Last year we had an epic day bass of fishing. The water was rising. I don't think we ever caught so many smallies in the 15-18" range as we did that day. I would love to experience another day like that one! I will also head to Big Fishing Creek or Spring Creek to try and hit some of the mayfly hatches. This year my son said he would like to join me. So I hope to get him on his first trout on the fly rod. We may see the sulphurs and caddis on Spring or if the water comes down we may hit Fishing Creek. The green drakes are soon to arrive. They are also seeing some slate drakes, sulphurs, and tan caddis right now. This could lead to some exciting dry fly action.

If the water is still high on these creeks I may be doing some testing on some of my newer streamers that have done well in other locations. I am also anxious to try out some of my bass patterns.

Here is one of my newest ideas.  I haven't decided on an official name for this fly yet but I am thinking of "Ice Minnow", "Polar Express", or if you have a suggestion let me know.  I want to see if I get as good a response from some trout and would like to also test it on the bass to see if they like the looks of it.

I also have some sculpin patterns I want to try.  I have fished these a little but haven't received any feedback on them yet.  Others that have fished them have like them though.

I have a couple newer chain gang nymphs I would like to test.  Below are the prince and royal prince.  They have brought some to hand but need to continue testing these.  Also is a bead head chain gang stonefly pattern.  May have to see if I get any response from it as well. 

Bloop, Bloop.......Gulp!

I love top water bass fishing! Casting poppers and other top water flies to bass and sunnies is a blast. If you ever get the chance to do it, take the opportunity to do it.

Sometimes the strikes come right after the pop when you are letting it just sit there. This retrieve worked a little but I got more strikes when, after the cast and just letting all the rings disappear from the fly landing, to just slowly pulling the fly back to me. Then the big gulp would come. It is such a thrill to me to see their aggressive takes!  Water splashing every where as they come up to kill that popper that is bothering them. 

Today I had an all white popper drawing the strikes.  I caught several decent large mouths and I even had a few sunnies that joined in the action.  I didn't get anything monsterous, but anytime you can get the surface bite, it is really exciting. 

It was also thrilling to watch the bass feeding along the edges of the pond.  There would be a couple bass swimming about 4-5 feet from the bank.  This would push the minnows up to the edge with very little room to escape.  Then all of the sudden you would see big splashes as the bass would zoom into the shallow water to go for their next meal.  I wish my camera had a better zoom.  As I was watching this feeding action of the bass, a snake joined in.  As the minnows would be in the shallow, this snake would swim through and was attempting to snag his next meal.  It wasn't as successful but it was interesting to watch.

Conestoga 4/29/2012

I went out on the Conestoga River to do some more exploring and try to find some more water I can take my son to fish safely. A friend was showing me some good spots. It was a clear blue sky and outside temps were just great for fishing. We riffle hopped trying to find some cooperative fish. I only found one that was willing to cooperate. The water temps were still really cool. It only reached mid 50's. I think it was just a bit cool for them to be too active yep. And it seems like it is pre spawn yet here even though we have had such warm weather and low water conditions.

I guess I should have had a different fly box with me. This is a warm water stream but we were seeing some large cahills. They looked like size 14 or even size 12. To my surprise the bass were taking them off the top! I guess I should put a few cahills in my warm water box for next time!

I only got one bass, but it did come on one of my new streamers. It was the darter pattern I posted recently. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera available but it was a nice healthy 10+ incher.

4/15/2012 fishing report.

I decided to head out to the Conestoga River for the last couple hours of daylight last night. The section I was fishing is more like an average size stream. The water level for this time of year is extremely low. We haven't had a sizable rainfall in a while. I believe we are about two inches of rainfall behind our normal amount. The Conestoga is currently at 200 CFS and is usually about 500 CFS this time of year. We need rain badly here in PA. 

I went to do some exploring. I looked on the map and found some spots I wanted to fish. Well unfortunately, when I got to these spots I found out that they were posted. What a bummer, cause the water looked promising.

I finally got to a spot that wasn't posted. I was fishing with my new crayfish pattern. I have to say, this new pattern didn't disappoint me. It did well and the fish I did catch, hammered the pattern. There were no subtle takes! Look for this pattern on MyFlies.com as soon as i can get photos of it. It is called the "Stoned Claw Crazy".

The only thing that did disappoint me was the fishing location. There was a LOT of dead water, water with no holding spots or it was covered from bank to bank with green moss. I covered a ton of ground between fishable spots. I guess that is one of the things with exploring, you can get find places you will go back again and others that you won't waste your time on again. Each time you go out exploring you hope you hit the jackpot on an excellent fishing spot. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don't.

Contest Flies

I am not even sure anymore how I heard about a new fly tying contest but the deadline is March 15 to be post marked. So I put a package in the mail for the Baxter Bulletin fly tying contest.

There are seven categories. I am sending in flies for five of them. The categories I have flies for are trout nymph, trout soft hackle, trout streamer, small mouth bass, and bass. Any of the below patterns are available through MyFlies.com Custom Order. 

For the Bass category, this is a pattern that I had a lot of success with in the fall of 2011.  It is called "Movin & Groovin".  It got its name when my daughter came home from kindergarden and said she had fun at Movin & Groovin time at school.  Well, I found out it was the teacher's way of getting some of the excess energy out of these young energetic kids.  This pattern just made me think of the kids movin and dancin around the room.  The tail is made of bead chain and allows me to attach shorter materials to make a longer pattern.  The tail is made of artic fox and ostrich herl.  This pattern swings and dances in the water that the fish find irresistable!  It is always moving even when at rest.  When you strip it and then give a pause, the water just makes this thing pulsate. 

"Movin & Groovin"

 The second pattern I submitted was for the trout streamer group.  It is a newer concept but utilizes the same mechanics as the Movin & Groovin by using the bead chain to lengthen the body and have extreme motion. 

Sculpin 

The third pattern was for the small mouth group.  This is a new pattern too but has a lot of trigger points to it that should get the fish's attention.  A little bit of flash for the antenna, tons of movement with the marabou and the rabbit strip back, and lead dumbbell eyes placed close to the bend of the hook to allow this pattern to drop level, as most crayfish do.  I am currently fishing with this pattern in black, brown and olive. 

Crazy Craw

The fourth pattern is for the trout wetfly group.  This is a new idea as well.  I am using UV Chewee Skin on the body and pheasant tail feathers for the hackle.  The Chewee skin gives a nice reflective quality about the body and is a nice attractor.



Chewee Soft Hackle

The fifth and final pattern is similar to the soft hackle in that it is using the same body material, UV Chewee Skin.  I am tying this pattern in caddis green and tan, with or without a bead head. 

Chewee Caddis

March 11 fishing trip

I got to go do some fishing with a friend on his boat today. The temps were a little chilly in the morning but it warmed up in the afternoon. The skies were bright blue and it turned out to be an awesome day on the water.

We decided to try the Susquehanna river and also spent some time on the Juniata river. The Susquehanna was flowing a little high and was a touch cloudy. It wasn't awful even with all the rain that came through up north a couple days before. There were a ton of boats where the Juniata empties into the Susquehanna.

We spent considerable amount of time on the Susquehanna at some really decent spots but to no avail. So we decided to run up the Juniata and see what might happen up there. The water was crystal clear. At five or six feet deep you could still see the bottom.

We fished most of the afternoon and evening on this water. There were less boats which was nice. We had more of the water all to ourselves. Well, except for A few guests.

This first visitor we had, thought he was hidden or was going to be totally territorial if we got too close to his grass patch that he was enjoying. This muskrat was enjoying the sun as he nibbled the small green patch that he found. We found it quite comical the way he kept about his business as we floated over to check him out.

The other visitors we had were a little more annoying but it was fun to watch them flying around. The only problem with them was they ended up flying all over us at times. So we had them on our hats, clothing and on our hands. Here was some of the little black stoneflies that stopped by for a visit.

Unfortunately as fishing can go sometimes we had an awful day. We didn't bring one fish to hand and we didn't even long line release any. I don't know if it was the high pressure, the recent full moon, or what other excuses I could come up with but we just didn't have any luck. I was able to fish some of my new designs and with the clarity of the water was able to see how the swam in the water. I came away thinking that they are going to be worth another try. I was happy how they looked before I fished them and after. I just didn't get any fish approval. Sometime soon I will have to post some pics of the new designs. And till then I can show some fish that liked them too.