First Fish(es) On A Fly

[beachburger]

Well I finally put the new fly rod to use today. I spent about 3 hours this AM out on the lawn learning how to cast. I think I have a pretty good handle on it now although I am still getting tangled in the line when trying to make a cast over 40'.

In the late afternoon, I hopped into the little aluminum and anchored in about 6' of water in front of the cottage and had at 'er with a black wooly bugger. It took about 15 min to get the "feel" of casting back and when it did come back, I was pretty happy that I was getting my casts to where I was aiming (as long as it was 40' or under).

About 30 min in, the black wooly bugger claimed its first victim, a 24" pike. A decent fight ensued and when I got it to the boat, I didn't get a good grab (not used to handling a 9 ft rod) and as the pike went flopping back into the water, the line broke and the black wooly bugger went with it. Maybe the wooly bugger will still be attached when I catch the pike again sometime this summer chucking a spinnerbait off the dock.....

I tied on a small streamer(?) that floated and made a few bubbles after a twitch. I figured this was good because there were some fish taking stuff off the top the entire time I was out there. About 10 casts later, I see a 12" smalllie come up and slurp it off the surface and the acrobatics began. This little guy was fun enough and I can only imagine what sort of fun will be had when a 2-3 lb smallie latches on.

All in all a good first day with the new fly rod. I think I'll keep it.....

[plowjock]

WTG Doug
I'm waiting for the report when you nail a 10lb Pike or even better a 5lb Smallie. The action that smallie will give you will have you packing up your spinning gear for good.
Brian

[Todd B.]

Beachburger,

Welcome to the Dark Side! Only more enjoyment to come!

Cheers,
Todd

[SteveO]

Nice! I love "fishing firsts".

[Fishboy]

Congrats on the catches!! I'll bet you enjoyed fighting that pike on the flyrod. If you continue to target pike, you might want to tie on a steel leader and fish with larger streamers.

Surface bass are an absolute hoot! There are surface flies - they're a little larger and usually made of spun deer hair or they have foam heads - that act like poppers. I fish these a lot for largemouths and the action can be insane. You'll need a heavier weight rod and leader + tipper to cast these flies properly, but the pay-off is larger bass.

[Mike Lennox]

I tied on a small streamer(?) that floated and made a few bubbles after a twitch.

Sounds like a gurgler or a popper beachburger. It's a great bass fly, and definitely the most fun method of fishing for them. Great job on your success!

[beachburger]

I tied on a small streamer(?) that floated and made a few bubbles after a twitch.

I've been told it's called a muddler minnow. I picked up another one yesterday at the same time I got a replacement woolly bugger.

I plan to christen the popper this weekend in one of my favorite LMB haunts.

[uberfish]

Hey beachburger,
Surface flies rule! I use gurglers for bass all the time, I get bass on other flies but the gurgler is the most reliable producer. They are easy to tie up and fat bodied white gurglers are irresistable to bass. I don't know if you are tying your own but that's the next stage in the obsession/addiction. Don't be afraid, it's painless.

[fisheye lens]

YES! I read this with envy too, never could manage the fly. Been 30 + years since I tried but I'm feeling more patient now and want to venture it again. Next summer, next summer

[Manfred]

I completely agree with the comments about the fun factor of surface poppers for bass. A few weeks ago on the lake at the cottage in Haliburton, I even had a bunch of mostly small smallies nailing an Ausable Wulff on almost every single cast.

One "problem" I experienced, though, is that the bass fishing really seemed to throw off my feel for the take of a trout. That may sound dumb, but it really seemed to be true.

Having fished for trout (and with a fly rod) for the first time last year, it took me several trips to the Upstate New York trout streams to get any sort of consistency in being able to set the hook when a trout took a nymph. When I finally realized what the takes were actually like, I could not believe how subtle they were. By the end of June this year, I felt pretty confident about the take and the hook set. Then I spent a couple weekends at the cottage catching smallies and, the next two trips for trout, it seemed I could not react to a take and set the hook on a trout to save my life.

I have almost resolved not to fish for bass until I catch many more trout and try to get the feel of the take and the hook set down to something like instinct.

Is there any other way to have my bass and brownie too?

[Fishboy]

Manfred,

I'm glad to hear of your success in Haliburton; it's always been a fave of mine.

Don't give up on the bass! They're just too much fun!! With a little more experience, you'll find that you can adapt quickly to how your target species takes the fly. You didn't mention whether or not you use different rod weights for bass and trout. If you don't, you might want to go with a heavier rod for bass and a lighter rod for trout.

[joco]

beachburger.

it was realy nice to meeth you for the first time last night.

hope to fly fish wit you soon.


joco.................or ice fish..

[beachburger]

Hi joco. It was great to meet and talk with you as well. It looks like I will be making a trip to the Strathcona Park area in the next week or so. I'll PM you when I know the day and perhaps we can sync up for a fish and a post fish beverage-of-choice.

[whtwolf]

great job nice to hear that you are enjoying yourself with the fly rod. I started looking into a new rod and reel today and almost walked out of the store with a Battenkill mid arbor 3 and a t3 rod then I thought of my wife and saw myself sleeping outside with the fishes. LOL

maybe we will meet up soon again to do some more fishing.

[joco]

YOOOOOOO

Battenkill mid arbor 3 and a t3 rod

this is high end stuff.

but one hell off a combo for sher.

life is short................$$$ is made to be spend.


joco.