Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Bugger and the Spotted Bass

Some days on the water can prove to be rewarding and frustrating at times. That was the case today when Mike and I made a daylight trip to one of the many creeks on beautiful Smith Lake. The conditions today were nice, with just a hint of early fall in the air. The scenery what can I say its Smith Lake, crystal clear waters high rock formation, large boulders underwater, and of course the many species of fish in the lake. I decided on today’s trip to use two set-ups one with the 5 Wt. and the other was my new addition the 4 Wt. The 5 Wt. was the perfect fit with the Tungsten head brown Wooly Bugger, to imitate the many crawfish that find a home in the rock crevasses.
The 4Wt. was set up with a number 6 concave face popper in cream white with some red sprinkled dots along the sides. During daylight hours or heavy overcast days, it is always best to use light colors especially a white variation. The fish can see lighter colors better at that time of day instead of a darker color. The exact opposite holds true for sunny days. With the 4 Wt. and the cream 6 popper, the very first presentation produced a nice 12” spot located in a brush pile adjacent to a large boulder in 30 ft. of water. What a way to christen the new 4 Wt. I must say it didn’t disappoint on that fish. The frustration part of the trip came right before the sun clipped the tree line. I made a long shoot cast standing on the bow of the boat. The big popper just floated in place under an overhanging rock ledge. With a slight jerk, the popper disappeared and I set the hook only to have the big spot to take the popper and wave it in the air in front of me. It was like this fish wanted to let me know who was boss, and I must admit today he was. To add insult to the misery I had to see the 20” plus fish, as it flung its body in the air with my popper in its mouth. Along with the frustration and the sun came an end to the topwater action. I wonder if this popper is still in his mouth?
 The frustration earlier now had given way to the rewarding part of the trip. As the trip ended with bluebird skies and winds out of the southeast it was time to call it a morning. I must admit the frustration part of this trip will take a while to get over. After a great fight, I landed a 16” spot. Maybe what the doctor needs to prescribe is another daylight outing soon.

12 comments:

  1. Congats on what sounds like a fun day of fishing, glad to hear the new rod is working out. I hope that one spot enjoys his new lip-piercing.

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  2. troutrageous
    I had tied on a new tippet right before I started fishing that morning, so I know I didn't have wear in the line. Sometimes it doesn't work out to catch the best ones.

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  3. Good job, Bill! Sounds like an enjoyable outing, for sure! Great pics, too!

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  4. Hey Bill. I would have never thought to use a Wooly bugger for Bass, but now that you explained the Bugger to Crawfish, next time I'm on a lake with Bass, I'll just have to give it a try.

    Mark

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  5. Dave
    With the cooler weather in sight, the poppers should pick up. Thanks for the comment

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  6. Shoreman
    I had used the black and olive, with no success, then switched to the brown, and caught some smaller bass before the better spot hit it. I think the key to fishing the bugger in deep water is the tungston head. You get a great drop rate with the tungston head. Thanks for the commnet.

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  7. Amazing post! Love the different fly pattern shots on the log there. Spotted bass are an amazing fish species...only a few places have them in Colorado. Good luck and good fishing.

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  8. Colorado
    The spot is in the same league with the smallmouth. I can’t believe how they fight once you hook into one. On a fly rod it is so awesome to land one especially when he starts the runs. It took me a while to land the one in the pic. I wanted to lip him so there was no net involved in the catch. I am planning on catching many more as fall comes into play. The bugger is the go to fly when the top action fades. Thanks for the comment.

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  9. The theme of your blog is very beautiful and the article is written very well, I will continue to focus on your article.

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  10. Daiwa
    Thanks for the compliment. I try to explain everything I did on a fishing trip, that includes how, where, when and what I used to catch the fish. How else are we going to learn about this great sport called fishing? Thanks for the comment.

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  11. Another awesome post Bill...not only is your stuff easy to read but it's easy to learn something from you as well...you'll get that big one next time, sometimes ya gotta trick em more than once to get the edge...but I'm sure you know that, and have been there before (thumbs up)

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  12. Thanks Dennis for the Comment. You are right you learn something from just about everybody's post. Gald you enjoyed the post.

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