Bluegill on my Local Lake

 I finally made it out to our local lake today. The lake is only 165 areas, and for the most part it was busy all day. At one time I counted 33 boats at various places on the lake. This was not counting the people sitting on the banks and pier. So either someone was skipping work or there was a lot of retires----either way it was good to be on the water with all the home folks. I finally started fishing around 1:00 under bright clear blue skies. I spent 2 hours trying to catch some of the nice crappie the lake possesses. Needless to say I struck out in that area. I decided to switch to my trusted fly rod around 3. With the water temps in the middle 60’s I thought I would try the nymph in deep water off the edge of dead weed beds, which proved successful. I was using the black gnat size 12. Everyone has their favorite go to fly; well this is my go to fly in early spring for bluegill in deep water. The hits were slow and not aggressive. I had to move it ever so slow to get the hit. I ended the day with a good meal of fillet bluegills.   

   Find the dead weed beds in water 7 to 8 ft deep and you would find a number of bream on the front side close to deep water.

Compact, lightweight, and durable, my little Raider pontoon boat.

A great catch with my Temple Fork 3 Wt. 7 ½ ft. rod and G-Loomis Reel
Caught 12 and kept this group for a meal

The Knotless Leader by Scientific Angler

Well I am still on fly fishing knots. I don’t know if any of you know much about this leader without the knot tie, but I have found out that this knotless leader has merit. It is the L2 Re-Connect Leader by Scientific Angler. Brandon at the local fly shop got these in on Monday. I have just got back from the lake yesterday trying them out and the first thing I notice was greater casting distance. The reason is because of the lock indicator, which by the way serves as an indicator and floats high in the water. Another thing I like is the extremely large butt taper down to an extreme 4X, 5X, and 6 X tippets choices. I like the fact that I can tie on 3 or 4 of my standard flies at home instead of at the lake, which gives me more time for fishing. All the leader snap ends are color coded so you know exactly what weight leader you are using all the time. The leaders are 9 ft. long with a breaking point at 10 lbs. plus. The following illustration shows exactly how the system works.  

With L2L Reconnect, you can adapt to changing conditions quickly and easily which means less time fussing and more time fishing.
You can connect line to leader in seconds. And unlike knots, L2L Reconnect offers great fly fishing advantages:
Quickly change leaders, line tips, and flies
Keeps line floating higher
Casts easily and slides smoothly through guides
Pickups with less friction – doesn't grab surface
Doubles as a high-vis strike indicator
L2L Reconnect Leader ends are color coded so you always know what size leader you're using.

There are two organizers which holds 4 leaders with the flies you have already tied before you hit the water. The organizers are stored in one side of the fly box, which is by Scientific Angler -----while the other side holds a selection of your files.
So there you have it-----------what is your opinion---I have tried them and they do everything the ads say they do. It was good being out on the water, and catching a few small bream and spots using the keystone minnow with this leader. I will be using it again this week on our local lake to see how it works with some dries and nympns. Check back for a report on that outting.

Strike Indicators What is Your Favorite and Why???

Well I am sitting inside today watching it rain in 40 degree weather. I have my fly fishing vest near and working on rearranging my flies in one of my fly boxes. I was looking at some of my strike indicators I have been using and was wondering which is actually the most effective? I know there are different types of indicators on the market but which one do you think is the most effective and why. I personally use the stick on foam, but lately I have become dissatisfied with its use, because it tends to slips when casting. I know you are not going to be doing a lot of false casting when fishing with an indicator but you at least want one that will stay in place on the line. Of course my very favorite is the dry fly as the indicator, but there are times when the dry is not the choice. It would be a lot of help to me and hopefully to others reading this post if I could get some  of your opinions on strike indicator, just as your opinions was a great help on my last post concerning fly fishing knots.

What is Your Favorite Fly Knot?

I never knew how important tying the correct knot was when it comes to fly fishing until I had some break offs. The knot is the key between you and the trout. Ninety percent of the time you are fishing with tippets and leaders so light that the slightest surge will either break the line or break off at the eye of the fly. Probably the most common knot is the clinch knot. I know that every fisherman or fisherwoman has their favorite. I prefer the loop to loop and the clinch knots. These were some of the first knots I learned how to tie and I have never swayed away from either. Killroys has some excellent illustrations on the following fly fishing knots,

Clinch Knot Duncan Loop / uni-Knot
Surgeon's Knot Barrel Knot / Blood Knot
Surgeon's Loop Perfection Loop
Albright Knot Nail Knot
Backing to Fly Reel Loop-to-Loop Connection
I am curious to know what fly knots some of you are using and why. Give me a comment.
P. S. You can watch the knot illustrations through video if you perfer. All the knots listed above are covered in the video. You will need to wait a few seconds between each knot presentations to see the next knot tie.

How Can We Get Our Kids Into Fishing????

I recently wrote a post on kids and fishing on February 18th. To be more specific I was wondering why there are not more kids out on the water fishing these days. This really concerns me because we are losing a whole generation of children to the wilds of present-day technology. I thought it would be interesting to have my wife do a fishing survey at her school. She conducted the survey in two of her classes’ simply asking one question. How many of you go fishing? What she and I found out were not surprising to either of us. She had 26 students in each of the two surveyed classes and found out that only 5 students really went fishing. That is 5 students out of 52 students. The five students who fished told her that their dad took them fishing when they were able to go. The parent is the first link to getting the child out of the house and interested in this great sport. I would have never got into fishing if it had not been for my dad. He fished and therefore he taught my brothers and me the sport. I still have fun memories of taking my son and daughter out on their first fishing trip. They both still fish with me today when they find the time. Take a look at my slide show and you will see both of them along with my son-in-law who loves the sport as much as I do. The following links Teach Your Kids to Fish and Reasons to Take a Kid Fishing give great examples of how one can get a child interested in going fishing and what to do to make it an unforgettable trip as opposed to a boring trip. Please take a moment and complete the survey question. I will run the survey until the fall. The data that is collected will be sent to Bass Pro, Cabelas, and Grander Mountain.

Fly Roding Deep Clear Waters

This is the second post dealing with light tackle fishing the deep clear waters. One of the best clear deep lakes in the South is Smith Lake in Jasper Alabama. We are talking about depths of 300 ft. plus at full pool. This lake is about 20 minutes from my house and is a perfect example of how to fish these types of waters with light tackle. Today I will be discussing the techniques I use fishing the fly rod with different flies. The first fly is the popper in a variety of colors and patterns work well early in the morning and late in the afternoon. I seldom use a dropper on the popper. I found I can maneuver the popper much better without the dropper. I have landed some of my best bream and bass just letting the popper set still for at least 15 to 20 seconds. Usually the strike will occur right before you move it. It takes a while for the fish to see the fly in these depths so patience is a plus in your favor. The majority of my casting is off the high rock walls where a lot of the quality fish hang out in the holes and ledges. If the bite is a little slow at times I will usually twitch it a little and bam it’s a hit. The fish’s first reaction is to go deep and keep going, and at this point it’s good to get the fish on the reel as soon as possible. I have found the best all around rig these waters is a 4X leader with a 5 weight forward line, 8 1/2ft. 5 weight rod. I have had some awesome play with this setup. True you are going to lose some fish especially if you hang into a spot in the 3 to 5 lb. class, but sometimes the challenge out weights the loss. As the day progresses I switch to a black gnat with a tiny red head. I fish this fly using the tight line technique with a small shot about 16” up from the size 12 gnat. I also used different weighted nymphs at times as a dropper to get the fly down. The dropper helps me increases my fish catch ratio. I have used both yellow and black gnat but the black has proven the most productive. I usually split the hits between the gnat and the different nymph droppers. I use a nine foot leader and at times I will increase it to 10 feet. Most of the time the hit comes before the leader has had a chance to sink to its given lenght. The tiny shad with the buck tail and the tiny bream with the buck tail are excellent sub surface lures. I like to fish both without a weight using a slight jerk and pause method. These little lures will produce anytime of the year, but has been at its best in the early spring just after the spawn. This is the time of the year when the bass fry is evident. These lures will duplicate some of the small bream and bass fry. The leaders used here are 9 feet. The last lure I like to fish with the fly rod is the keystone minnow. A lot of people like to fish this lure with a ultra light rig using a cork for crappie and bream, but I have found that this is one of the best lures I have ever tied on a leader to fish still waters with the fly rod. I only started fishing this lure this past fall on Smith and was amazed at the fish it will catch usually on the fall. I have caught bass, bream and crappie with this little lure. I use a 9 foot leader with these little lures. NOTE: You will need to use a tiny drop of super glue at the head of the jig to attach the body of the minnow to the head. I tried it without the glue and found that the body slides down on the jig head when you are casting or false casting. The glue works great. I haven’t tried it on moving waters such as the Caney but you can bet it will be in my fly box when I hit the Caney Fork in the spring. I fish it using the tight line method slowly working the lure back to me. The best minnow in this series is the one with the white eye pictured below. It is only an inch long weighing in at 1/64 oz. Really a deadly lure with one draw back---be prepared to have your leader broken a number of times because the hit is fast and hard and a lot of times you don’t have the luxury of getting the fish on the reel, but it surely is fun trying. I have had numbers of break offs fishing this little jewel. As you can see I am really into the light tackle, mainly because I love the challenge of landing fish that is sometimes superior to the tackle and line I am using. Nothing like it!!!!