Irritation and Frustration Can Occur Even in Fishing

I know fishing trips can’t be perfect all the time and I realize that sometimes things just don’t go as planned. I did a post some time back on whether you consider yourself a perfectionist when it comes to fishing. Well, I guess you could put me in that category because everything has to be working to perfection for me when I am fishing. One might say why do you put yourself through all that pressure or stress?  No pressure or stress here for me because this is the way I have learned to fish, but after all these years there are some things that still get next to me such as----

Line tangle on fishing rods---I hate it when your line from one rod in the boat, Suv, or truck gets tangled into the line of other rods in the boat.  The best way to avoid this is to clip your fly or lure into your hook keeper on your fishing rod, then wrap the line around the rod using your guides on the rod to hold the line tight to the rod itself. There is no way for the line on the rods to get tangled that way. One of my buddies had two of his rods to get tangled with his fly rods the other day in the back of his SUV. He spent the better part of 4 to 5 minutes getting the line on the rods untangled, what a mess. 

Line bend---I am talking about the bent line in your leader after it has set in the guide for a while. Even the line stretcher can’t get this bend out at times. I really like my leader to be perfectly straight when I am fly fishing. If your leader is straight without bends then your presentation of your fly will land more realistic. One of the guys I fish with never uses a line stretcher, instead, he just removes the leader from the package and ties a fly on and starts casting. I have mentioned and even shown him the technique of how to secure a straight leader, but he says that is wasting time. He seems to think casting will get the leader in working order---everybody to his own!

The tip of your fly line sinking below the surface of the water; a good line dressing will keep your fly floating nicely on the surface. The sinking fly line can cause problems with pick up and can also hinder the cast itself.

Line twist at the tippet end of the leader is one thing I have been wrestling with and I think I have solved this problem. I switched to a larger tippet and flies with less hackle to help with this problem. Nothing more irritating than a twisted tippet when you are landing fish

A bad cast not only cuts down on fishing time, but it can also cause knots in your tippet or upwards to your leader. This is really true if you are using a dropper which extends the leader length. You will know when you have hit that sweet spot with your cast. It is that feel and the sight of fly rolling perfectly out on the surface of the water. I have never been a big fan of false casting a lot. My son does a lot of false casting which in turn causes knots in his leader at times. Don’t get me wrong there is a time and place for false casting but with me, I use less false casting than the average fly fisherman.

This last one is listed for those of us who use boats. There is nothing more frustrating than to have some of your equipment on your boat to go out after you have got on the water. This can really put a damper on what was supposed to be a good day. Well, there you have it some of my under the skin-irritating things that get next to me. Have I missed some, if so feel free to add your own?

A 3 in 1 Punch for Today's Post--Nearing the GOAL!!

Today’s post is a 3 in 1 punch, with three different topics all in one package. I did a post about a week ago on the tiny Tippet Ring. I was looking for an easy way to attach your tippet to your leader, well I found it. Yesterday’s trip involved testing this little bugger and it proved to be a winner. I really like the fact that you don’t have to tie a blood knot when attaching your tippet to the leader when using this little ring. It is so handy you merely tie the tippet into the ring and you are good to go. I broke off a couple of times yesterday in a few trees and had to replace my tippet both times and was back to fishing in a matter of seconds thanks to this little ring. I hope it performs as well with dries and nymphs as it did with the poppers and buggers. I did notice I didn’t get one line twist when using the ring. Now on to the next bit of news—

 From time to time I am going to be featuring new blogs that I have found and joined up with. Today’s feature blog is Spare Time for Fish by Anthony Gardner. This blog has some great information on Warm Water Fishing. The blog covers everything from fly fishing accessories, fishing for crappie, crap, bass and yes bluegill. In fact, food is covered in this blog as well. If you haven’t checked out Spare Time for Fishing it is worth the look.
 Now for my quest or goal; for those of you who have been keeping up with my goal I am trying to land 100 super bull bluegill during the spawning period. Well, yesterday it just got easier. I started the morning at 5 AM in heavy fog and it didn’t let up until 7 AM. It was so thick I couldn’t see to navigate my boat after I launched so I just started fishing down the bank from the launch. Nothing was happening as far as the bass was concerned, mainly because of the fishing pressure all week from the Military Tournament. In fact, I didn’t land any bluegill until the fog let up and I moved up through Butler Creek which I had not fished since last year. I was using my 4 wt St. Croix 9 ft. with a Muddler Minnow. It produced early until the sun came up and then I tie on a Chartreuse Black-legged size 10 Betts Popper which worked better in areas where the sun hadn’t touched the bank. I lost two of these poppers in trees where the fish are never found, and manage to leave with one in tack. I was a little disappointed with the bass. I will take the bluegill any day when the big bulls are cooperating.

 One lone bass which was a largemouth that had been caught in the tournament. It had hook marks inside it's upper lip--this one came on the Olive Boogle Bug with the 5 wt. no more bass action after this guy

This one was really fat and put up some kind of fight on the 4 wt. I think next time I will bring along my 3 wt.

These count toward the goal, a couple here were near a pound. These 10 put me 38 away. I ended the trip with 16 brought to hand. I fished an area today where there was less boat traffic. The boat traffic is a killer when one is trying to fish on top with the fly.

Landing Super size Bluegills in Rock Creek on Smith Lake

Rock Creek was the target for today’s fishing trip. I wanted to go back to some of the areas I had fished three weeks ago on my bluegill quest; with a new plan in mind. The overcast skies and low humidity made the conditions much better than three weeks ago. I decided not to concentrate so much today on the bass, because here lately the topwater action has been extremely slow for the Spotted Bass and Largemouth Bass. I wanted to see if I could find the big bluegills back on the beds since I was fishing right after a full moon. As a lot of you know the moon phase triggers the spawn in early spring and again in June and the last one in late July or early August. This, of course, can vary in different parts of the country. I knew the bluegills would be back in the nooks off the main creek channel. As fate would have it I found my first big cluster of monster beds in a pocket of the main Rock Creek channel at 7 AM. I counted twelve huge beds with three big bluegills located on three of the beds. I have found that not all the beds are occupied on the second and third spawn, and in this cluster, there were only three beds being guarded. I positioned the boat so I could be horizontal to the back of the nook. It was a perfect set-up with no wind and the water surface like glass smooth. The water was extremely clear so I knew I couldn’t get close or they would jet out to deep water. My first cast was at least 50 ft. and the Betts popper landed gently on the backside of the bed clusters. I never move the popper, I just let it sit there for a few second and wham the popper was gone, and the big bull-headed straight for deep water. All big bluegills in this lake have the same objective when they take the popper to go deep and try to find the structure to break off. This one lost the battle in a depth of 30 ft.  I repeated this process six different times throughout the morning, locating beds and enticing the big takes and having a blast fighting these brutes on my 9 ft. 3 wt. The great thing about today’s trip was the hit, I could actually see the fish come up from 8 to 10 ft. deep to nail the fly. In fact, they would create a small wake towards the popper as they inhaled it. I can’t begin to tell you guys what a rush it is to experience that kind of action towards your offering, but of course all you know this I forget sometimes I am not conveying all this stuff to armatures. I ended the trip around 10 AM with at least 2 dozen bluegills which included some smaller females and males, a couple of small bass, and of course the 6 big boys I kept for my quest. I am now 26 away from my goal of landing 100 supersize bull bluegills during the spawn. It is going to be close but I think I may make it during the last spawn.  

First, of the morning, a great way to start the quest

Taking a picture while trying to get the boat back in position--little awkward

Popper for the morning, a Betts # 8 Yellow/chartreuse

All counted toward the goal--I need 26 more of these beauties

This one was the last of the morning --he was the only bluegill in a cluster of 6 beds, I lost one popper in a tree trying to get to him. I could see him, but he wouldn't come out from under a tree branch to get the popper.  After a number of casts the popper landed right in front of the bed he was guarding; he inhaled the yellow/chartreuse and the fight was on---a lot of effort but well worth it!!!!