Fluorocarbon Leader/Tippets a Winning Combo For Me

I have got into the fluorocarbon thing as far as leaders and tippets are concerned.  I like the fluorocarbon leaders and tippets much better than anything I have ever used because of the stealth technology and its strength. Another thing that impresses me about this leader is the non existence line twist that the tippet possesses. On most of the leaders I was using especially when fishing larger poppers for bass was the tippet twist. Most of the poppers I fish are the number 4 and 6 with the concave face. These type poppers will twist most conventional tippets when working them back to you. I switched to the fluorocarbon tippets recently and eliminated the twisting effect with a 3 and 4X size. Not only did these tippets work to perfection for me but I get the added bonus of the stealth technology. I am referring to the Fluorocarbon Mirage Leader/Tippet combo from Orvis. I really like the loop to loop connection for added ease and quickest of the setup. Orvis has got these combo’s at a great price right now for 9.00 instead of the 19.95 original price. When researching leaders lately I discovered Orvis offers a great Guide Chart to help you determined the correct leader and tippet size for any type fishing you might be doing. Check the chart out it is well worth the look. Have a great week everyone.

Why Didn't I Catch Fish The Last Couple of Days???

I spent the last three days this week in Mississippi, crappie fishing with my brother. The fishing was tough to say the least. We fished for two days using the Spider method, and were able to land only five crappie.  For those of you who not familiar with Spider Fishing check out the link for a trip I did with my brother back in the summer.

When one makes a trip like I just made and only lands a few fish in a number of days it makes you wonder why wasn’t the fish biting? Well there are lots of factors that can affect the fish bite, and usually it is not the lure alone. Wind out of the east, high barometer, lake falling, approaching cold front, and cold water temps and last most all the fish were under lily pads located all around the lake and covering the back area. So when some of you guys are out on the water and not landing any fish, you might want to consider some of the factors mentioned above before blaming it all on yourself.

The Realistic Craw From Pat at SUPER FLY

I recently order some Crawfish flies from Pat at Super Fly. I got them in the other day and have not have a chance to use them as of yet, but I will be on the water with them next week. This week will be taken up with a crappie fishing trip to Mississippi. I have order these Craws from Pat before and was really impressed with the number of bass I landed with them. These Craws are especially good in the late fall and early spring on Smith when going after the bass and spots. These are some of the most realistic Craws I have fished and of course they are tied by the best fly tying Guy in the US. Pat’s work is phenomenal I have never seen flies tied with the precision and care he takes to turn out these masterpieces, and to me that is what his work is. I can’t wait to get out on the water next week and give the Craws a try. Thanks Pat for sharing your work with the entire fly fishing

community.

These really look like the real thing!!!

Super Realistic

Masterpiece

Another unbelievable tie

Another awesome color pattern

Awesome Streamer

Great Information Concerning Your Drag System on Your Fly Reels

A two fold post today, first dealing with a short trip to a 10 area pond that is fished very little. Usually when I make this trip I can expect to land numbers of gills and bass, but nothing was happening at all on top today with the bass. My buddy and I did manage to land some bluegills with the brown bugger and a small stonefly. Yes a stonefly size 8 was actually attracting bass 4 to 5 ft. deep. The trip ended with 20 or so between the both of us.
Now to the second part of today’s post which is something that I thought I would past along to you guys in case you didn’t realize it. It has to do with the drag system on your fly reels. Some fly reels have the feature to change from the click drag to simply using your palm as your drag or palming. Redington is one company that has this feature. I have used this feature on my 5/6 Drift Redington. To change the drag system on the Redington, simple remove the spool and turn the drag dials so they will not be in the click position. By during this you have change the drag system to the palming feature. In other words you have a fly reel with a free spool, which means you can spin the reel face and take up line a lot faster than one can by reeling in the fly line. I have used both methods and really like the free spool feature, because of the line pick up. I am just curious to know if any of you guys have tried this feature.



A real surprise here with the Stonefly, when you think Stonefly you think Trout