Reversing a Slow Day on The Lake

The closer it gets to cold weather here in the South the harder it is to find and land a quality fish on any body of water. That was the case Monday when I ventured out on Ryan Creek which is one of the main creeks that Smith Lake possesses. I was going to fish for crappie under the docks in water 30 to 35 ft deep using a small spoon jigging it up about two feet and letting it flutter back down, but that proved useless. The only thing I landed was a small spot that hit the spoon on the fall. So I decided to change tactics and go with the 5 wt. fly rod, which I had rigged with the 6 size Boogle Bug. This setup was the only thing that saved an otherwise slow day. I was fishing right before a cold front that was pushing through that night so there was a bit of top water action for a couple of hours after lunch.

This will be my last warm water fishing trip for this year. I will retire my bugs and rods until next spring. I intend to continue my trips below the dam for trout, so keep an eye for those post. Have a great weekend everyone.

Still after the Boogle Bug even in water temps 70 degrees

This Spot inhaled this Bug as if it was Spring Time--I need to work on building up my right arm because I know come Spring I will be landing Spots larger than this guy.

The weather was even warm enough for this guy to get some sun.

Enjoying Some Fall Fishing

Well for the past couple of days a couple of my fishing buddies and I have fished some of the local waters near home. The trips were more of getting outdoors and enjoying the great weather we have been having here in Alabama, than landing fish. The fishing this time of year in the South can be slow for the gills and bass, and the recent trips prove that to be true. I am looking forward to next week's trips because we should be able to get into some crappie deep around the floating piers on Smith. This time of year the crappie move up under the piers and feed on the minnows and small shad that are found there. The long crappie poles and tube jigs are excellent for fishing the deep water in confined quarters.



This gill buried this popper down deep

A little variety here with the catfish on the olive bugger. It put up quite a fight on the 4wt.

Jeff landed this nice one on the same colored bugger on the 4wt.

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

The Bunny Butt Slider A Winner For Top Water Action

I ordered a different pattern popper the other day. They are a variation of popper and streamer mixed. That is what attracted me to this style from the get go. I was looking for something that would move a little water and at the same time get the attention of the fish I was pursuing. I found that in the Bunny Butt Slider. The creator of this specialty fly is Steven Milburn who I think has come up with a winner here. I received my order on Friday and will be giving them a try next week off the wall on Smith Lake. I think this particular popper will be the ticket for some fall top water action and early spring fishing on the lake. I first saw this popper in action when Jay Eubanks made a trip with me on Smith back in the spring and used the white pattern to imitate the shad population on the Smith. On a day when nothing was happening on top he managed to land a nice spot with that particular pattern. I knew then that this fly had something special that would trigger takes and that is what inspired me to place my order. After seeing the quality and pattern combination available I am impressed. I can’t wait to get into some spot action with this pattern.

All these patterns have their place during the fishing season. I like the black/red early at daylight, the chartreuse is really good early spring especially on Smith where chartreuse is king during that time of the year, and the grey would be an all day bug more so for those cloudy days and shaded areas.