I Have Gone High Tech on You Guys

Well I have finally gone High Tech on you guys. I am not talking about blogging; I am talking about my new Driod Razr Maxx smart phone by Motorola. I have been using the basic fold out version of the Samsung without all the bells and whistles for years and thought it was about time for me to move up and join the rest of the mad text scene. So now I am not only into the text mode, but into all the other features that comes with this incredible phone. You wonder how and what will be coming out next or better yet can the industry top what they already have; well I know they can and my Driod will be out dated in a couple of years. This may be old hat to most of you guys but this is a big step for me, especially when I told my wife a couple of years ago that texting was dumb, because I could dial a number and actually say what I needed to say in less time. As time has past I can see a need for texting, because on some days I can only reach my family or friends with a text message. The one great feature I really like about this phone is text talk, which keeps me from typing with my fat fingers. So now you all know that I have reached new heights in communication. I only hope I can keep up.

Getting Tougher to Reach my Goal of 100 Super Bluegills

I got back on the water this week for a couple of days. The lake has been falling and cool nights have put a damper on the catch ratio. There has been very little bass action on top or subsurface; but that is Smith Lake, deep, super clear and heavy fishing pressure. This lake has had three bass tournaments in the past month and that plays a big part in whether the bass is active. I have always heard that lakes that have a tremendous amount of pressure should be fished completely different from the way everybody else fishes the lake. I have taken that statement to heart some years ago when I started Micro Light fishing and Fly Fishing on the lake. These two methods of fishing are seldom used on Smith which has made it quite productive for me over the years, especially with the fly rod. I have only seen one other fisherman use the fly rod on this lake over the past ten years, and I hope that trend continues. I am still working on my goal every time I launch the boat here and today and Wednesday were no exception. Both days produced 20 to 25 bluegills with only a few big enough to count towards my goal. Wednesday was tough because the lake was falling and I had to go with subsurface flies such as the Upside Bream Killer and a size 12 Cream Nymph. I only landed a couple on top using the Humpy Green dry fly. Today was somewhat better but still limited surface action. The Muddler Minnow was the fly that got their attention today, but it only produced one good gill and a couple smaller ones. I used the Cream Nymph the rest of the morning to finish the trip. I can’t go to Smith this time of year without trying the Boogle Bug, but there was no action at all with the Spots and Largemouth bass. I thought I would never wish for hot humid weather but that is what it is going to take to bring back the top action. I am now 32 big bluegills away to reach my goal. It is getting tougher now that the spawn is winding down. I only have 2 to 3 weeks left.  Wish me luck!!!

Beautiful colored Bluegill right out of the water, this one counted

I counted two of these on Wednesday's trip, I landed numbers of smaller fish but they didn't make my count

All four of these counted towards the goal for Saturday's trip again I landed a lot of smaller fish but no count---Sorry no bass to report on.

I had to take a picture of this beauty, the colors on this sunfish are outstanding. I have never landed one any bigger than this guy.

The Beginner Package For The Fly Fisherman on a Budget

I know when you mention fly fishing to the average individual they either think expense or intimidating. I have had numbers of individuals tell me they would like to fly fish but they just don’t think they can afford the sport or it is too complicated to learn. One does not have to spend a pile of money to get into fly fishing. In fact you can purchase a fairly good combo at most outlet stores. Way before purchasing the equipment there has to be the desire to learn the sport and next learning how to cast. Some individuals may take fly casting lessons which can cost anywhere from 50.00 to 100.00.  To save money you can always get someone you may know to let you cast their fly rod for free. A suggestion here, don’t waste money on a fly rod and reel until you have had a chance to use one. I taught one of my buddies how to use one of my fly rods in last than hour last year on Smith Lake. In fact he landed his first small bass on that outing. Today he fly fishes with me all the time and absolutely loves the sport. After you have learned how to cast, you need a fly rod and reel. As stated earlier you can purchase a combo at an outlet store and the best for your bucks is Wal Mart. If you purchase the Crystal River combo, you get the 8 ft. 4/5 wt fly rod, reel with fly line, tapered leader, two sided fly box and the case to carry it all in for an unbelievable price online for 30.00. Now that you got your fly rod combo, you need to go out and land some fish. I would go to a local pond or small lake where you can get into some bass or bluegills. Landing warm water species with poppers will help you learn how to connect with your fly and learn how to play the fish.  You don’t have to spend loads of money on accessories to warm water fish. Again Wal Mart carries a variety of Betts Poppers, line stretchers, scissors, forceps, line dressing, floatant, tapered leaders, and tippets. All these accessories are the Fairplay Brand with leaders as low as 2.00, tippets 2.00, and the rest of the accessories under 5.00. Keep in mind you don’t have to buy all these items at one time; buy as the need arises. The Betts poppers are priced below 2.00 and will last numbers of trips. Wal-Mart carries a small fanny pack which is excellent to store all your accessories including your fly box. In fact I use a fanny pack to carry all my warm water accessories all the time, I just strap it around my waist and everything I need is right at my fingertips. Wal-mart not only carries all the Betts Poppers but a wide variety of flies for warm and cold water fishing. Everything I have mentioned will get you out on the water casting poppers and nymphs such as Wooly Buggers for less than 50.00. That’s not bad for the beginner fly fisherman who is looking to get into the sport and not go in debt to get started. Ricky over at Shotguns and Fishing Poles ask me to do a post on what it would take for a beginner to get into fly fishing. So this is my version, some of you guys might be able to do a better job and if I have left anything out please feel to add your comment.  

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!!!!

Adding to my Super Size Bluegill Goal

I made a quick trip to Rock Creek yesterday to fish areas of Smith that I haven’t fished in years. I forgot how beautiful the Rock Creek area is, especially the high rock wall formations with all the cave holes carved out in the walls. I was competing with a huge bass tournament with some 125 boats zipping up and down the creek most of the morning. I felt good about landing fish on top especially some nice Spots, but they were not cooperating. Even fishing the fly rod by myself in Rock Creek couldn’t entice a hit. I was fishing the Boogle Bug brand on my 5 wt and had my 4 wt rigged with size 8 Wooly Bugger. I have to add a plug here for the Boogle Bug; it has to be the best of the best when it comes to poppers. This popper is so durable and tough that they will last season after season. Back to the trip, I fished from 6 AM until 9 AM using nothing but the white Boogle Bug which during that time produced some nice bluegills to add to my total count for the spawn. I did release some smaller bluegills that for some reason thought they were big enough to inhale the size 6 Boogle.  The key to getting the big hit was placing the popper right against the rock wall. The hit would come 10 to 15 seconds after the popper had landed lightly on the water’s surface. These big bluegills seem to know when the presentation was heavy instead of light meaning no action. I never used my 4 wt all morning, because the action was fairly consistent on the popper, so why break up a good thing. After today’s outing, I am 48 away from my goal. Saturday morning I hope to add to the total and have some quality Spots to report on.

This bull inhaled the size 6 Boogle

Supersize gill off the wall

Three of these bluegills were between 8 and 9 oz. I said when I started my goal I would only count 8 oz. and above --the top and bottom gills were 16 oz. --they are like landing a spot when they turn their wide bodies sideways. They gave the 5 wt a bend!!---these 5 put me 48 away from my goal.

My Favorite House on Smith Lake--- and Fishing With Jason

I made an outing today with my son Jason. He had a day off so we decided to fish the lower end of Ryan Creek on Smith Lake. We were at the lake at daylight which is the best time to land quality fish using the poppers. The morning started off with a bang when Jason landed a nice 18” spot using an olive Wooly Bugger. The fish gave the 9 ft. 4wt. all it could handle by stripping drag numbers of times before he finally landed the fish. Jason is really into landing nice quality Spotted Bass. Nothing was happening on top, and the morning was slow especially after the sun came up. I will be making another trip tomorrow in hopes of adding to my bluegill goal---stay tuned.

Not big but quite a fight on the 4 wt he hit the size 6 crawfish

Jason with his 18" spot--they never quite fighting

This was a male spot caught in one of the many treetops on Ryan Creek

The Rhododendron is in full bloom all over the lake

One of three Bull Bluegills I landed using the size 6 crawfish--really surprised the bluegill's hit this pattern--but these big boys must have been hungry---I am now 53 away from my goal!!

There are a lot of big homes on Smith Lake, if I was offered any home on Smith this would have to be my favorite. The lumber in this house was transported by train from the countryside in New York. All the rafters, floor joists, exposed beams inside the house, and parts of the interior walls were removed from a barn in the countryside area. The sunroom in this house is setting out over the water; steel beams that are anchored in the rock wall support the sunroom itself. The garage is off to the right. The house is actually called the barn. I saw the owner one day on his pier and told me the story behind the house. 

Another view of this outstanding home on Smith Lake