Challenging Received Wisdom
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On Saturday I floated the Hooch with board member Andrew Wright from the Morgan Falls Dam all the way down to 41 bridge here in Atlanta. The weather has turned nice (in fact, I went from having a malfunctioning heater and waking up to build a fire due to worrying that my pipes would freeze on Thursday to having the windows open on Saturday). It was nice to be on the water.
Andrew and I chose not to fish for trout – Hooch stockers are of minimal appeal to me for the most part. Instead, we threw sinking shooting heads and sink tip lines with larger streamers (Fly Slama Jama, Double Bunnies, and Deceiver-style baitfish, mostly). Not only did we not have a single bite, we only saw one carp and three trout in the entire float despite having pretty decent water clarity.
We’d been told by everyone in town that the stripers won’t be in until late April and the shoal bass will be on the bottom. Fair. But, sometimes you just have to check the received wisdom on stuff like that. We still had a great time and I am planning on floating again soon (and bringing a backup five weight next time).
90% of my fishing in the last few years has been in low-probability, high-reward situations. When it comes to finding and catching bigger or rarer or more desirable fish, sometimes you just have to set out on your own and challenge the word of mouth you hear. 90% of the time the word of mouth is exactly correct and you’re just wasting your time. But 10% of the time, you’ll find something awesome. This wasn’t that weekend, but I still had a great time.
Zach
PS I will post pics in a bit – we saw some guys using Ping Pong paddles to quite literally paddle their way downriver in their float tubes. I also may have caught a fleeting glimpse of another board member as he made his way back into the bushes with a float tube on his back, but he was too far away to greet. 🙂
Dude, I thought that was you guys (were you in the canoe?). I should have said something. I was at the bend where we saw the rubber float parade last year.
BTW, I personally saw a guy catch a striper at the Devil’s Race Track on Saturday (between 285 and the big bend) – he was using a spinning rod in that deep deep pool and he caught it on a big white minnow pattern. It wasn’t a huge striper but they are definitely there to a small degree as carry overs.
It was down river from here (about 2 lbs best guess).
If you had the green canoe then yes, I did see you guys. And yes, that was me in the woods with the tube on my back.
Sure, we can challenge the wisdom – and should, but challenging the doldrums is often futile for me. They will bite when they are ready, and around here they still aren’t ready. We can faintly smell it though. It’s in the air. Shannon
Hey Zach I found a new shooting line this year that I really like. If you can find it try it out. It doesn’t hinge and dump as bad as most of the other shooting lines. Good stuff!
http://www.rioproducts.com/product.php?recKey=18
Zach,
I just got a SA Streamer Express Clear Tip line for my 7 weight for throwing big streamers on shallow rivers since ours is low and clear right now.
What separates this line from the others is the gradual taper from the Tung coated line to the running line. It cast much like a floating line and sometimes I find myself casting it over head rather then off to the side like I normally do sink tips. I’ve cast several brands and so far for what I do this one has impressed me alot. It has a floating running line and I was sure I wouldn’t like it. Turns out I actually like it better because it’s mendable. Sometimes pulling a line with a belly in it works great for pulling a fly downstream or down a bank. Sometimes I just want it to come straight to the boat perpendicular from the bank. The fl running line does both more easily and I don’t feel like I sacrificed any depth at all.
I’m using a 300 grain in the Rio and that wouldn’t be very good at all in 6’ of slow water like the conditions you mentioned.
For Low water that SA streamer Express Intermediate that John mentioned is pretty sweet. I use a 350 in it for big Striper flies.BTW did you stay till dark? If you’re Striper fishing in low clear water and you aren’t staying till at least an hour after dark then….
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