T. Wiles
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Foam diver tied in black or purple..great for strikes on surface.
Wool head with Zonker tail tied in, then palmered for bulky body.
Early Spring redemption Smallie after getting skunked on previous trips:
Mid fall brown 15-18lbs, on a clear night below freezing, fishing solo in my canoe around 3:30 AM after my brother went home:
Here’s to 2008……my best year so far on the fly.
Sorry to mislead you Kevin…I JUST found out that he sold the camera yesterday. With the way everyone’s budget is right now, I’m sure you’ll find some great deals.
Travis
My experience with 6x fluoro (Rio and Umpqua):
If it gets hot (in the car) or repeatedly dunked and not dried thereafter (with the spool elastics off)
it’s toast!If i’m after finicky big trout, I always test the knot strength before I go to the water.
Both great rods, depends on your casting preference.
I absolutely love my Axiom 6 wt (best smallmouth rod you can buy for the $ IMO)…but getting the line wt match up correct took a little trial and error.
Thanks for the replies guys.
Escaping crowds is my game. Although some fish were staged in gravel shoals….the best fishing came from chest deep seams in flat water beside a clump of large submerged boulders. The fish were not visible, and remained glued to the bottom in the frigid water, and finally gave in to tiny emergers and size 20 midge pupae ticking the bottom.About the time my brother said, “I’m cold….we should head out…they’re not really biting anyway…” That was the moment I finally got my tippet/fly/lead combo dialed in…then the catching began. In a 40 yard stretch of water that we had previously neglected, we began hooking several nice fish, and even had on a few doubles as we tandem drifted, the slow, subtle hole.
On two occaisions, (once for me and once for Jay) we had this scenario: a firm set the hook with solid stop in the rod. A couple of tugs later to free the rock from the fly..we realized they were fish with mighty side to side head shakes. Neither of us saw either fish, but the subtle calm, then the brief chaos of zinging drag rattled us both into expressions of terror.
Hope everyone else is enjoying the peace of this wonderful winterAfter 3 hours of SLOW night fishing….the magic hour struck….These were two of several nice browns hooked between 3 and 4 AM.
Travis
Plant the carcass above a productive riffle, then come back in two weeks with flesh flies ready to go. 😉
Lando
What’s up with the Mc Donald’s French Fry flies in the worm box? Must be for lazy urban trout with obesity issues. ;D
I’m with Zach, never much confidence in wormin’…but I might have to change my ways.
6wt rod, with 7wt floating GPX—-15 lb fluoro tippet.
No weight on fly—these fish are looking up, and we’re casting into heavy cover–snagging logs sucks >:(.
I didn’t even realize there was blood in the photo…good eye.
Actually, that was the last fish caught at about 3:00 am as we neared our takeout–I put up his photo before the larger fish. As I’m typing now, I can see several nicks, scrapes, and cuts in my fingers and hands from snatching those big flies out of the toothy jaws of head-thrashing browns—in the dark no less. None of these fish were deep hooked, luckily. I’m pretty sure that I’m the one leaking. You can even see in the first photo(a week earlier)…these guys will tear your hands up.
I have missed strikes from some trout that had to be beasts. Recently, on a new stretch of river wade fishing, I had one breeze by me that pushed a wake like you wouldn’t believe. I literally thought it was an otter or beaver until I spotlighted him—had to be over 15lbs. I hope I get him next time…
Travis
Zach,
I know my Optio is no contest to your amazing precision cameras, but I figured this would be a good shot to show the most fashionable fishing crew with whice I’ve ever shared a boat.Craig,
I’ve fished my first productive smallie season with a rod that I have been exceptionally pleased with…the 6wt TFO Axiom—-9ft.
Here’s the catch, with the hardware and action, it’s really close to a 7.5 wt. I cast 8wt floating line, and 250 grain (Tropic Express SA), and it flat out LAUNCHES both! It’s got a smooth spring-action dampening effect, and only a few short false casts, and I’ve been able to cast farther than ever.
My buddy John throws a 7wt TiCrX and I also love this rod. It’s got a little softer load on the rod which “cushions” your back cast a bit more. I consider myself a bit aggressive while casting, so I still prefer the Axiom, but both would be Sweet rods to start smallie fishing with.I’ve owned the rod Since February, and those smallies really gave it a workout this season.
Andrew, we often rig up with large flash fly streamers, Todd’s wiggle minnows, large (#4 and 1/0) buggers heavy weighted, and the Foam Diver pattern that I posted in fly tying a few months back.Only a few weeks left before the fall bite starts winding down…Better get out while the bite is great.
Travis
