I went out there again this morning in the float tube. I had 4 hookups early on, 3 were just tugs, one was enough to bend the rod, but they all came unhooked immediately. I'm not sure if I need to be more agressive on setting the hook or what. I did manage to land hookup #5 though. I would have stuck around after that, but had to go to work. I was fishing using a 10' sinking tip on my floating line, using a white crystal head leech on a size 12 hook. (one from a fly swap here- I've caught a bunch of fish on it already.)
I'm trying to remember who tied it- I got two of them in the "a pretty sucky swap" fly swap. It's a very small clear/crystal bead, with what looks like white mohair with some flash mixed in, followed by some white marabou. The pattern seems pretty basic, but it's been a killer for me in lakes.
Well, I'm 1-for-4. I went out again this morning before work and got skunked. One fellow was leaving with his two fish just as I arrived at 7 am. I was then the only person out on the water until just before 9 am. The bank anglers seemed to be catching a few here and there. I'm coming to the conclusion that as handy as the float tube is, it's not the tool to use when I only have 2 hours to fish before work. It takes me half an hour just to get anywhere.
The weather cooperated nicely this morning. There were a few sprinkles as I arrived at the lake, but they quickly cleared out and it was a nice sunny morning on the water. Not much wind, so it was quite nice fishing on the lake. There was only one other boat at 7am, increasing to about a half-dozen boats by 9 am. I was in the canoe today, and I was able to cover a lot more water in the 2 hours I had to fish than I did in the float tube. Unfortunately I got skunked once again. I'm 1-for-5 now. The bait guys were doing well though, a decent amount of fish were caught today, just not by me.
My ratio there is something like .5 to 70, I think. (.5 since I think I caught one once but didn't land it.) I may go back to not catching steelhead next week. Not catching trout takes a lot more setup time on stillwater.
Fished it today as well. Must have been on the water after you had left. Stayed for 3 hours. I hit a decent bite at about 11 or 12 during a sunbreak. Ended up landing 3 and missed a few other bites. I was using a full sinker, though. Pretty cold out there at 10; I'm sure it was worse at 7. First fish was a little dark, but I decided to keep it for the smoker anyway. Kinda started to regret my decision when I realized what the white stuff was. Regretted it even more when I had to release a much fresher fish.
Yeah, when I'm there before work I arrive at sunrise and fish until 9. What were you using? And were you trolling or workign the shoreline or something else?
I was working the shoreline and trolling with a sculpin-y pattern. Those fish fought a lot harder than I had expected.
Went out last Sunday afternoon and had an enjoyable couple hours. Caught a couple fish and met two nice people from this board - Rodney and Steve. I can't remember their board aliases, though, but it was nice to chat with you for a while (and Rodney, thanks again for the use of your K-pump). -Marc
Hey Marc Were you able to meet Lue and his BARF? Lue gave me a call when I was finally pulling out of the launch area, and he had 8 to the net in less than 2 hours (I only caught 2 in 4 hours). I can't believe BARF is catching so many fish, well, I have tied up a few of my own, and I plan to give them a try tomorrow. I will let you all know how it goes. I will let BARF be a mistery for a while longer It is really great to meet so many nice people that are willing to share their experience with a newbie. It hasn't been a full year since I first touched a fly rod, and I am now a "experienced newbie" who has caught 95% of my fish on flies that I tied. Thanks Lue! I am officially addicted to fly fishing! -Rodney
I'm not 100% sure here, but if Lue is the guy in the red pontoon boat then I heard him talking about his great day. I didn't see his BARF, but I think I have pretty good idea of what it is, and may be very similar to what I was using. Hope to see you out there soon.
what size patterns have you guys had success with? I went friday morning and am pretty sure I'm the only one on the whole lake that didn't even get a bite.
The fish are lurking at the bottom so I have beeen fishing with a full sink line. The answer to your question is contained with the acronym B.A.R.F size 4-8 hook, the B and the R are the key components to the equation. I was there on Sat (9 to 3), and I got 6 to the net, and annoyed another 5 or so. I broke off my 4 LB leader a few times, and after losing my last BARF then and only then I decided to go with 10 LB leader to deal with snags and tough fish. What patterns did you try?
I've had success with both big (size 4) and small (size 16) patterns, in olive, black, and other colors, so it doesn't seem to be a size/color thing. I agree with Rodney above, depth can be a key. Catch me next time you're out and we can talk. I'll be in a blue Outdoor Sports pontoon, probably black w/ blue jacket.
I used size 8 black and olive wooley buggers with a deep sink line. Wish I could ditch work today to go try again.
I fished the Beav today and thanks to BajaFF I did pretty well. Didn't get on the water til noon and had my first hit, a 22 incher, about 40 minutes later. Fishing low and slow...if you think you are going to slow, slow down some more. Type V full sink with buggers both black, burnt orange, and red. Nailed a fat 17 incher that was probably 2.5 lbs. As I was heading back from the far end I was still trolling my bugger setup when a fish swirled 15 feet away. I recast my buggger away from the swirl and grabbed the 'mid rig. Cast that to the swirl and 20 seconds later the indie dropped. The fish fought real well and as I was yelling to my buddy my bugger rig started going crazy as well. So there I was with two fish on two rods. I yelled to my buddy who came over and landed the bugger fish. In the meantime I landed a nice 19-20 Kype Jawed Bow with a dark red band across the body. Great end to a great day.
I fished Beaver yesterday and got my SKUNKED, LOL. I threw everything that I had at those fish, and nothing absolutely nothing...not even a hit. You just have to love fishing so you don't go crazy when you are not catching anything especially at body of water that you have figured out (well, thought I had figured out) I have fished 10 hours this year with 1 fish to net so I need to start catching some fish to improve my hours to fish ratio
