Hi All,
I have had a very poor summer since this spring. Did great in the spring.
The question is what will work now?
What time of day do you fish? How deep? Patterns? Where can the fish be found? Etc.?
Thanks and regards,
Gandolf
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Hi All,
I have had a very poor summer since this spring. Did great in the spring.
The question is what will work now?
What time of day do you fish? How deep? Patterns? Where can the fish be found? Etc.?
Thanks and regards,
Gandolf
Here in So Cal I am still catching some fish on topwater but that is slowing down now. For most of this year I have been using sparse flies tied on Wapsi fly tying jig hooks in 1/124 and 1/80 oz sizes. I just tie in a few strands of marabou and wrap the shank with marabou, dubbing, or peacock herl. I have put rubber legs on these but the presence of the legs does not seem to make a difference. I fish these under an adjustable indicator (bobber) to control depth. I tend to work shallow early and late and deeper mid-day. I get quite few bass doing this too, including some 3 and 4lb fish. I also use small wooly buggers on size 10 and 12 hooks, tied sparsely.
On my waters, the first three hours after sunrise and the last two before sunset have been best lately, but I do catch fish all day. If the pattern is consistant, the full moon this week will produce a weaker morning bite and a stronger late afternoon/early evening bite.
i went out yesterday and they were still looking up. used this
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...luegillbug.jpg
Still catching enough on top to keep me doing it, but with a soft hackle or ant dropper. The dropper is catching the majority of fish at the moment and it won't be too long before I'm back to soft hackles and small leech patterns for the rest of the season (season defined as the time left before the water gets too solid to get through with a fly :)).
I've had good luck using Orvis's epoxy minnow size 12 in red. Lately I've been experimenting with olive over white Myakka minnow in the same size with similar results. I guess what works in your area would depend on what the fish are feeding on and what you have to do to get the fly in the strike zone.
I caught about 10 tonight on a white woolie bugger. For bluegill, I tie mine without the hackle up the body. Just white chenille and white maribou featehrs for the tail. The one I was using tonight was about a size 10 or 8, can't remember what size I tied that one on.
It has been cool here the past few days. A slow retrieve worked best.
Jeff
Kentucky.
check out my posts from a week or two back, I got a lot of great advice on fall patterns.
depending on conditions, most trout flies will work great, I like to tie the scrap pile flies for gills, (hate to waste stuff plus its fun to see weird stuff working)
Hey Tailingloop, where are you catching fish? I live in Canoga Park and the only water near my (that I know of) is Lake Balboa but I haven't had a lot of luck there. I've been catching small tilapias.
Hey Norm that scorpio fly looks great, what type and size of hook do you tie it on?
Later
Martin,
I'm in San Diego. I fish Otay most often. Lake Barrett when I can get tickets. All of the other local lakes like Sutherland, Hodges, Dixon, Poway, Murray, Loveland and El Capitan are good for bass and bluegill too.
I just received a 2wt. from a board member on the ultralite board and I used a #10 popper and a #10 peacock estaz wooly bugger for 3 hours..
http://ultralightflyfishing.yuku.com...avid-Gale.html
Jim
Hi, Gandolf
I don't know if Steve ever shared with you the successes that I've had with the Stayner Ducktail or not, but I know he had become a fan of it as well (I'm sure he told you about HIS success with it!). Tied without weight, the chenille body makes it sink slightly under the surface. With a bead head and maybe some more weight wrapped around the shank, it sinks as deep as you want it to. It is a very versatile and highly effective fly and you can tie it as small or as large as you think the bream want it. And bass love it, too, if you don't mind catching a few of them while you're after bream!
Joe
This time of year I switch back to all black leeches for bream, especially around the brush lines or tree tops. As the water gets cooler and the fish move a bit deeper, I switch over to Carter's Sculphin tied in basic black with grizzly collar. I fish this pattern all winter with good success on big bream, crappie and the occasional LM bass thrown in the mix.
Jim Smith
I need to add this about the stayner ducktail it can be a killer on shellcrackers when fished
below a strike indicator--I caught several this past couple of weeks when fishing a reservoir in east Alabama.
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the post. It made me think of Steve. I had thought of him just the other day when I went out after bluegill.
Steve did mention it a few times, that he had been using one some, that he liked the pattern, and that he had had some success with it.
I have missed Steve this summer. Because of my schedule in the past, I had not gotten to fish much, but this winter Steve and I had talked about fishing more together this summer, as I was going to have more time than in the past.
What sizes do you tie it in for the various species? Do you tie many weighted? I have a few, #10s and #12s, none of them weighted, but maybe I need to tie some weighted ones. Steve was one of the reasons I tied some. Do you tie it in the alternative colors that are mentioned in the warmwater feature on it in this web site. (I think it was called the Blond Stayner.)
How do you fish it?
Thanks and regards,
Gandolf
Hi, Gandolf
The blond one with the yellow/olive variegated chenille is the most productive one I've used. You can use any color at all for the body - and it certainly doesn't have to be chenille. There is one variation called the "'Lectric Ducktail" (I saw it in "Southwest Fly Fishing", I think) that uses much brighter metallic chenilles in different colors. I've made some dubbing brushes in "bass" colors and some in "bream" colors that work great, too.
When I'm tying them now, I'll tie 2 weighted to 1 unweighted.
As far as size, #8's and #10's in a 2XL hook (I use Mustad #9271) are about as large as I go. They tend to helicopter on the cast and on the retrieve if they get any bigger than that (at least mine do).
I think the key is to use an erratic retrieve with short jerks and then a pause. Looking at them in the water, it is amazing how much that simple little fly looks like a swimming baitfish.
Joe
update: Just went out to a local pond this morning before work. Fished a small popper with a soft hackle dropper. Caught most of the gills and the one bass of the morning on the popper. However, the two biggest gills (8 inches each) came on the soft hackle fished about 2 foot below the popper.
Update: Yesterday evening I went to my favorite municipal lake to try for some bluegills or crappies. The myakka minnow ceased working but a yellow bead head boa yarn leech worked fine. Once I put it on my catch rate was probably as good as or maybe even a bit better than a spin fisherman using a bobber & worms.
Had alot of luck this weekend with a simple unweighted yellow chenille wooly worm with a short red yarn tail..no hackle. Size 10-12.stripped steady at about 10-18" below the surface. I tried a couple of other patterns with no interest before that but when that hit the water they came alive...
Did real well with a size 14 squirrel tail hot spot orange....14 small gill and 1 14" bass on a farm pond here in Alabama...Rob
Here in TN, the panfish are starting to come out of thier summer doldrums. Morning and evening are the best times. Fish are 5-10' deep for the most part, in and around structure. I've been tearing them up with black, slow-sinking Pom-Pom spiders, size 10. They are hitting nympths aggressively as well, especially damelfly nympths. My best patttern for that is the Twisted Damsel, sz. 14.
When it gets really cold and the fish really slow, I use an ant pattern. Just let it sink to the bottom and strip it really, really slow. It is a really hard for me to fish this way. I usually just fish for something else. Works though and you can catch some big ones. Try differnt colored ants, sometimes a color change speeds things up. (Red, Purple, pink, olive, sizes 8-12)
Good luck,
Gary
What will work for Bluegills this time of year?
Hummmm.......
Dynamite.
Dynamite works for any species, any time of the year.
Sonar (fish finder) is good if the water is cold and deep (lake) to decide on fuse length.
Works for bluegills. :lol:
Tied up a few of these for a swap.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i4...le-600x381.jpg
Kept a couple for myself. Hopefully get to try them out in the morning. Report to follow. :)
Tussle Bug didn't work :( (brown and yellow) but neither did a hopper, two different color mini-gurglers, Myakka Minnow, and all the flies my friend threw at them went for naught as well.
Lockjaw :confused:
GILS_GONE_WILD wrote:
They probably went on vacation and didn't send out a proper notice. Not very thoughtful of them to do that ;)Quote:
Tussle Bug didn't work :sad: (brown and yellow) but neither did a hopper, two different color mini-gurglers, Myakka Minnow, and all the flies my friend threw at them went for naught as well.
Sonny, Sonny, Sonny... You must get it right. No fly fisherman would ever use dynamite. DuPont spinners maybe, but nothing so gauche as dynamite.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonny Edmonds
;)
Regards (from a safe distance),
Ed
If they are deep enough to need sonar use hand grenade. Gets the deep ones.
LOL!
One winter the fish were in a thermocline at 50-60 feet. We tried for 4 days to catch any. None near the upper water.
When we trolled Rapalas on a down rigger at 50 feet, we caught trout. That was day 5 of our trip.
Then we came home. New Years fishin in Southern California. :p
Here on the high prairie we have ice on the rocks so wading the creek is out as it's far too slippery. The reservoir has ice around the edges so it's a no gobut thank heaven the rifle range is open. Guess I'll go shooting till I can get the camper ready and fly south. Arizona is a good thought as a couple of my old buddies from Spokane winter there these days but I really do need a Florida fix. I've two weeks of hunting season left with a couple Bull Elk spotted and a Big Muley to find but for certain I've got my rods rigged and ready from my 3 weights to the 12. I keep dreaming of a cove on the east side of the St Johns right near where it enters into Lake George that'll give you sore arms when the Gills or Stumpknockers are at home and hungy.
Bee pattern works very well.
Very easy to make.
- curved nymph or scud hook (egg hook in photo below......why?......that's what I had)
-(lead wrap to taste) or not
-yellow chenile to half-way point on hook
-black chenile from middle to eye
-black hackle over the black chenile
Easy and they love it!
http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...Dk1NS5qcGc.jpg
Worms, crickets, grasshoppers ....
Well, too, nymphs work good in the early spring and sometimes in the late fall. When they start hitting on the surface small poppers are hard to beat. Around here it varies with which color works best ... yellow, black & white, green and I've even got a purple one that has caught more than it's share!
Dale