My friend Matt Pederson loves log jams. He calls it Mining. He does it 10-15 minutes under each jam. Big heavy bunny leeches downstream are the ticket. He loses lots of flies but he says it goes with the territory. He bounces the big bunnies right at the edge of the log jams to get the big dogs to come out.
He uses a stout rod…he doesn’t like going way under them because they get tangled easily. You need some strong fluorocarbon and you need to get their heads up quickly. This black bunny leech has dumbbell eyes and is a great mining fly.
If you are in a pinch you could use a Hornberg. This would require a split shot at the fly or a split shot about 12 inch above the fly. The 12 inches above works even better because the fly flutters in front of the log jam and teases the big dogs and they come out to play.
Coneheaded Turkey Leeches also work well.
I met Mike eons ago at the Spring Creek Festival that Nohr Chapter use to put on. We were talking about log jams and I suggested to him to use the down stream mining tactic. I even told him exactly were to go. Mike is from Iowa but the next season he was non the Pine River using my Mining suggestion. He fished exactly where I told him to. The log jam directly behind him is where he caught this football. His biggest EVER brown!!!
That’s a lot like the strategy some guys down here use for large bass, large baits thrown in among the jungle and heavy line to horse them out.
Doug, I don’t know but the leech pattern looks like natural marabou off a turkey. I had a guy in south Georgia gift me with a trash bag full of feathers he had picked off a turkey and there is lots of material just like that.
I suspect that fish is enough like a football for Rodgers to like.
(Note: American football, not the International game.)
Len, you need to be careful posting pictures like that or the River Monsters crew will show up to film an episode.
Hmm… I’d like to see that.
“Ex-police officer turned guide reported seeing dairy calves disappear in a gigantic swirl when they went to drink.”
“We’re here in Wisconsin in pursuit of the Denizen of the Driftless on this week’s episode…”
This was 9 years ago.
I haven’t guided in almost 6 years.
Mike was lucky he had a friend along with or there would have been ZERO chance
of landing that horse over that sheer bank.
This tactic is somewhat the same as one of my friends from Minnesota. His name is Andy Weaverling. I follow his blog and his pictures were amazing. His writing is very good also.
I contacted my person at American Angler and did a preliminary pitch for the story. The folks there liked it. I hooked up Andy and the editors there and in January 2013 Andy will have a feature piece for them. This guy is amazing. He typically fished by himself in tight quarters and catches some serious monsters.
