Well I guess I am making process in flyfishing, I did manage to catch a fish yesterday (about time) a little 10 inch smallmouth out of the rocky river. I am still a little annoyed I cant catch more than 1 fish an outing, but I guess I am making progress, the fish took a yellow deer hair popper. I threw everything in the box at those darn fish and only managed one? I threw buggers, clousers, and some tied up whitlocks nearnuff crayfish, and I still couldnt get anything. Any ideas that will help my catch ratio? I know you will say do the same thing you did to catch the one fish, and I did and still didnt get a hit! Any ideas?
Are you “reading” the water?
Are you spooking fish by lack of stealth…either moving around the water or with rough casting?
…lee s.
If you aren’t reading Rick Zieger articles you are missing all kinds of tips to improve your catching rate. Changing flies, changing retrieve, changing the depth at which you fish…and on and on. Read more, catch more.
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
If my memory serves me I believe the formula is :
Maraboo Mudler = Smallmouth Bass…
Many a fine morning on the Nashua River where it flowed through Manchester NH gave tremendous fun with Smallies and once in a while an ambitious Chub, which can be a handfull on a 5wt.
Stay with it and vary your retrieve. Sometimes they want it to start/stop, sometimes just straight pulls. The colder the water, the longer the wait between pulls.
Smallies in moving water are worth the effort.
Clint
Smallie,
Don’t get too discouraged. With how low the flows are around here I am surprised you caught even one. Every time out is a learning experience so keep filing the data. If you fish for steelhead, use your smallmouth trips to also make mental or written notes on the local streams for good lies while the water is low and the holding areas are visible. You didn’t mention what methods you were using, but I have had some (I am also learning) success with minnow patterns on the Chagrin. Usually just swingin’ them. I caught a couple of small ones last week during my lunch hour drifting a red gurgle pop over a likely area. Don’t give up. I didn’t have much luck at all last summer for largemouth on a couple of ponds that I frequent. I know they have decent bass from previous years with spinning gear, but I really wanted to focus on fly fishing the last 2 years. Well this year is a completely different story. I had a blast 2 weeks ago, 14 fish on the same black gurgle pop. Some took it while popping, others wanted it to sit for a while.
If you venture over to the east side of town, stop by Chagrin River Gillies in Gates Mills and ask Mark Kasubik for some advice. Real nice guy, willing to lead you in the right direction. Give his retriever Otis a pat on the head while your there.
mac, I was doing all sorts of techniques. i would cast out to cover, then strip back, I would cast down stream and fish back up, nothing seemed to work…I like fishing the low water very exciting to see the fish take the flies. Also I did manage 9 smallmouth in all, 8 on spinning gear when I got too annoyed to cast my arm off for another 1/2 hour lol. O well, I am considering giving the chagrin a try, how would you rank it in terms of fishing?
My one fishing rule: try to learn one thing every time you go out. It is a good goal to have.
Fishing is hard to learn because the only thing that tells you are doing something right is a fish. I have seen people stand side by side, with close to indentical tackle, lures and retrieves, and see one person catch much more than the other. Or one person catches one type of fish, and the other another type. There are many subtle, almost unobservable things to learn, but when you do something right a catch a fish, it sticks in your system somehow and you can do that one thing again. You learn fish by fish, I think.
Russ
Sometimes it’s not the fly you use but what you do with it that makes the difference. . .
Smallie,
Please don’t be disheartened by your progress so far. Fishing is a little like becoming a billionaire—the first couple of million are the hardest part. You’re well on your way.
Your post doesn’t say if you are wading or not. My guess would be that you may be spooking fish as you wade from place to place. A couple of quick suggestions would include dark clothing (especially your hat), a little more distance in your presentations and a slow, steady approach to good locations. As you get to know your river better, it also becomes easier to avoid the cardinal sin of wading----don’t wade where you should be fishing.
Hang in there. 
BTW, summer can mean tough fishing in many locations; try early mornings and evenings. 8T
You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it’s a real short camping season.
On the rivers I fish in the summer,Mostly it’s popper time,they’ll usually go for either a white or brown…in size 6 to 10…always seems the smaller sizes got the most if not the biggest fish…usually start off with a brown popper that ends up white…they knock the paint right off em,on the susquhanna river…I’d assume these tactics are pretty much universal…
“I’ve often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before” A.K.Best
“Wish ya great fishing”
Bill
Smallie - Just a thought; you’re probably fishing closer with the flyrod than you do with the [shudder] spinnin… nope, can’t type it! You know what I mean. Try being “sneakier”. Move slowly. Cast the popper to the bank from out in the river. This works quite well at times. Fish a dropper [ghhe or woolly worm, etc].
Donald
Smallie14
From the sound of it to me, I think you are having trouble convincing the fish that what you are presenting is food.
You know how to catch fish, but do you know how to fish the flies?
Do you know what the fly does when it is in the water. Please do not take this wrong. I do not know how you fish, but I know how to catch fish. So try this. I do this any time I am not sure how a fly or a lure is working. Go to a swiming pool. Fish the pool, look at the fly is it doing what you thought is was supposed to do. If not fix it. I know in your mind you know what the fly needs to do to catch fish. But are you getting the fly to act like you want it to?
If the fly does not look alive you will only catch a fish once in awhile. That is when you accidently did it right.
Now if the fly is working correctly then I agree with some of the other post above. You could be spooking the fish.
Do you shave the morning before you go fishing? Do you put on aftershave? How do your hands smell or taste? This is going to be transfered to the fly. If you have aftershave on the fish can smell it on the fly and not hit. There are many reasons why you might not catch a fish. My advice is to sit down and look at the spinner and the fly rig, what are you doing different?
Is it the length of cast? Is it your accuracy? I have hit bass on the head before they would bite. Sometimes it is just the fish. Sometimes it is you.
We are all here to help, try to take apart your particular habits and see if something is different in your presentation.
Take a deep breath and write down what you are doing… I do not feel like you are fishing the wrong area because you can catch on the other rig…
Drop me an e-mail and we can discuss this at length. Heck if you come to my neck of the woods I’ll take you fishing… You might not catch anything here but at least you can have fun… <grin>
Good luck, I know you will learn this, just never give up… Fishing with a spinning rod beats sitting in the living room watching tv. Catching on a fly rod is better than almost anything else.
Harold
[This message has been edited by Harold Hattaway (edited 13 July 2005).]
i dont mean to hijack this thread, but…
harold, are you and your family OK? did this hurricane hit near you? please let us know all is well…
chris
Chris;
WE are all doing just fine, a little damage with the fence but nothing to worry over, not even filing a claim.
Thanks for asking.
I find that poppers are sometimes less appealing to bass than at other times. A more universal fly would be a Marabou Muddler or a wooly bugger. I like the White Wooly Bugger or an Olive color for universal options. Try those and good luck. I also caught only one 10" bass last night. Only difference is I’ve been flyfishing here in New England for 30+ years and I don’t know where you are fishing from (please fill in some of your profile it helps us help you).
jed
I dont think I am presenting the fly correctly. I think that my retrive is not working properly. What I do is I look for structure (boulder lets say) and cast right in front of it. The current lets it sink a little while dragging it right by the boulder. I then strip my fly in away from the boudler trying to cover the pool. So I basically cast straight accross the pool…good idea? Another thing that happens, is that when I do streamer fish, my line is never tight. Most of the time my line gets pulled down river faster, and I think that is a problem to, but I do not know how to fix it. I know you should mend, but that only works for a small ammount of time. I always see everyone stripping a streamer on a tight line at all times. Any ideas? I think it could be my casting but I am not sure.
To reduce slack during the retrieve keep the rod tip low to the water and follow the fly downstream with the rod tip. Try to keep as near to a straight line as possible.
One other thing: What did you use to catch fish with the spinning rod? Try a fly/retrieve combination that mimics what you know works.
Smallie,
I can’t give you a real good answer on how I rank the Chagrin, because I am pretty new to this as well. Last year and this year are my only experience for smallies on the fly. I live near the lower part, 10 minutes from Chagrin River park, I have caught a couple of steelhead there, but no smallies yet. I work close to the upper part near Solon. I haven’t been able to get out on the river much this summer. My first smallie this year , May 25th, was a nice 15" one, the other few I’ve caught were in the 9-12" range. I like the Chagrin because it’s close and pretty. Have you ever tried swinging streamers on the Rocky? Cast about 45 degrees towards the opposite bank, downstream. Let the current tighten the line, and the fly will arc across to your side, sweeping through some fishy water (hopefully). Let it hang in the current below you a few seconds. You can strip in some to imitate a fleeing minnow, then take 2 steps downstream and repeat the process. You can really cover a pool thoroughly that way.
Perhaps we’ll run into each other at some point.