FishnDave

Not sure on bead head size/weight. If you plan to use a bead, I'd recommend a stout 90-degree jig hook to keep this somewhat horizontal in the water, and hook-point up. Something comparable to these... I like to tie these on the 1/48th oz Wapsi Super Jig Head. Has a better quality hook than some others. I've caught them on 1/80th oz and heavier, but the 1/48th, about 18" beneath the indicator, seems magic. In the summertime, during and after the mulberries dropping into the water, and all the way until about mid October or so....When that microjig and indicator hit the water, the grassies usually turn and swim over to investigate, and eat whatever landed in the water.

I flyfish for them a fair bit with a 6 wt or 8wt, 12 lb tippet. These are super-easy to tie, and have been known to catch more than a few grass carp and common carp.

You caught a big Grass Carp! Excellent! Yes, they will take crayfish flies.

Caught largemouth bass, bluegills, hybrid sunfish, green sunfish, and redear sunfish yesterday evening. Had a nice gar hooked up briefly.

I'd recommend upgrading your reel to the Lamson Liquid for the extra $17 or whatever. I had an Ion, and felt it was heavy. The Lamson feels lighter and I've had nothing but great performance from Lamson reels. Just my opinion, and fly reels may not matter much...but I do think you'll like it better.

Caught bass, bluegills, and hybrid sunfish on Saturday morning.

Redington has some species specific combos that include everything you need, besides maybe tippet and flies. Supposedly come with a good quality line. Got pretty good ratings. I haven't tried them. When I lived in Iowa, I flyfished for Largemouth Bass in public ponds, and Smallmouth Bass in a small river. Caught quite a few 18"-21.75" Largemouth, and Smallies up to @ 18". Those smallies were freaky strong! I like fast action 6wts for bass, and even ultra fast rods, if you can find them. And you can always upline with a 7wt WF line to help with casting heavier flies. 12 lb Fluoro tippet is about right for all bass. I have the TFO BVK rods in 5wt, 6wt, and 7wt. I have some other rods I like even better, but they are really really good rods, especially for the price. And the customer service/warranty on repairs has been good, too. My only complaint on the BVK's is, in every wt I have tried, the rod sections work loose when casting/fishing. Check and reseat them periodically while fishing, and its all good. I've cast rod sections out into the water many times with that rod line. Of course you just strip them back in, no worries...just a little embarrassing when it happens.

I only knew him from here...he sure could catch nice fish! Keep fishing, Rick! 🐟

Congratulations to all of you! 👍

They are fun. The bigger ones took me into my backing as they were unstoppable on their first run or two on my 6wt. Picked up a lotta branches that were in the water on my line too, in one area. Fortunately my tippet held. There isn't enough water for them to spool me, so I'm not forced to stop/turn them until they are ready.

Love the scale pattern on this one.

Those little fellas...that's about my speed right there. 🤪 You DO catch the heck out of 'em! 👍

Info I found: "Numerous studies have shown that the effects of manganese on fish include impaired functions of the gill epithelium, such as hydromineral imbalance (Gonzalez et al., 1990." and "Manganese is a relatively common, yet poorly studied element in freshwater ecosystems, where it can be significantly bioconcentrated. The knowledge about the mechanisms of Mn toxicity on fish health is still limited. The aim of the present study was to assess the potential induction of oxidative stress and the antioxidant response after a 96 h waterborne Mn-exposure (at 0.1 and 1mM) in gill, kidney, liver and brain of goldfish (Carassius auratus). Mn 1mM induced an increase of lipid hydroperoxides, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities in all tissues with the exception of SOD inhibition in the brain. Particular response of catalase (CAT) was indicated-its inhibition in the liver and kidney, but activation in the gill. Exposure to Mn 0.1mM provoked most prominent changes in the liver and did not change the indexes in brain. These results strongly suggest that Mn exposure caused a generalized oxidative stress in the fish and revealed an organ specific antioxidant response involving a differential modulation of the SOD, CAT and GPx activities."

Nice fish! 👊

Friday was my “drive home” day. Fished in the morning. Caught Green Sunfish, Creek Chubs, Knobfin Sculpin, a Hybrid Sunfish, Grass Pickerel, and Rainbow Trout. One pickerel was a recapture from Wednesday. Stopped at another place on the way home, but I felt it was too crowded, so I didn’t fish.

Thursday. I didn’t get skunked! I caught a fish at three of the locations we visited today, a bass and 2 bluegills. Had a few strikes from Spotted Gar… thought I was going to land the last one, but it spit the hook @ 3’ from shore. We canoe’d, we walked ditches, and fished lakes…and saw dead turtle shells. The rain this month really changed our expected fishing conditions and locations. The bowfin didn’t cooperate for me this time, but I got to see a lot of places where they live. Very different environments than what I’m used to fishing. Cool stuff!

Wednesday… miserable day, weather-wise. I saw an opening on the radar, so fished nearby. Fished for 3.5 hours… and despite wearing waders and a rain jacket, I managed to get wet tbrough every later I had on. My fingers stopped functioning properly, so I gave it up. I caught 10 species, and @ 40 fish… so it was a fun 1/2 day. I caught: -Creek Chubs -Green Sunfish -Largemoutb Bass -Bluegill -Black Crappie -Knobfin Sculpin -Longear Sunfish -Striped Shiner -Grass Pickerel -Brown Trout

Waters still high and stained. Today we fished a lake, a couple ponds, and some roadside ditches. @Ham can chime in with his catches. I caught zero fish. I had several strikes from gar, but always had the wrong fly on at those times. I did finally see a bowfin. Ham can confirm I got it to strike my topwater fly… but didn’t hook it. I found another turtle shell ( no picture), but @Ham found a box turtle shell!