Another Fishing Report

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Fishing was tough, or at least it was for me, this weekend. I got down to the water about 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and fished for about an hour before they started generating. Got a few strikes on a new experimental fly I'm trying, hooked one but didn't land it, missed a couple of more strikes but didn't get the hook set. Came back after supper and tried again. I fished from about 10:00 p.m. until just before midnight. Fish 2 - John 0! I whimped out after I couldn't feel my nose or fingers any longer.

Started again about 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. Tried several fly's ranging from dry's to leeches. Finally found the key; a #8 black wool head leech fished on the bottom. I'd site fish, letting it set on the bottom and gently twitching it causing the rabbit tail to flutter in the water. Had several show some serious interested, more that hit it but couldn't get the hook to set, and five to hand with one breaking off. The best was a 23" brown that play'd cat and mouse with me for a while. Enjoyed the game as she would charge the fly then stop short and watch it. I'd twitch it and she'd charge again. Finnaly got her to take it after ducking it around a rock. The hunt was as much fun as the fight. The one that broke off was about the same size as her.

John

[Danoinark]

Don't see anything wrong with that kind of day John....

[D.T.]

John, we were there from Thursday through Sunday and you are not the only one it was tough for. We fished from 8:00 am to dark Thur, Fri. and sat. and 7:00 am to about 2:00 pm today. The first day we each caught about a dozen these came on olive brown sg-bugs, gray bit scuds, gray soft shelled scuds a primrose and peral midge and a uglys midge. we fished above rebar, below rebar, in the narrows, between outlet 1 and 2 and at rocking chair. our numbers dropped to 5 or 6 each a day the rest of the weekend. I was very frustrated because I have been used to much higher numbers in the past. I got to thinking about this on the way home and I remembered somthing from the book Trout Bum by John Girach, He said that he doesnt care for guys that are concerened about numbers or that are not satisfied unless they get a fish over 20" that it is more about the experience. I realized I get caught up in the numbers game and the whole reason I got in to the sport of flyfishing was the beauty and nostalgia of it and that made me feel alot better about my trip. Besides 4 days on the water is much better than work, fish or no fish.

Dave.

[MOBass]

I was down on Sunday from 9A to noon. I ended up with 5 fish from 12-18" to hand with a bunch more missed. I fished glow balls in white and apricot and a white wolly bugger. There were a couple of pigs that took a hard look at each of the flys but wouldn't commit.

I learned a little yesterday that I am sure most guys that have been fly fishing awhile know and that is to sharpen the hooks. After missing a couple of fish I realized the hook on my glow ball was very dull. I changed out to another one as I didn't have a hook hone with me. I am off to the store before my next trip to add a hook hone to my vest.

[Snow Fly]

MoBass: You probably already know this on glow balls it helps to open the hook gap slightly and bend the hook slightly off center to increase your hook ups. Have not fished glow balls in a number of years but I did find this to help on the hook up.

[MOBass]

I open the hook gap a little but haven't given them an offset. It looks like I was half way there at least. I'll try to give them a little offset to see if that helps. I enjoy seeing the fish go on point and scarf the egg, but it is a bummer to see if pop out on the set. I have tried setting the hook different ways and the resulst are about the same. Does anyone have a prefered method for setting the hook with a glo ball?

[Greg]

I fished Sunday afternoon from about 3 PM until 5:30 or so. They had just turned on a unit shortly before I got there (just my luck!). I got skunked for the first time in several years at Taney. Not a single fish brought to hand/net.

But I did have some excitement. Hooked a big one. I was fishing a 2 fly rig with the bottom fly being tied on with 7X (I know not smart with a unit running). I couldn't put a whole lot of pressure on him because of the light tippett - but he ended up taking all of my fly line and most of the backing even with me running downstream after him. And I don't think it was foul hooked but couldn't tell for sure. He broke off when I palmed the rim to try to slow him down when I was almost out of backing. Too bad I would have liked to have at least seen it. I was fishing a brown scud and a zebra on the dropper. Not sure which he took but I suspect the zebra on the 7X.

Good few hours even though I didn't actually catch anything.

[MOBass]

I have never fished a two fly rig before. Do you fish it under an idicator or are you using one of the flys as an idicator and then a dropper below it? Do you rig the dropper on a lighter tippet so you don't break of the whole rig if you snag on the bottom?

I want to fish a two fly rig on my next outing and figured it might be a good idea to find out how to rig it. Of course not knowing how to do something hasn't stopped me from trying stuff before.

[Snow Fly]

You can use an indicator with the fly then tie the second fly with the length of tippet set for the depth of water you plan to fish. I use the same size tippet for the trailer as I use off the leader. Tie the second flies tippet to the bend of the hook of fly # 1.