Bass Fly Swap 2018 fishing reports

[BilletHead]

           Test run,

                Went to some ponds this morning to test fly's and see how you all did and see if anything liked them. So in honor of the swapmister Ness his would be first. The ponds are very weedy, submergent and floating vegetation. I like to fish this place from ice out until about now as the growth gets out of control. Lots of smaller bass with an occasional three to five pound fish. So I pick out one of the Ness Chip Foose paint job poppers. The smaller one with many legs. A few casts here and there and then a fish,    Next was one of the longer pencil style. Grabbed one, had bonus extra. Oh great the one I grabbed had an eye full of epoxy. Right then I took points off of this popper . Tossed it back in the bag and got a replacement and tied it on. Tried a couple spots and then it connected,

   Yes Ronnie that is a finger in the picture. Points off for the picture. Yes I was texting Ness with a play by play and he asked to try Kathy's (NessesLady) next. A nice Buggar with a bead head and some weight. I knew I would have to strip it fast to keep it above the weeds, it worked,

  Gurgler time,  So I tied on A flysmallie fly. Sorry Man but it called the smallest of the day. Everytime I caught a fish it was time to try another fly so the gurgler got one chance. Same finger that gets in front of the lens pointing at the dinky fish,   Fhsndoug fly next. Nice profile in the water, good colors too. Nice action. Second cast a channel cat slammed it and I am sure a bass would of if it had a chance,  Fly change to the Whiney John by flysmallie.  Liked the form and the action, darts like a fluke. The way the underlying bucktail keeps the front end fluffy and pushing water. Plus for the length there was no fowling on the cast. I hooked another channel cat but lost it before landing thus the fly got a free pass to try to catch a bass and it did,  There will be more tied this style as I have something in mind . 

I got or should I say a bonus fly by Ronnie but i have been told it is for Mrs. BilletHead so I did not get bass slime on it she will have to. This left me one more to try for the morning to complete fishing one from everyone. The Bou Pig. This would be a trick in the weedy ponds. Every time I let in drop down it got fowled in the plant life. See Here,

  I tried jigging it in fast to keep it out of the plants. So trash is all that it caught on it but I have a place or two for it to catch later. I think I will get a box or something to keep the swap flies in. I have plans on trying some of these also on temperate bass, actually a true bass and not the slimy green sunfish we call bass ,

BilletHead 

 

[ness]

Epoxy in the eye? Head's are gonna roll down in QC.  

[BilletHead]

5 minutes ago, ness said:

Epoxy in the eye? Head's are gonna roll down in QC.  

        I got an EDBD drill bit that will take care of the problem. Good thing I got bonus or you would of heard me scream all the way up where you live. There is no using another hook point on 30 min epoxy. . 

  BilletHead

[Flysmallie]

Both the gurgler and pig are better river baits. And then even the gurgler tends to catch more small fish some of the explosions are crazy wild. It's not a bad one to cast in the surf either.

Glad you like the Whiny John. Started tying something similar last summer that was basically a hairy Murdich Minnow. Then I ran across that Big Fly Fiber and that color spoke to me.

Ness is famous. 

 

[BilletHead]

33 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

Both the gurgler and pig are better river baits. And then even the gurgler tends to catch more small fish some of the explosions are crazy wild. It's not a bad one to cast in the surf either.

Glad you like the Whiny John. Started tying something similar last summer that was basically a hairy Murdich Minnow. Then I ran across that Big Fly Fiber and that color spoke to me.

Ness is famous. 

 

          That little fish came up from directly under the gurgler and took it with him over a foot high. Pretty cool,

BilletHead

[fshndoug]

nice catfish,always a bonus to catch something you are not expecting.That Gamakatsu B10 is sharp so be careful

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, fshndoug said:

nice catfish,always a bonus to catch something you are not expecting.That Gamakatsu B10 is sharp so be careful

       Oh I know about those hooks. Been tying on them for a long time. I have some 10's and then 6's, 4's, 2's, 1's 1/0,s and 2/0's . Buy them by the hundred. 

BilletHead

[BilletHead]

         More of those big green sunfish they call stinkin bass,

  Had what I call a rare windless day here in BilletHeadVille. Seems like this Spring it has blown everyday. I went to me favorite pond. I almost did not even fish this place this season. turned down for waterfowl by the owners son. He got pretty irate over that deal so I was not even going to ask for fishing permission. Well a couple days ago I was at a funeral saying goodbye to another long time friend. So as I was leaving I heard a voice hollering my name. It was the owner of this pond. We had a good visit and he asked if Pat and I had been fishing. I told him we had here and there. He than sais no 'I mean my pond. I said no and he asked why. I told him I was not going to even ask this year and he responded you tow go anytime you want. So this morning I grabbed the fly rod , waders and flys from the fly swap. Did not want to mess with the kayak and needed the waders to protect me mainly from the fescue that is pollinating . Stuff tears me up. I can walk through it and if I get it on me I break out. Walked over the pond dam to see chasing along the bank. Fairly early so I tied on a Ness popper and casted it out. Two twitches and it was on,

Missed another and then a solid hook up,  Ok this may be a good morning. Snipped off the Ness popper and since I have caught on every fly swap fly except mine I tied it on. Because of the grass along the dam I dropped off into the water and began to cast parallel to the bank. Strip back and step forward and repeat. Next two fish, Really good solid fish. I took a measurement from back of rod to the lettering on the rod making mental notes on length. The fish kept coming and coming. One after another, Fish were from a foot to two foot deep running in and out from the bank chasing minnows and bluegill. I did this for about 150 yards, turned around and worked back from where I stepped in the pond. Fish after fish came to hand . I finally caught a small one. A 12 incher . As the total got closer and closer to 20 fish I thought I would quit at 20 and I did with this fish,  Not a bad way to kill an hour and a half. Back at the house I took a rule and measured out the letter marks on the rod. Biggest fish made 18 inches a couple just under that and the rest just above the sixteen inch mark. the 12 incher figuring in my average was right at the 16 inch range. The popper was worked slow but the steamer pretty fast to keep it off the bottom moss and muck. The bass are very aggressive right now. Constantly working the shoreline feeding. Those fish I targeted , others it was a blind cast. If I missed fish I could make another cast and catch him or her. 

   BilletHead

[ness]

So, funeral schmoozing + ness popper = fish. Got the formula now. Thanks 😄