Rhode River - 10/29/2010

I got to the landing around 1:30pm today to find it a windy mess. It was blowing hard even in the protected waters of the creek. My first thought was i should have went on Thursday instead of today. Oh well i was there and i was going to make the best of the situation. This also put a major hitch in my plans to fly fish exclusively today.

I made a couple test casts with the fly rod and it was bad. I thought i had a 4/5wt rod but i now realize it is a lite 3/4wt. I'm not a good enough caster
to turn a 3/4wt line in a head or tail wind so back in the rod pod it went.

I paddled out to the piers and decided to concentrate on fishing the ultra lite spinning gear in hopes the wind would die down later in the day. I hit several piers and caught a couple small perch on a beetle spin with a white grub. I saw a area somewhat protected by the wind across the creek so i headed that direction. It was a small point with and a flat with several barges snugged up against the shore. Perfect place to put that paddle down and actually fish some and not have to constantly paddle to hold position.

I fished the spinner a while and caught several nice perch so i decided to pull out the fly rod in hopes of a hookup. It was hard for me to get the 3/4wt to turn in the wind but i tried for 30 mins with no luck. I know perch were in the area but they wanted nothing to do with my offerings. I tried the shrimp and clouser patterns with not a hit. I had some funny moments when a gust of wind would hit me mid cast and all hell broke loose (see bloopers). I now remember why the fly rod was so dusty.

I put the fly rod down for a better day and paddled to a point with a large flat semi protected from the wind and setup for a drift. On the first pass i hooked a nice schoolie striper around 16" (see striper vid). It put up a great fight on the ultra lite tackle. I caught a similar sized schoolie last trip here on the same beetle spin. I finished the day with 12 nice perch, 4 or 5 small throw back perch and the striper.

Video Recap of the day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBIZgln1KIo

Striper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxUP7-uAQkw

Fly rod blooper's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNwypmW02DU

It was a tough day out there today. I don't know what the wind was registering at but it was a blowing. A couple gust caught me off guard and almost slammed me against the pylons of the piers. It was well worth it though and a good half day away from the office. I made the right decision early by making the 30 min paddle up creek in the wind. This allowed me to drift and fish the rest of the day without worrying about a long paddle in a strong head wind back to the launch site at the end of the day. See old dogs do learn new tricks.


I also need some good gloves for the winter. The aqua skins i bought don't work well for fishing. I need ones that are thinner so i can feel the rod better. Another item for the list.

[DOGFISH]

I liked the bloopers. That is why they are called wind knots. I noticed that you put music over the bloopers. Was that to cover up certain language? Got to give you an A for effort.

There is alot of that sort of fishing in the Choptank, just below Denton. I have caught alot of white perch along the shore line there. Sometimes the perch are stacked up in small segments of the river, around brush. Have you ever tried to cast a very small jig head, like a 1/64th, with the fly rod? That may be a way toget the fly down deeper. If you tie your own, try wraping some lead wire around the hook, before finishing the fly or streamer.

[mmanolis2001]

I did have some choice words uttered during that

I have tried 1/80 and 1/100 oz jigs with marabou in the past with good results. It was just to windy for my skill level and that lite of a fly rod today. The shrimp and clouser i was tossing were weighted and should have been in the zone. The water was around 5ft in that area and i pulled several perch on the spinning rod from the same hole before and after the fly rod disaster.

I'm hitting the big water for my next trip. I have to finish a rod this week and get out there with the heaver equipment for some trolling.

[ictalurus]

Nice work on the striper with the ultralight. It looked pretty fat for its size. The music for the blooper vid was hilarious. It would've gone well with a speeded up video, Benny Hill style. That reminded me of my first time casting my 9wt from the kayak. I was cursing up a blue streak. A 5wt would be easier. I used to be able to cast my 5wt pretty well from my yak. It's hard to switch between a spinning rod and fly rod for me because I end up trying the muscle the final false cast to get distance, which never ends well.

Regarding gloves, I have a pair of cheap rag wool gloves with the fingers cut off that I wear in all but the coldest conditions. The work pretty well, and wool still insulates even when wet. I try not to get them wet, though. When it's really cold, I wear a pair of thin, titanium-lined NRS gloves, but I'm not sure if those would be too thick for what you want. http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.a...06&pdeptid=944 I got them on sale for winter field work, and I can write with a pencil while wearing them and also work a snap-swivel if it's not too small.

[chirotrout]

Thanks for the report. Let us know what type of gloves you decide on. I have yet to buy any for this winter.

[DOGFISH]

I wouldn't beat yourself up about your skill level. That was very windy weather.