Saturday Wade To Beat The Heat

[DanMarino]

Instead of cooking myself out in the sun on the kayak Saturday afternoon, I decided to hit a local flow and wade the river. The river was slightly stained and had visibility of about 2 or 3 feet. The cool water and shade were welcome. High humidity and temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

I catch mostly fallfish in this flow, so over the winter I did a little research on-line about previous DNR fish studies there. I located a portion of the river where smallmouth apparently existed. A couple of months ago, I hiked to the spot and got a visual. The area had several pools about 30 or 40 yards in length. Each pool has boulders or riffles and a slight elevation drop at the beginning. The makeup of the bottom is rocky with some silt/sand. Silt, sand, and muck is a problem on this flow. The area certainly looked like it held smallmouth.

I used the fly rod and this fly I tied up just for smallies.



Here is what I caught.











I spooked several smallies that appeared to be in the 12-14 inch range. So that was encouraging.

Lessons learned:

1. I had the most success by standing in the middle of the river and casting directly down stream. With a steady retrieve back up river.

2. I tried a top water bug, but no takers whatsoever. I'll give that a try again.

3. I'll hit this area again, but try early in the morning or later in the day.

4. I will expand my fishing to the pools above and below the one I fished.

[belairfishing]

Nice to see a fellow fly tier - is that a zonker strip with some silly legs and an estaz body? I might steal your pattern, but I'd like to give you credit for it!

[DanMarino]

Thanks belairfishing. You have the materials correct. I got the idea from this jackalope carp fly video.http://toflyfish.com/jackalope-carp-fly/

[Mark]

Lessons learned:

1. I had the most success by standing in the middle of the river and casting directly down stream. With a steady retrieve back up river.

2. I tried a top water bug, but no takers whatsoever. I'll give that a try again.

3. I'll hit this area again, but try early in the morning or later in the day.

4. I will expand my fishing to the pools above and below the one I fished.

Tom,

Thank you for the informative post.

If space allows you also may want to angle a few test casts upstream and/or perpendicular to the current. As the fly floats downstream mend your line to keep the fly at the speed of the current and twitch it a little. Often hits will come on the bottom arc of the swing just as you are about to pull the line to recast. I've done this with poppers and streamers for smallmouth.

Good luck.

[DanMarino]

Thanks Mark. I was casting in all directions. I think I only caught 1 fish when casting up current. All of the others came from down stream. I'll keep experimenting.

I noticed that my lead eyes did not weigh enough to get the fly to the bottom quickly. So I need to look into some heavier eyes. Comparing the fly to something I would throw on spinning gear, this fly seemed to work similar to a jig and curly tailed grub. I was happy the fish seemed to think it was food.

[Mark]

Thanks Mark. I was casting in all directions. I think I only caught 1 fish when casting up current. All of the others came from down stream. I'll keep experimenting.

I noticed that my lead eyes did not weigh enough to get the fly to the bottom quickly. So I need to look into some heavier eyes. Comparing the fly to something I would throw on spinning gear, this fly seemed to work similar to a jig and curly tailed grub. I was happy the fish seemed to think it was food.

There are sinking or intermediate lines to help get your flies deeper.

I do not like to throw the sinking lines. Nor do I like to throw heavily weighted flies. I don't mind using intermediate lines.

That's one reason I mentioned casting upstream. The flow of the water will help to sink a wet fly into strike zone as it drifts back. If you retrieve against the current, you will inevitably pull the fly toward the surface. But it worked for you and that's all that matters.

[DanMarino]

Hopefully I can get back to this spot one evening this week. The water should be a little lower and clearer than the previous trip. I'll bring the fly rod and see if I can get any surface strikes. I plan to approach this section from down river and work my way up as slowly and quietly as possible.