Monthly Archives: May 2009

May 29, She Loves Fly Fishing .com

May 29, 2009
She loves fly fishing and you will too!
Posted in: Uncategorized – Comments Off

Check out the New Sexy Sunfish

May 23, 2009
As soon as I saw this color of Strike King Red Eye Shad, I started making my order at Bass Tackle Depot to get up to $50 for free shipping, luckily I did not order right away, as everything is 15% off this weekend, thru Monday!!!

I know this color will pull up plenty of bass from the waters I fish in MN and will work in any water that has a good blue gill population.


Posted in: Uncategorized – Comments Off

Things That go Beep in the Night

May 20, 2009


It's that time of year when I pack away the pike rods and try for something else and as usual, my choice was going to be between tench and bream. It's been a cool, wet spring so far and coming after a particularly cold winter that made me decide to go for the bream first. Tench are certainly catchable just now but I really prefer to do my tenchfishing in warmer weather when I think they are much more on the feed.


It was to be a two-night session this one, monday and tuesday nights to be precise. The carpers that occupy this lake 24/7 seem to favour wednesday onwards so I expected to have my choice of swims and I wasn't disappointed. There were two other anglers set up when I arrived but it's a big lake with room enough for thirty or more so I got the swim I wanted and it was well away from the others. I did get some company as I was setting up though. A family of swans arrived with the cygnets riding shotgun on their mother's back, it was comical to see them hopping on and off as if they were getting the bus home.

The tackle was in a bit of a state to be honest. I hadn't had time to sort it out beforehand and I decided to do it on the bank after the usual rigmorole of plumbing, putting out a marker, clipping up, spodding (for two hours) and setting up the bivvy etc. etc. By the time I'd got everything done I was quite surprised to find that it was after eight in the evening, no wonder I was feeling hungry! Creamy chicken and mash for tea, that was lovely and with the rods out I could settle in for a peaceful evening.

Noises in the Dark
I was fishing three rods, one with maggot and the other two with mini-boilies and corn fished on helicopter rigs. All three were set up with tight lines and heavy bobbins. This makes for quiet fishing since line bites are often not detected this way but it had another advantage. Tench and bream give quite different bites when you're fishing this way. The strong, bold tench always scream off, stripping line from the baitrunner and making the alarm scream but the bream give drop-back bites and often take no line at all.
Sure enough, at around two in the morning the indicator on the middle rod fell slowly to the ground. I pulled into the fish and knew at once that this was a big bream.
12lb 5oz and my biggest from this particular lake, I was well pleased. It had taken two mini boilies hair rigged on a size 12. I put that one back and immediately had a take on the other rod. Sadly though it didn't stay connected when I pulled into it.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully and the day dawned cold and windy. It's normal to pick up a tench or two in the morning when bream fishing this lake but for once this didn't happen and the indicators held motionless for hour after hour. I was pleased really, because as the day wore on it got wetter and wetter. The showers turned to steady, heavy rain and by mid afternoon thunder and lightening paid a visit too. I managed to dart out in between the lengthy showers to bait up, recast and tidy up the general swim but it was never long before another burst of the wet stuff had me running for cover. It was awful, I felt like a prisoner.



The only bright moment of the day was when a green woodpecker came down and started foraging in the undergrowth nearby. These birds are very shy and hard to spot but I even got a picture of this one - albeit a poor one.


Disappointing Conclusion

The rain stopped shortly before dark and the sky cleared which meant that the temperature plummetted. It was a cold night alright and I had to stay wrapped up in the bag all through it. Just one indication, almost certainly a bream since it was a drop-back but by the time I got to the rod it had stopped. I reeled in to try and find out why - it was obvious, the hook was blunt. I must have turned it on a stone whilst reeling in and not spotted it. Attention to detail Eric, that's what catches fish!
I suppose it could be the combination of lots of cold water entering the lake and a cold night that put the fish off. I rather think though that it was just the old bream enigma that did me. No-one has ever really got to grips with this species, though some may claim they have. Does heavy baiting work? Who knows, it didn't this time.
No tench again on the final morning. That's very unusual for this lake but at least it means I made the right decision in going for bream in the first place. I ended up with a good fish, albeit just the one, and that's better than a blank.



Posted in: Uncategorized – Comments Off

May 16, Fly Fishing Florida Gulf Coast

May 16, 2009
Fly Fishing Florida Gulf coast for the first time!
Posted in: Uncategorized – Comments Off

Try Stump Lake in Squamish

May 13, 2009
Finally the ice is off our local lakes and the fish are hungry!  May 3rd marked the first day trip for fun to a local lake in Alice Lake Provincial Park called Stump Lake.  Stump lake is easy to get to with a short 5 minute hike in from the paid parking lot in the Park.  It is the first lake you come to when walking the Four Lakes Loop.  Once you reach the lake you can fish from shore, however, the lake is much better fished from a float tube or pontoon boat.  

Stump lake is stocked with nice little cutthroat trout as a measure to try and control the pumkinseed (sunfish) that were illegally introduced to the lake years ago.  Although we did not see any pumkinseed, we did catch quite a few cutthroat in the 8-12 inch range.   The day started a little slow with not much action while trolling to the north end of the lake.   One of us hooked the first fish just as we reached the far end of the lake from the put-in.  Fishing remained fairly slow between takes until I stripped in quickly to re-cast and wham I hooked a fish!  So I remarked to my partners that the fish took the fly on a fast retrieve.  From that point forward the fishing was great!

We actually caught most of the little guys on micro leeches and a great Bob Sheedy pattern first shown to me at the 5th National Fly Fishing Championships in Grande Prairie Alberta back in September of 2007.   The fly is basically a leech pattern with a bright orange head and a slightly darker orange body.   It was tied specifically for a  tannin-coloured lake.  Stump Lake is tannin stained.  Anyway, the fly worked with a very quick strip 3 strip 2 strip 3 pause presentation.  




We ended up retaining two of the fish due to a deep hookset.  The stomach contents showed that the trout had been eating leeches, chironomids, and black ants.   Daphnia were collected from a throat sample from another fish.  Unfortunately, there were no pumpkinseed in these fish but they may be just too small to have been feeding on them.

Stump lake is a great place to get slightly remote and catch a few when you only have a few hours to fish!  Good luck out there!

Tight lines
-Clint
Posted in: Uncategorized – Comments Off

Shimano Cruxis for $69!

May 1, 2009
Bargain alert, quality reel and a sweet deal! BTD has the Shimano Cruxis for $69, free shipping while supplies last.

CRUXIS
Packed with premium features, the low-profile Cruxis® reel will impress you with its incredible castability, power and smooth retrieves.
Features
1/4 Turn Easy Access Sideplate
Reduced Mass VBS hub
Aluminum Frame
Metal Series

Bass Tackle Depot - Free Shipping $50 Orders - Great spot for hard to find Bass Fishing Gear!!
Posted in: Uncategorized – Comments Off

Fishing Memories

May 1, 2009

bow-river-sunset

Memories of Days Gone ByI was in the south end of the city today for a visit to my parent’s house, turkey dinner and all the fixings always entices me. I returned to one of my favourite spots on the Bow River to try my luck and work up an appetite. This particular hole has rewarded me with many monster trout in the past. I remember walking in and tying up a Buzz Bomb or a Panther Martin and hammering trout after trout after trout. It was that good! If the lures were not working I would grab the flies from the tackle box and tie them to a six inch piece of fishing line. I would tie up two flies, usually a bow river bugger and a royal coachman onto my spinning gear. I would use a bell weigh attached to the bottom of the set up and fire that out into the river, bouncing the rig along the bottom and picking it off carefully as to not snag up. That would catch me fish for sure, sometimes very big fish.

I returned today with high hopes and a back pack full of gear. I sat on the bank and watched the water flow by as I tied a hook onto the end of my dull green fishing line. The river had me thinking of all the fish I hooked and landed from that hole. Big browns, fat rainbows, and even some huge rocky mountain whitefish were landed with ease and grace at this location. The area was perfect for trout, a nice gravely bottom with good cover and deep to boot. You knew fish were there and I knew how to catch them. I finally tied up and cast far outwards where the hole began to sink, should be fish in there I thought. Many casts’ later and no fish. Time to switch hooks to spinner bait. The rooster tail went on and outward but still nothing. I sat back and watched the river wondering where the fish were. I never even saw one trout’s snout, or even a dorsal fin for that matter.

I keep it going after the short break and still no luck. I was puzzled and a bit confused at the lack of action. After all this was my hole, I knew it like the back of my hand. After walking up and down the river several times I decided it was time to go get that turkey dinner in me. Back in “the good ol’ days” I would have walked out of my hole with at least four or five fish hooked and landed but not today. The river has changed in this hole, the once prime spawning grounds of the brown trout has vanished into thin air. Actually it was blown out by the nasty flood of 2005. Gone are those days of massive browns from this hole. It’s sad really but that is how nature works. There is little cover left and quite shallow.

The memories will still be with me as long as I live. I will move on and find another fishing hole to call my own. I know other fishermen and women can relate to this article. If you have a favourite fishing hole you would like to share with us than feel free to write a comment and share your story here. I know I would personally like to hear it! Until we meet again on the river, may all your fish be LARGE.

Post from: Bounty Fishing Blog

Posted in: Uncategorized – Comments Off