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Turkey sandwich

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Everything posted by Turkey sandwich

  1. The mop fly catches anything. I was on Yellow Breeches (famous trout stream in central PA). It was largely responsible for a day where I picked up nearly 20 fish in a half day. Wild brown trout - exactly zero. Creek chubs - at least 15. It was one of the most hilarious/absurd days I've ever spent on the water.
  2. Welcome to the forum! To add 2 cents... I've never fished the New, but have spent a lot of time on similar rivers. Weather in early April can be anything. Fish could be pre-spawn, dealing with high/flooding water, spawning, or just moving out of wintering areas. Follow conditions on the river the week leading up to the trip, especially level and temp because that'll tell you what you should plan for and where you'll be finding fish. Depending which conditions you have, your whole tackle box could be in play.
  3. I'm on Chapter 4 and this is sensational. @A-Jay have you considered organizing this info and writing a book? Not kidding. The information you're covering here is that good. I've had discussions with plenty of guides and even some pros that don't put this much consideration into structure fishing.
  4. Montana is a special place. I'm hoping to get there in the next few years. I fished the Gunnison this past September and it was something amazing. You've got some pretty cool fishing opportunities in CO.
  5. Not a problem, man. I'm very inexperienced with the fly rod on still water, but these are good general strategies/tips that work well for me. Did you get to throw streamers for big browns in Montana?
  6. Not a problem. Most of my smallmouth fishing is on rivers, but a lot of the same baits carry over. How you fish them, however can be a lot different. Also, being comfortable casting big flies is a bunch different than casting dries or simple nymph rigs. Practice make perfect, and make sure you're comfortable opening your loops up, double hauling, and roll casting with bigger flies. A 6 Wt will throw a lot of patterns, but most of my smallmouth fishing on the fly is done with an 8 wt. if you can grab one, it can save you a lot of frustration, especially with larger topwater flies like deer hair poppers. Also, I would suggest picking up a sinking line or at least a sink tip, otherwise getting down to fish will become a problem. On top, I like deerhair poppers, though they can be tough to cast on a 6 wt, especially after taking on some water. Small size 4-6 foam poppers also work well, and there are tons of mouse options, as well. For most top water stuff, I don't really like long leaders (it can be super hard to turn over flies for me, especially when wading) and I'll usually keep them from 3'-4' for most top water fishing. I tie my own with Big Game or Maxima and generally run these tapered down from 40lb to 10-15lb. Usually the formula works out to 50% 30/40lb butt, 25% 20lb, 25% 10/12lb. Flies like Dahlber Divers can be fished with a floating line similar to a floating Rapala. This can cover water well anytime fish are going to be feeding up and active. Again, think floating jerk bait. A lot of my smallmouth fishing, in either lakes or rivers, I find them relating to the bottom more often than high in the water column most of the time. (exceptions include when they're busting up on baitfish like alewives/shad or juvenile perch) So, I do like flies that I can get down with a weighted line versus a floating line with a 10'+ leader. (Casting heavy sculpin or crayfish patterns on long leaders is not a particularly enjoyable way to fish because it can be so hard to control.) When I'm fishing jerk flies (unweighted baitfish patterns) I like a sinking line and 6' or so of leader. This can be killer in lakes because they tend to be more or less neutrally buoyant and you can fish them like a swimbait. (think Deceivers, double deceivers, anything with synthetic unweighted bodies, and tall but narrow heads intended to swim smoothly versus kick tons of water and push hard to the sides.) For slightly weighted, but still neutrally buoyant flies with deer hair or similar heads (think D&D, Sex Dungeon, Zoo Cougar, etc), I like a sink tip or sinking line (depending upon conditions) with 4-6" or leader. The D&D and Sex Dungeon type baits may be tricky to work well on a 6wt, so stick to smaller sizes - they can create lots of drag on the cast. For jig flies like clousers, Grumpy Muppets, etc, a floating line can work well, but you'll likely want to extend your leader 6-9' to make sure you're getting down well, but still keeping a good connection to the fly. Dredging with bottom contact baits (dragging sculpin/madtom/goby patterns or crayfish) usually requires a full sinking line and depending upon conditions, the technique can range somewhere deep nymphing to slowly dragging a Texas rig or jig. As for colors, just pick colors that mimic what you would throw with conventional tackle. The same general rules apply. Make it look natural, mimic forage, or when conditions call for it, break out the bright colors and flash. Does this help? Sorry, I don't have a suggestion for a walking bait substitute, but maybe @Further North can make some recommendations.
  7. Cheers, and happy New Year, buddy! I can't wait to read through this thread and compare strategies.
  8. holy #$6%. Well, there's a lot of stuff on this thread. A-Jay - I hate (am incredibly jealous of) you for being retired. Chris
  9. There's some really great gear in the flea market forum right now that matches your price range.
  10. The Delaware can usually be waded in the summer (or fished from a kayak most of the year), and you can target anything from brown trout to smallies or walleye.
  11. How are you fishing the river; wading, kayak, jet/bass boat? What techniques do you like fishing? If the plan is moving baits, softer, slower M or MH crankbaits rods with lower gear ratio wheels are great. For jigs, buzz baits, frogs, etc a MH F rod and 7-9:1 ratio combo is super versatile.
  12. This is without question the funniest thing I've read on this forum since the bigfoot thread.
  13. Man, there are tons. You could nymph for them on a 4-6wt rod with helgramites or stoneflies. Your basic streamers all work (a 6 wt can be ideal): buggers, clouser minnows, deceivers, double bunnies, crayfish patterns etc. A lot of the large or articulated patterns also work (I'll throw these on a 6 at, but prefer an 8): double deceivers, sex Dungeons, Circus Peanuts, any sculpin pattern, basically anything Tommy Lynch or Kelly Galloup tie. Flies like Drunk and Disorderlies, Dahlberg's Divers can be fished on sinking lines or sink tips like a suspending or slow floating jerkbait (8wt typically). There are also tons of poppers, frogs, mouse patterns, etc. And if you're lucky to have a river with a good hatch, you can catch them on fries during large hatches like white flies on the Susquehanna (alledgedly... ). This is exactly the idea behind the Clouser Minnow.
  14. happy holidays everybody!
  15. I have a generation 1 7'M winch and a gen 2 7'6 MH Winch.
  16. I'm with Scott F. St Croix tends to run "heavier" or even "faster" than a lot of other manufacturers, so there's no reason they should feel like they're casting light for their power. I would check the lure weights you're trying to cast against the ratings for the rod and the break settings on that Curado. Otherwise, I would check casting mechanics. I run braid to leader on my casting rods 90% of the time and have had very few issues with micro guides that some slight adjustments to leader length and my casting mechanics couldn't fix. If you already own the rod, I'd check all of the above before trading it out. They're been considered by many to be the best rod under $250-$300 (If we include the Avid and Avid X) for literally decades. If you want St. Croix's amazing customer service and similar performance, the Avid is a great rod. If you want something different, Fenwick's Aetos is also an awesome rod for the $200 range. I have a 7' MHF. It fishes heavy for a MH, but it's a great handling rod with a ton of backbone, good sensitivity, and comfortable grips. The guides are small, but probably not as small as the Avid X. I liked the blank so much, I also own an Aetos 4wt that's a rocket launcher for dry flies. If you spend a bit more, a Loomis IMX is really great stick. They tend to run a little lighter in power than the St. Croix or Aetos, but they're the lower end of where the Loomis line really gets good. If you like EVA grips, Abu's Ike series and above are good quality rods, but I haven't fished them. They also tend to run a bit heavier than the rated power. I don't like foam grips as much as cork, and Abu's customer service compared to St Croix sucks, so I don't own any Abu rods other than Veritas crank bait rods.
  17. It's super frustrating not having accurate lengths and weights on these fish and that none of them are on bump boards... but holy crap, the fish porn on this thread is ridiculous. Man, you guys catch some tanks. ?
  18. Yeah, I don't know what to make of just a picture, either. It's definitely a huge smallmouth, and if that guy is at least a normal sized guy, 25" is definitely in the realm of possibility. Whether that's 9lbs... I don't know. It has decent girth, but man, any 9lb smallmouth I've ever seen has looked like a basketball about to explode.
  19. I just saw those posted on the Facebook. First, regardless of whether this fish is 25" and 9lbs or not, so long as the dude in the pic isn't a midget, this fish is an absolute tank and it's great to see it released. It supposedly came from the Allegheny and surprisingly not Erie or the Susquehanna. Huge congrats! https://adventures.everybodyshops.com/perhaps-a-state-record-smallmouth/
  20. There are much worse addictions, but it's bad.
  21. The short answer, imo, is that there are times for both and that more importantly, current changes the way you present more than anything else.
  22. @A-Jay - you're crushing it, man. Also, I'm super jealous of you guys in Wisconsin and Michigan. We've been so flooded out, I haven't had a chance to get out for smallmouth in months. I'm really hoping that I can finally change that this weekend.
  23. I fish braid to leader for almost everything, especially on the Susquehanna. I'll use a number of different leaders for jerk baits, and depending upon what I can get away with, it'll range from 7# Sniper to 12# Hybrid. 8-10# Hybrid makes a great jerk bait leader on the Susky because it won't get wrecked in the boulders when you snag. It also may or may not prove more resilient to the surprise toothy critters than anything else similar in diameter. It's my go-to leader material for almost everything on that river.
  24. Welcome to the forum! They're almost always trolling bait, in my experience. Yes, shallow water with current can make jig fishing tricky, but it's well worth learning. A Flatfish is in no way a jig substitute.
  25. 7# copoly is brave in the land of hammer handles. I have tons of different streamer leaders for different things at this point, but for my 8wt, I'll generally step down from 40lb Big Game in the butt down to 10-12lb Copoly, 1 or 0X.
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