Fly fishing

[the reel ess]

On 10/1/2016 at 2:18 PM, Yeajray231 said:

The fight isn't more rewarding ? 

Yeah, but I don't want to lose my PB because I'm purposely handicapping myself. That fish will be a challenge on any tackle. There's a place I'd enjoy fly fishing for bass and bluegill because I think now it only has small bass. But my PB came from there 13 or so years ago. You never know where your PB is lurking.

[J Francho]

On 10/1/2016 at 2:18 PM, Yeajray231 said:

The fight isn't more rewarding ? 

If you're in it for a fight, choose another species.

[jr231]

27 minutes ago, J Francho said:

If you're in it for a fight, choose another species.

I'm not sure what you mean ?? There are huge bluegill and maybe *** lb bass where I plan to use the fly rod at. I think that will be plenty of fight.. 

1 to 3*

[J Francho]

3 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

I'm not sure what you mean ?? There are huge bluegill and maybe *** lb bass where I plan to use the fly rod at. I think that will be plenty of fight.. 

1 to 3*

Bass fishing is a mental game.  Rarely does a fight last more than a minute or two.  Blue gill don't even register on my radar of "fishting fish."

Here's a couple examples:

[jr231]

Alright bud.. I don't have access to those species where I live.. and bluegill are arguably the hardest fighting freshwater fish lb for lb. They aren't your average gills either. 10-12 inches. I have pictures. I want to use the fly rod because it would make more of a challenge for the fish in this certain pond. 

[J Francho]

I'm not saying it wouldn't be fun, but it's not a fight.  You can downsize the tackle to create more of a struggle.  About the only time I feel like I'm under matched is when I've got a smallie on light line, in very deep water.  Even then, you just let them run, and gently reel them up. 

And you do have access to some of those fish, though you might have to travel to get to Erie.  As far as the gills being hard fighting, ounce for ounce, that's very true.  An ant can carry ten thousand times it's own weight, but it cannot withstand me stepping on it, lol.

Let's some pics of those slab gills, man.  We catch some monsters through the ice on Oneida.

[jr231]

I think they're hybrids.. which are supposedly 99%male. I'm not sure tho. I haven't managed to fool anything with the fly rod.  I don't know what I'm doing yet. 

Erie is quite a haul from me lol. And I have a young family and a real jacked up schedule... rarely I get to put my little Jon boat on the water, like once every couple weeks. Normally I just slide over to one of the many ponds I have access too for a couple hours. The one I'm talking about for the fly rod has huge gills and small bass.. (small for bass anyway) 

Ice fishing sounds fun. 

Does a fly reel "click" as you reel it in? 

[J Francho]

NIIIIICE!!!!!

25 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

Does a fly reel "click" as you reel it in?

Not one with anti-reverse.

[ottosmagic13]

29 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

I think they're hybrids.. which are supposedly 99%male. I'm not sure tho. I haven't managed to fool anything with the fly rod.  I don't know what I'm doing yet. 

Erie is quite a haul from me lol. And I have a young family and a real jacked up schedule... rarely I get to put my little Jon boat on the water, like once every couple weeks. Normally I just slide over to one of the many ponds I have access too for a couple hours. The one I'm talking about for the fly rod has huge gills and small bass.. (small for bass anyway) 

Ice fishing sounds fun. 

Does a fly reel "click" as you reel it in? 

Depends on the reel, some have click and drag systems others are free-spinning on the wind. I have several vintage automatic reels that don't click as much as they buzz as they take in line but those are definitely an exception. 

As for the topic, I love fly fishing for any species. Smallies are extremely fun to catch on 3,4 and 5wt rods. I have a 5/6wt rod that handles most of my non-trout fresh water fishing. Wading up a small creek throwing Woolly Buggers or streamers at the tails of ripples and swinging them through pools is so much fun. 

[.ghoti.]

9 hours ago, Turkey sandwich said:

The Clouser Minnow is killer for virtually any game species and was actually designed on the Susquehanna for smallmouth.  Just change the size and you can fish them for anything from trout to bass, to musky, to bonefish.  a Clouser, stripped just under the surface when bass are feeding up is deadly.   

The Clouser is a great choice, and so is a Deceiver. Try both

[jr231]

Mine is a cabelas 5wt 8'6" rod and reel combo. I just noticed it was clicking . It's brand new so I don't think it's damaged..  I'm not sure what the clicking means.. I'm not sure how to retrieve the flies either. I just "strip " them in? The one I was trying yesterday sank. It looked good in the water . Just no takers. I only tried for about a half hour but normally that's more than enough time to catch something at the area I was at. 

Also I'm using a 9ft tapered leader. I read somewhere that I use a "tippet" to attach the fly to the leader. Well the leader I'm using comes to a very fine point. And the tippet I purchased is basically the same size.. so do I not need the tippet until the leader is shortened to the thicker area. 

[J Francho]

 

8 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

I just noticed it was clicking . It's brand new so I don't think it's damaged..

It's not broke. It does not have anti reverse.  The click is just a ratchet to keep the reel from free spinning and tangling up the fly line.

Yes, irrespective of the reel type, you strip the fly in, and then just false cast that line back out, and cast to your target.  You should look up some YouTube videos to get the hang of it.

[jr231]

Ok I will. What about the tippet and my tapered leader ?

[ottosmagic13]

16 minutes ago, Yeajray231 said:

Mine is a cabelas 5wt 8'6" rod and reel combo. I just noticed it was clicking . It's brand new so I don't think it's damaged..  I'm not sure what the clicking means.. I'm not sure how to retrieve the flies either. I just "strip " them in? The one I was trying yesterday sank. It looked good in the water . Just no takers. I only tried for about a half hour but normally that's more than enough time to catch something at the area I was at. 

Clicking is perfectly normal, if you look inside it is a series of springs pressing teeth into a gear. Clicks on wind and provides drag when pulling out line. 

The type of fly determines the action. Poppers are common with bass, they are stripped with small jerky strips that pop just like their bigger counterparts. Streamers and Woolly Buggers are also effective and imitate small baitfish when stripped 6"-12" at a time, varying the length of the strip and pausing erratically produces a 'wounded' action great for reaction strikes. Dries are meant to be fished on top and usually represent insects and terrestrials, bass this time of year seem to like grasshopper imitations (hoppers). Some dries need floatant; a coating that helps them float otherwise they'll sink and not be effective.  

 

As for Leader/Tippet:

I run 2x-4x leaders for bass. Usually in the 7-9ft range. Tippet I usually match to the leader and attach 2-3' to preserve the length and taper of the leader. Changing the tippet every session and the leader as necessary.  

[J Francho]

A tippet is just an extension of your leader.  I use furled leaders, and attach the tippet to that.

[atpns1234]

Fly fishing for bass is great.  Not as difficult as trout in my opinion.  I spent 5 days fishing streams in north Georgia earlier this year.  Threw thousands of casts to catch 5 rainbows and would do it again in a heartbeat.  Give it a shot brother. Very satifying to catch a fish on the fly.

[Turkey sandwich]

(As I'm learning), fishing streamers often doesn't require a long 7-9' leader plus tippet.  4-5' seems like the happy place (again, at least for me) when casting streamers.  

[.ghoti.]

6 hours ago, J Francho said:

A tippet is just an extension of your leader.  I use furled leaders, and attach the tippet to that.

ditto

[jr231]

So my tapered leader is not the most ideal option? 

[ottosmagic13]

I use a tapered leader purely out of convenience. I've used furled (uni) leaders before and liked them but they were not that different for bass/crappie and they are harder to aquire around here and I've never learned to make them myself. I did like the built in indicator aspect of the ones I had. Tapered work just fine. 

@Turkey sandwich It really depends on the water quality and fishing pressure, sometimes a short leader works (~5') and can be easier in the wind too; other times landing the fly line too close or a heavy fly/streamer to hard turns off the bite, especially with river/creek smallies (forget it with trout).

My default is 7.5ft 3x tapered on a 5/6wt with 1-2ft of matched tippet. I recently started using leader rings and it makes the leaders last pretty long. 

[J Francho]

12 hours ago, Yeajray231 said:

So my tapered leader is not the most ideal option? 

Tapered are fine.  My friend owns a fly fishing company, and his wife ties and makes leaders, so I get them from him.

Good place inexpensive supplies.

http://www.wildwaterflyfishing.com/furled-leaders/

The owner and I grew up together.  He actually lives down the street from where my parents still live.  Really good guy.  I introduced him to fishing back when we were in cub scouts.

[Wind Knot]

A 4wt fly rod can make a 3lber feel much bigger.  I don't usually target bass when I'm fly fishing, but occasionally they'll bite at a little foam dry fly.

P.S. Foam spiders are a good multispecies fly in ponds

[ottosmagic13]

3 hours ago, Wind Knot said:

A 4wt fly rod can make a 3lber feel much bigger.  I don't usually target bass when I'm fly fishing, but occasionally they'll bite at a little foam dry fly.

P.S. Foam spiders are a good multispecies fly in ponds

 I was targeting trout in a small creek with a hopper (John's Green Hopper) and dropper (Hare's Ear Nymph) with a 3wt rod with only a 7x leader and a good sized smallie (14") took the Hopper and took off into the current channel. Man that was a fun fight, most things in this creek are under 12" and not nearly as crazy as that smallie. 

[J Francho]

I have a 7' 3wt two piece that I only use for blue gills and sunnies.  Even them, it's not a big struggle to get them in.  I can imagine a decent smallie over 14" being a problem, though.

[ottosmagic13]

3 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I have a 7' 3wt two piece that I only use for blue gills and sunnies.  Even them, it's not a big struggle to get them in.  I can imagine a decent smallie over 14" being a problem, though.

Mine is a vintage cane rod with a older Martin auto-reel, got it from my father-in-law. You would be generous to call it medium power and medium action. He used it for Bream and Crappie, I use it on occasion for trout and bream.