Peacock Mousing 8/26/23

[Seaworthy81]

Been traveling a lot for work recently and haven’t had a lot of opportunities to fish for much besides the canals around my home when I am actually home for a day or two. After catching up on chores I had a tiny little window to get out and do a little hyper local fishing before sunset.

 

I recently had wrapped myself an 8wt NFC iconoglass for fishing bigger flies and hopefully getting in some beach fishing for snook and tarpon, but before that I needed to learn how to cast this thing. I have only recently started fly fishing and have only fished with one other fly fisherman and we are both self taught. Suffice to say my casting is a work in progress. So my plan was just to go cast for a couple of hours focusing on technique more than fishing itself.

 

I have also recently started tying my own bad flies, primarily focusing on small streamers, but one of my ultimate goals is to get a bullseye snakehead on the fly, which is pretty rare. I wouldn’t be the first to do it, but it’s definitely a rare feat and even the local guides are shocked when they get the request. For them I’ve been messing around with simple foam mouse patterns, specifically Joe Cermele’s Master Splinter.

 

Within the first couple of minutes at the spot I snagged a tree, almost took my hat off with the fly, missed a small largemouth that ate the fly on a bad cast and generally struggled casting the slower action rod since I’ve only ever used a fast action 5wt before this.

 

I worked my way down the bank occasionally finding a way to get a decent shoot and probably spooked a bunch of fish dumping my line on the water or screaming strings of curse words at the fly gods. Eventually I came to an area where there the middle of the main channel is choked with weeds. This creates a narrow channel, perhaps 3’ wide of deeper clear water right along the bank. I’ve fished this canal a lot, so past knowledge has told me these choked areas along the bank tend to hold fish, hungry fish that press bait into the edges of the bank or the thick impenetrable weeds. At times there are the only productive areas in this canal.

 

Knowing this, I took a deep breath, focusing on technique and loaded up, double hauled and shot a load of what can only be described as light orange spaghetti that slapped the water with a splash that a fat kid in a bellyflop contest would be envious of. At this point I’m glad no one is looking. I try my best to straighten out the line and tried again and this time my line shoots marginally straight and stops abruptly when both me and my line realize I’m standing on it. The mouse fly lands somewhat softly in the middle of the open channel, not as far as I’d like, but beggars can’t be choosers and I’m certainly begging at this point. So with that I gently strip and my mouse cooperates with a pop and small V-wake. Strip two and a hole opens up below my mouse and explodes with a munition-like eruption. I somehow am aware enough to strip set and I’m on!

 

Almost immediately the line comes tight and the fish puts a nice bend in my slower action rod. It’s a good one and I’m glad I’m using the 8wt and not the normal 5wt. A jump shows me I’ve hooked a peacock bass and a nice one at that. With the heavier rod and narrow area the fish can run I’m able to subdue her quickly and she stays still enough for me to get a quick photo and set her free. What a rush, and my new hand made rod and on my new handmade fly! I was just absolutely stoked.

[PaulVE64]

Catching any bass on a homemade fly is sweet. Catching a nice one on a homemade rod must be incredibly satisfying.

 

Even Huck Finn would have been proud.

 

[bostonsox2904]

On 8/28/2023 at 9:07 AM, Seaworthy81 said:

one of my ultimate goals is to get a bullseye snakehead on the fly, which is pretty rare. I wouldn’t be the first to do it, but it’s definitely a rare feat and even the local guides are shocked when they get the request. 

Enjoyed your write up! Love to see other people getting after it with the fly in south florida canals. I've caught two bullseye (they're calling it goldline now) snakeheads on the fly. Caught using EP Bluegill flies I tied. They were both caught sight fishing, so keep working on those casts out to 50 feet. Let us know when you catch one, I would love to see it.

[Further North]

Good job, and congratulations!

 

[Seaworthy81]

On 10/12/2023 at 11:19 AM, bostonsox2904 said:

Enjoyed your write up! Love to see other people getting after it with the fly in south florida canals. I've caught two bullseye (they're calling it goldline now) snakeheads on the fly. Caught using EP Bluegill flies I tied. They were both caught sight fishing, so keep working on those casts out to 50 feet. Let us know when you catch one, I would love to see it.

I'm working on getting better casting, its not easy to find places where I catch more fish than trees, especially on the longer casts. Good to know about the EP flies, I tied up a handfull and found out that I used too light of hooks and they floated! Need to tie up some new ones that are more sparse with heavier hooks.