Finally, a Decent Size Fish this Spring- The Conclusion

A couple of casts later I felt a subtle tug on the end of my line.  Nothing too aggressive, but noticeable.  I set the hook and felt something SOLID on the other end.  I actually thought I was snagged for a minute but saw my fly line swimming parallel to the bank.  That sparked my interest and my focus turned to hyperfocus.  You know that feeling when you hook a fish and you have no idea what it is or how big it is but you know something is different.  That's when the tunnel vision kicks in.  Everything around you seems to melt away.  You don't notice other people or hear anything.  All you can concentrate on is being ready to react to what the fish is doing and appreciating the fact that you are in a fight!

The fish stayed down, but didn't go straight to the bottom like a catfish.  It didn't make a run like a bass or spin in circles like a bluegill.  When I saw my leader coming to the surface, my heart raced at the thought of seeing what I had hooked.  It took a minute to get an ID on the fish because was, well, black.  All black.  Now I have caught some black crappie this spring but NOTHING close to this.  My heart sank a little when he thrashed on the surface because I thought I had snagged him in the side but the excitement came back when I lifted his head out of the water.

As I started to get him closer to the bank, panic set in a little.  I cannot tell you how many respectable fish I have lost at the bank.  As I reach out of a good fish, my heart races and I'm pretty sure that I literally asked God to not let me lose this fish.  Later on, I told God that I was sorry for treating him like Santa Claus.  When I finally had the chance to lip the crappie, I squeezed as hard as I could without trying to break his/her jaw.  I was in awe when I pulled him/her out of the water because this was the biggest black crappie I had ever caught.

The tale of the tape on this puppy was 13 inches long with a weight of one pound, three ounces.  And while this wasn't a six pound bass or five pound rainbow trout, it was my fish of the spring!  It was special for a lot of reasons.  Number one, I tied the wooly that I caught him on.  Number two, I was able to start catching fish by dissecting what wasn't working and found a plan that did.  Finally, I was proud that I was able to stay out of my own way and not screw anything up.  I'm historically good at screwing things up, but was able to avoid disaster!  That's big for me but probably not a pattern that I will be adopting.  And while I was fishing for a big fish, I wound up catching an even better memory and a heck of a story to tell.  Like the hokey pokey, that's what it's all about.

Finally, a Decent Size Fish this Spring- Part 1

I have been on the water a decent amount of time this spring.  I'm not bragging, I'm just saying that for me, I've been on the water a lot for me.  I fished before the fish really started biting.  I fished when it was just a couple of fish here and there.  Currently, fishing is pretty good throughout the state and while I've been catching fish, I just haven't caught anything memorable.  I've caught some largemouth on a fly rod and on spinnerbaits and that's been great, don't get me wrong!  I've started catching bluegill, and that's been a lot of fun.  I just haven't caught that memorable fish that I think many of us are hoping for in the spring...until Monday night.

I was at a HOA pond simply because it was a nice evening and the wind wasn't strong.  I was hoping to pick up a few largemouth or bluegill on a small olive and white wooly bugger.  I wasn't picking up anything in the shallows so I started making some longer casts to deep water.  I still wasn't catching anything so I decided to just have a little casting contest with myself and see how far I could throw.  Once I reached my limit, it dawned on me that maybe fish were deeper and I needed to get my fly down further.  I tied on another wooly that was almost identical, but this one had an oversized bead head.  When I cast the fly out, I would let it hit the water and count to eight.  Why did I choose eight?  Well, that's because eight seconds is about as long as I can wait for a fly to sink before I can't stand it anymore.

On my third or fourth cast, I missed a bite so that gave me a little confidence that maybe I was on to something.  A couple casts later I missed another bite.  This is typical for me by the way.  I have to warm up sometimes when I get on the water.  As in the past, it took a couple of misses for me to really focus and get my mentality right.  I did not miss the next fish.  It ended up being an 11 inch crappie.  I was pretty pumped because I was able to "crack the code" for the evening and this was a really pretty crappie.  I was also hopeful that I might be able to catch a few more since crappie typically school up.  What happened next made my spring fishing!

Fly Tying: Chad Johnson's Sluggo

This is a killer fly and as usual, Brian Wise does an outstanding job educating and entertaining at the same time.  However, my favorite part of this video is when Brian's thread breaks.  I don't write that because I'm a snarky jerk, but instead I like how it makes Brian relatable and look like one of us!  He could have edited that part out but I'm glad he left it in!  I'm impressed how this guy can even make mistakes look cool.

Link to Fly Fishing the Ozarks YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/flyfishingtheozarks

Weekend Fishing Pictures

I have been fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time on the water lately here in northwest Missouri and thought I would share some information and stories.  I have been on some small bodies of water and here are my observations. 

• Some largemouth are in the shallows and ready to pounce on streamers.  Others are still off the bank and not ready to move in to the shallows yet, but they will hit streamers too.  The ones that are shallow are holding tight to cover.  
• Bluegill are finally starting to fire up.  They are pretty active in the shallows and will crush a wooly.  Others are holding to weed lines and will hit a jig under an indicator with aggression.
• Crappie are staging off the bank still and I haven't seen any on beds.  They too can be caught with a jig under an indicator and are behving similarly to the bluegill.

I have yet to stick a big bass, but there have been some nice bluegill and crappie landed.  I hope you are able to get out on the water and I hope this information helps!

Hareline Bling Strips- Part 3

Today's post is the final installment of my series on tying with Harline Bling Strips.  Here are some links to other posts if you need to catch up.

Introduction- https://showmeflyguy.blogspot.com/2019/10/flashy-bunny-strip-part-1.html

Preview- https://showmeflyguy.blogspot.com/2020/04/hareline-bling-strips-part-1.html

Charteruse & Black Zonker- https://showmeflyguy.blogspot.com/2020/04/hareline-bling-strips-part-2.html

Today you will see a fly that is tied with a Hareline Bling Strip being used as a tail (zonker syle if you will).  It is being used in a similar fashion to the fly from yesterday but today I show how to use a complex twist as the body of the fly.  This gives the fly bulk and body without a lot of additional weight.  It also gives it some muted flash.  One of these days I will enter my "flash, flash, can't have enough flash" phase, but I'm not there yet.  To me, subtle flash is good flash...for now.  I don't have a name for this fly but the name "Complex Zonker" comes to mind.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at showmeflyguy@gmail.com.  

Hareline Bling Strips- Part 2

So there I was, with a sample Hareline Bling Rabbit Strip and a vise.  I figured that the main application of this product was to be a flashy tail of a fly so that's how I proceeded with my flies.  I planned to use them on zonkers because I didn't see another way to use them.  You are probably more creative that I and can up up with better ideas.  I also decided to tie them on Gamakatsu B10S, Size 1 hooks.  I included a large cone head and a few wraps of wire behind the head.  The wire helps the fly sink, keeps the head from coming loose, and gives the thread a base for a collar and whip finish.  If you don't put wire behind cone heads or bead heads for that matter, give it a shot.  I think you will like the results!  It only took two or three years to figure out why people do this but now I do it all the time.

The first fly that I decided to tie was similar to a fly that I posted about in early March.  You can click here to see the post.  Essentially, it is a black and chartreuse zonker but I made a few small tweaks this time.  For one, I didn't include a marabou tail because I didn't want to mute or hide the flashy bottom of the rabbit strip.  Second, I tied in the two hackles for the collar and wrapped them forward together.  On most of my other zonkers I tie in a hackle, wrap it forward, tie in the second, and wrap it forward.  I like the effect that tandem approach had on this fly and this technique definitely has it's uses!

As for things I noticed while working with the Bling Strip, there were two things that stood out.  One was that it is really rigid.  It doesn't have the same flexibility that a normal rabbit strip has.  I am curious to see if that property changes when it gets wet.  The second thing that I noticed was that when you are attaching it to a hook, it is slippery.  I would highly suggest that you lay down a base layer of thread and tie the strip on top of that.  If you don't, the strip will want to slide in all directions, especially towards the front and back of the hook but also around to the back side of the hook as well.

Overall, I think the fly turned out pretty good.  If you have any questions, please feel free to comment below or email me at showmeflyguy@gmail.com.  I will be back with a different fly that uses a Bling Strip tomorrow that is a little more...complex.  That's a clue and a teaser for tomorrow's post.