Pantastic

Woke up this morning and had a hunch the panfish would be moving in with this warm weather we're having... So I headed down to the local lake to see what's up... Fished for about 5 hours and couldn't keep the panfish off the fly!   I was right.. They moved in with no hesitation.. Were found anywhere from 1-4' of water along the weed beds.. Full of spawn and getting ready to move in and bed down.. So they are crazy aggressive.. Took them on buggers and on poppers.. The day was full of action and I imagine I would've been able to take my limit easily 3 times over..(which would be 60 fish).. A ton of bluegill in the 8-9" range.. Good eating size.. And one random black crappie.. I love this time of the year.. Panfish on the fly are a blast and the next couple weeks(weather permitting) should be full of top-notch panfish action..  Think I'll head back down there tomorrow with the bucket!

April 30th

So We'll start this blog with talks about a very heart breaking Sunday evening.. The 29th I decided to head on down to the Ol' Miss to see about getting into some crappie.. Unfortunately that would not be the case.. I get to my spot and as always.. There is another fisherman.. He asks me "What you gonna catch wit dat fly rod?"  "Hopefully some crappie"... 2 casts later and I'm on my first fish of the evening.. It's not a crappie.. It's much bigger than a crappie.. My rod is bent over...  But what could it be?  Within a second of that though rises from the water a massive pike.. Full body lunge from the water.. This pike may have been named Jordan because it got some serious air and I about shit myself.. I get him within about 20' of me and my rod looks like its within that range of snapping in half... Rod is definitely doubled over at this point.. So I let him run... And within seconds everything goes limp.. Clear cuts my 25# fluoro... Shortly after it starts to rain.. And I hold my ground... Even though I forgot my rain jacket.. And soon after it starts raining.. It starts pouring... And that ends my night.. 1 Fish Tale.. 0 Fish..

So today I headed back to the spot.. Holding on to a thread of hope.. I hoped to tie into another large pike.. Unfortunately that was not the case.. Fishing was slow but I took my first smallie of the year!

A little later my phone rings and it's my buddy Ted.. And he wants to head south and do some trout fishing.. Obviously I'm down.

So we head south.. It was supposed to be mid 60s and overcast.. Not 50* and looking like rain.. We decide to hit a gem of a stream.. Not an easy stream.. I'd say my batting average on this stream is somewhere around .200.. This year it was .000 as I have struck out both the times i've headed out there..

It had rained the night before but this stream was still gin clear and we knew it could go either way... First couple holes are a bust.. There's trout.. But they are not biting.. They aren't even spooking.. Running around our feet and being able to walk right over the holes without seeing a ton of trout scatter.. They know what's up.. And know there's nothing we can do about it as they sit there all smug.. Taunting us

The next hole.. Well well.. This is a dandy.. It's a great little hole.. Well.. It has been.. I've pulled a 14" brown out of this plunge.. Pretty big trout for a very small stream.. Was hoping we could tie into one here again.. First we have to over come the obstacles.. There's maybe a 2ft window to cast into.. Tree over hanging the hole with vines coming down on both sides.. And Tons of brush to the sides and behind us.. Nothing easy about it.. But hoping the reward would be worth it.. So I step up and make a cast or two and snag... Ted's turn.. couple casts and snag.. I go back in while he's retying.. Snag.. Ted steps back up.. Snag.. We probably spent at least an hour on this hole.. With trout rising 20' in front of us. We were very stubborn and not willing to give up defeat.. We probably lost about a dozen flies between us on this hole... Ted was able to pull two dinks.. And then we conceded and blew the hole to retrieve our lost flies...

Couple holes later I finally got my redemption.. Tied on a #18 Griffith's Gnat and It was game on.. 2nd cast.. Land my first trout... a couple casts later another.. And then another.. Ted too took one from this hole as well I believed.. And we headed further up stream

  

Ted took another small trout to hand further up stream but that was about it and we called it a day on the stream.. 

We decided maybe we should hit the Root for a little while.. But not much was going on.. Ted saw a couple fish rise... But that was about it.. As we were heading back to shore we saw a ton of shorthead redhorse cruising and rising.. So we gave them a shot.. unfortunately we could not tie into any of them.. But it sure was entertaining.. Two guys about 7' from each other trying to cast to the next riser before the other could.. "Battle Fly Fishing" I think is what Ted coined it...  

It was nice to see the redhorse schooled up and really gave me the itch.. Now I know what I'll be searching for the next couple weeks as it warms up!

SBS: Mini-Bugger

This has been a pretty effective pattern for me over the years.. Dead drifted as the lead fly.. You cannot go wrong.

Hook:  #12 Nymph
Head: Bead Head in matching size
Weight: .015 Lead 6-8 wraps
Tail:  Marabou, 3-4 stands Krystal Flash
Body: Black Ice Dub
Hackle: Whiting Hen Hackle, Grizzly

Step 1:  Add bead and Give 6-8 wraps of lead or until shank is 1/2 wrapped in lead.

 

Step 2:  Lay down a layer of thread to secure in the lead and lay down a coat of super glue/head cement

 

Step 3:  Tie in marabou and krystal flash

 

Step 4:  Make dubbing loop and tie thread forward and tie in soft hackle

 

Step 5:  Sparsely fill dubbing loop with black ice dub and twist tightly

 

  Step 6:  Wrap dubbing brush forward and tie in behind head

 

Step 7:  Wrap hackle forward and  stroking back feathers and wrapping thread to secure hackle.  Whip finish and secure with super glue.