Persistence Pays Off Big Time

As previouly noted the fishing for Snook this year in Florida has been tough but yesterday turned out pretty well with one fish at 40-inches and another at 35-inches.  The above fish was spotted after a several mile walk seeing absolutely nothing until a dark shape appeared 20 yards away on the edge of the surf.  She turned to the fly on the first cast and ate it on the second.

Tying on the Road

When I come down to Florida every year I bring a lot of fly tying material with me.  More often than not, I end up experimenting with various patterns and color combinations until I find something that the fish are particularity interested in.  One such pattern in 2012 has been an all white fly tied on a size 6 TMC 811S.  Its very simple to tie...here's the recipe:

Thread:  Danville 210 white.
Tail: Four white saddle hackles - two per side with 3 strands of pearl krystal flash on each side
Body:  White craft fur mixed with a small amount of pearl Baitfish Emulator assembled in a wire dubbing brush (could be done with a dubbing loop).  Brush/pick out and trim the fibers into a baitfish shape.
Eyes: Montana Fly 3-D red eyes coated with Clear Cure Goo

The Old College Try....Musky Style

Well its the time of year when the CU kids are finally getting school wrapped up and trying extra hard to do well on their finals.  I figured that I ought to put in a little extra effort and grab the 9 wt and study up on musky on the fly.  To pass this class would put me at the top of my class.  Even a follow would be enough to pass.  Instead I failed. 

Looks like I'm going to be a 5th year senior again....

 A couple of delinquent flies up at Gross Reservoir.

Congrats to all of the CU grads this year.  Think your smart now?  Well why don't you give musky on the fly a try.  Then let me know what real dedication is.

Just kidding....



~Russ

Wiper Action

 

Introduced into eastern Colorado lakes in the early 1980s, the Wiper is a hybrid between white bass and striped bass. They are a schooling fish that can be found "busting" prey fish on the surface during the summer.  The schools move fast and in random fashion chasing them down can be an exercise in futility if your in a float tube.  For the most part, Wipers are low-light fish, meaning they are most often found in the morning, evening and on cloudy days.  Above is a picture of Erik Staub with a fish taken on an eastern plains lake a few days ago.

WHERE TO GO?
Aurora Reservoir ~ Barr Lake ~ Bonny Lake ~ Cherry Creek Reservoir ~ Douglas Reservoir ~ Horsetooth Reservoir ~ Jackson Lake ~ John Martin Reservoir ~ Lonetree Reservoir ~ Martin Lake ~ North Sterling Reservoir ~ Prewitt Reservoir ~ Pueblo Reservoir ~ Trinidad Lake ~ Union Reservoir ~ Wellington
Reservoir #4

Salmonflies are OUT! 5/15/12

 There back...the biggest hatch of the year.  Salmonflies! 

I know that its much earlier that everyone was expecting, or maybe its not a surprise to you.  Regardless, the Colorado river from about Rancho del Rio up to Byers Canyon is seeing strong hatches of Salmonflies.

Prime Salmonfly water.

This past weekend I had the privilege to float with my fiancee and sister.  How often does that happen?  So we braved the poor weather reports and pulled the boat up to pumphouse.  The put in was crawling with anglers both wading around and loading up boats.  The angling pressure hardly slowed down the fishing for us.  Jessie and Ashley both managed to boat a fair number of sizable browns and lost just as many.  We fish both streamers (black, black and gold, and olive were the hot colors) as well a a dry dropper rig.  An Idys Chubby Chernobyl with a Rubber Legs was all that was required to get into fish.  We caught them on both the dry and the dropper.  In the afternoon hours the salmonflies dissipated for a few hours and were replaced with a superb beatis hatch.  We switched gears leaving the chubby on  and adding a red head prince with a small olive beatis off the back.  Guess what?  We smacked them that way too!

Ashley with a nice sample taken on a big old Salmonfly!

Jessie showing off her streamer skills to the other guide boats on the river.  She let out a hoot when she hooked this one.

All in all it was a great day to spend with on the water with my family.  After all it was Mothers Day and Mom would be happy to know that the family was out having some fun together!

Get off the computer and go fish!

~Russ

Snook Fishing Slowdown

Beach fishing for Snook over the last 5 days has been extremely slow ...... tides and wind are the underlying cause.  In addition, there is not a lot of bait close to shore.  On the other hand I'm catching Spanish Mackerel, Jacks, Seatrout, etc. off the Sanibel beaches on the northwest side.  A storm moved in from Fort Meyers this morning.  It will give me a chance to replace some of the lost to Spanish Mackerel over the last few days.

Bernie's Bunny - Lake Trout Fly Tying Demo

Over the past couple of weeks Tim Romano and I have been going out and chasing a few lakers on the fly.  Needless to say its been rough.  Lots of follows, a few takes, and a whole lot of hearbreak.  Tim sums it up nicely in his last F&S blog post.  See it here.  We have been fishing with a local know it all Bernie Keefe and are gathering some good intel as to how to catch these fish.  He is the top guide on Lake Granby and lake trout are his number one game.  He throws a bunny lure and soft plastics that are about 12" in length in very natural typically darker colors.  These baits are his number one producer of big fish, period.  So I had to come up with something in a similar color scheme to target this fish with the fly rod.

Bernie's Bunny is my smaller version of his trophy lake trout lures.

Watch it on YouTube

Once we tied on these flies we started seeing a whole lot more action.  I am confident that one more trip up there and a few more of these flies should get us our much earned prize.

Thanks for the inspiration Bernie and watch out Lakers because its game on!

~Russ

Beach Fishing in Southwest Florida

I'm on the road to Florida today....got this message and picture tonight from a good friend, Pete Squibb, that arrived last week......"Took this one this evening. She's 38".  West of the Point, there is a pair of crab pot buoys. There have been good numbers of snook from that point west for he next 1/2 mile( about 300 yards wt of the osprey platform).  It's been slow until today.. Lots of snook, but winds last week clouded the water and pushed bait and snook out.   Last two days bait and fish moved back. This girl was tailing near that crab buoy tonight. Also took two smaller ones in the same area.

Fishing the Laguna Madre in Texas

Bruce Mardick (left) and Eric Glass Right) off South Padre Island 3 days ago with a 17-pound Jack, More to come when I get back to Colorado