Back From My Hiatus

The fishing was poor to say the least, but given the condition I was in a week ago I will take it! I have been unable to hit the water in several weeks due to the fun and enjoyment that comes along with gall stones. I finally felt some what mobile this past week, and hit the river on Wednesday. It was a gloomy day, and a bit cooler (75 or so with constant rain)-a welcomed change of pace from the typical Richmond dog days.

I entered the river via the pipe line walk; it was quiet with not a single person in sight. That was until the rail road crew showed up and started pulling rail spikes from the tracks above. Seems innocent enough, right? Well sure, but these workers were dropping the spikes and other large pieces of steal to the ground and trail below-I stood in the middle of the run watching as chunks of metal cascaded down on my only route to the bank. In the above picture, you may be able to spot one of the rail worker in bright yellow standing high on the rails, below which the catwalk that allows you to acces the river sits. My only options was to explore the chain of islands situated in the middle of the river and occupying roughly 500 yards of river. I attempted to wade my way upstream and back across to the shoreline, but I found my self slipping into some deeper water and swimming once or twice. Eventually I found a small stretch of rapids below the main channel and was able to get back to shore. I am not even going to mention the string of young kayakers that insisted on pulling out right where I was wading while some paddled downstream of me to remove boulders from the flow. That is fine yet they found it necessary to see who could throw the rocks farther and the holes I had moved to fish (to avoid the yakers) served as their landing pad.

Despite these dilemmas, I still managed a pretty little blue gill on a rather large sparkle hair streamer. So, I beat the skunk and that put a smile on my face. It is always pleasant, in fact it keeps me sane, to step outside of society's current and into that of mother nature so long as hers does not take me home. Till next time, keep jerking it-the flies that is!

Sunnies!

I woke up much too late today and missed out on enjoying the sun-something I try to do each day. So, before I had to bed (gah, it is 4am already!) I decided to post pictures of some sunfish I have caught this spring and summer. ENJOY!

Streamers!

Sunfish/Bluegill Pattern

Alewife Streamer

Blue-Back Herring Streamer

This post is long over due as I have been meaning to post some info pertaining to my fly box and the patterns I am currently working on. I finally feel as though I have a pattern that is unique enough to call my own; after all, all fly tiers strive for this, right? This is a streamer pattern I developed while trying to tie side-wing hackle streamers.

Materials: Bucktail (nice long, wirey hairs; avoid soft bucktail) and angel hair or polar fibers, which ever you have on hand. This is tied from front to back by layering bucktail then angel hair, one ontop of the other as you work your way to the front of the hook. The amount of material for each layer can be altered-both in terms of length and thickness-to alter the flies profile. The bottom side of the fly consist of calf's tail, tied in angled back towards the hook point to create the gills and head profile.

I am hoping to chase Lakers this winter, and depending on where I am, Stripers this Spring using this pattern. In the water the fibers fan out some giving the streamer a broader profile, like that of the baitfish they are meant to imitate.

Fish pics courtesy of: http://www.fish.state.pa.us/pafish/fishhtms/chap10.htm;

http://pond.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/clupeidae/alewife.html; http://www3.cesa10.k12.wi.us/ecosystems/wetlands/animals/bluegill/index.htm

Summer Report # 3 - Chasing Smallies

Last night I discovered that my license had been soaked during my last outing causing the lettering to stick to its plastic sleeve. I bit the bullet, and decided to spend first light working in the lab in order to reprint my license rather than working the stream banks for hungry smallies. After a frustrating 4-5hrs of work, I finally caught the bus and made my way down town to the river by 1pm.

I began by working the usually first hole (Man Hole Pool) with not even a hint of a fish, and made my way upstream. I landed the nice bronze back above on a marabou streamer possessing a dark-blue flashabou tail (in the style of Jack Gartside's streamers). Three strips across the current, and WHAM, this little fella was running a bit of line out. It amazes how quickly small mouth strike a fly upon its fall to the water and is a strong testament to their awareness. I spotted several flat heads in this same small pool (Kitty Pool), but I could not get them interested in this streamers, nor did the pay any attention to different color zonkers I pitched at them.

The storm clouds rolled in, and I hiked downstream to get out of their path; although, a storm never did develop. I finished my day at a downstream section where the tidal range of the river begins-crabs galore. They are so cranky that they reach for and yank on my flies when the pass by. Hopefully next time I can bring one to hand and snap a good photo. While fishing a channel that I had not yet explored, I found a section full of deep swift water flowing over small to medium sized boulders. The same fly above enticed an aggressive strike from the largest smallie I have seen to date. I also was too quick on the hook set and yanked a olive zonker right from the jaws of a massive large mouth; stripping with two hands after casting downstream produced this strike. Missed one surface strike as well on a large zonker and could not tell what type of fish was responsible. Today's biggest surprise was the large bow fin that followed my zonker too close and quickly booked for cover-hopefully I can add that toothy fishy to my list before the summer ends! No gar today. Ended the day casting to a huge carp that was pushing 30-40 pounds in a side channel pool (look out hole), but he/she took no interest in my offering.

An awesome day despite the morning's anxiety!

Conditions: Mostly sunny, air temps ranged from 85-95. Rather windy, which made casting tricky. Water is very low, and extremely clear. The new downstream channel (all the way to the right - Heron's Nest Run) contained lots of deep green water, but the tide was in and on the way out. Amazed at the amount of weed growth since the last report. Located a rather large small mouth under an old concrete pylon in the retention channel. Several other anglers fishing the islands area, and they reported success with large catfish using spinning gear.

Fly Selection: Zonkers (white and barred olive-more follows with olive), marabou streamers (black and yellow w/olive hackle olive), top water deer hair minnows (very few casts). The black marabou streamer produced the sole fish and a follow by the largest smallie I have seen fishing this area to date.