On the post dated Tuesday, Butch asked that I explain paragraph 2, since he’s a Zebco 33 spincaster and not familiar with fly fishing equipment. So here goes. I hope I get it right.
From the post:
The reel I got was a Ross CLA 2 with Rio AquaLux fly line with an intermediate sinking rate of 1.5-2.0 IPS. The reel itself cost more than my whole Streamlight outfit. Then add backing, line, a three pack of 7'6" - 4X leaders and a dozen size 8 Wooly Buggers and I darn near had to take out a second mortgage on the house.
Fly rods and reels can cost as little as $59.00 (give or take) and as much as a gazillion dollars. When I first started fly fishing last year, I purchased a Streamlight rod & reel combo that came with backing (for when you get that big one and run out of line) and weight-forward fly line (most of the weight is in the front 33 feet or so). I paid about $175.00 for the whole shebang.
You’ll remember I mentioned in the post dated March 2nd that I snapped off the tip on this rod, so I bought the new rod mentioned in the same post. To go with that rod, I purchased a reel (and that sucker cost more than the whole other combo) and line (this stuff is really expensive) more suited for lake fishing than stream fishing. The reel I purchased has backing and an intermediate sinking line. What this does, is it makes the streamer (Wooly Bugger, etc) sink further than it would if you used a floating line. In this case, it sinks at the rate of 1 ½ to 2 inches per second. Depending on how far down you want to fish, all you do is count 1-1000, 2-1000, 3-1000, etc, to gauge how far down your streamer is. When you’re at the depth you want, then you start stripping the line to make the streamer jerk like its live bait. Basically it gets your fly further below the surface. If you want it to sink faster and farther, you get a faster sinking line. Butch, if you need more, let me know and I’ll send you an email.
OK, so how did it work today? Got to the trout pond at 0900 and started flippering across the lake. Nobody was catching anything so the prospect didn’t look good. First I tried a black Wooly Bugger, then a chartreuse Clouser Deep Minnow, a Steelhead fly called Freight Train, then an olive Wooly Bugger, and a tungsten bead Thinmint. After a couple of turns around the pond, I decided to put out my floating bobber rig with one of those huge meal worms. While I was fussing around with that rig, I just let my fly rig drift out about 30 feet or so. Wouldn’t you know that while I was fussing around with the one rig, a trout would take my Thinmint. I didn’t even get to feel the hit on the one and only fish of the day. Rats……. But I don’t feel bad. Most of the guys out there only got one or none at all. It was a very slow day. Obviously there was no interest in the meal worm.
Just before I left, one of the regulars out there that fish with spinning gear, said he got one bump fishing on the bottom (about 16 ft), so I guess they were down a lot further than I was.
Well, that’s today’s adventure. Oh, you know that dusting of snow we were supposed to get yesterday? It came Tuesday night and it was 3 inches. OK, I’m done with winter, but we always get snow one time after the Dogwoods bloom. No Dogwood blooms yet.
Till the next adventure.
Mark (Shoreman)
All good info, Mark. One other decided advantage to an Intermediate fly line - the entire line sinks at that slow rate, which puts it just below the surface. In moderatley rough / wavy conditions, a floating line gets to be a pain in the ass, since it rises and falls and goes sideways with each cresting wave. It makes direct contact with your fly almost impossible. An intermediate line lies just below the surface, and lets the waves go over top of it. Much easier to feel and work the Wooly Bugger / Leech pattern you're using.
ReplyDeletejust my $ .02
Wolfy
The best line I've found for stillwater(lakes) is the cortland camo,it's low green color and slow sink rate work great for fishing subsurface flies,combine this with a fluorcarbon leader and you cant go wrong.Try tailing a small nymph of the hook bend of your bugger the bugger gets their attention and the nymph brings them in.
ReplyDeleteThanks David. It never crossed my mind to put a nymph on as a trailer. Proves how new I am at this thing. Next time out, I'll give it a try.
ReplyDeleteMark
Mark no problem like to share info about flyfishing and what works for me,I use a dark bugger and combine that with a light colored nymph or just the opposite,that way you can see what color is working,you can do the same thing using a streamer(muddler minnow,spruce fly,clouser minnow,etc).
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