Brown Trout saved the day.

Made a pretty long trip yesterday to catch some Smallies. Upon arriving I was a little disappointed with my spot and headed up stream for better looking water. Good move  as I caught 1 fat little Smallie and 1 nice brown Trout . Only fished 2 hrs as I was run off the water with a massive storm but it sure beat working.
Brown Trout. Fisheaters. Gotta Luv them..........
Threw a spinnerbait and a rapala.  Water Temp 57 degrees.
Here are a few pics............

Mack

2nd attempt at tying some flies

Even though my flyfishing started in 1977 or so on the haw river my Fly tying has just begun with gusto in 2011.
Over the years my main flies,streamers, terrestials and others has been usually a yellow popper with an ant trailer for bream and a wooly bug. For Trout it has been nymphs, and ants. Also for bream and other freshwater fish I sometimes use a mickey finn streamer. My flyboxes have umpteen numbers of flies and other stuff  but the main ones I use are the Ants, wooly bugs, mickey finns, pt nymphs and yellow poppers. So, after tying a few poppers and ants I figured my 2nd try at fly tying would be the good ole wooly bug.
So, off to see Jim at the GOPC and he was  there and as always,  ready to help. He gave me every thing I needed to tie an Olive wooly bug and I bought a few more items..

Here is my first attempt at a wooly bug...I had meant to put the bead on the hook but forgot!,  so I had to make my first one with the wired wrapped around the hook as i did not want to start over.

                                                                 1st wooly bug

My next one would be a another black ant.

I forgot the name of the next 2  but Jim showed me an example of each of these.

I think the next 2 I may try are the Gorilla Glue ant and the Mickey Finn....

Hopefully these will catch some fish

Mack 

Big Bream, Shellcrackers and some suprises....

Since my son is on trackout,  I had promised to take him fishing downeast for some big catfish. I told him the catfishin would be better next month  but he still wanted to go anyway . Thata boy!.....
We headed to one of my favorite rivers, the Neuse.  Now I  will not gona say exactly where we were,  but any blackwater creek off the Neuse between Smithfield and NewBern will give you some really nice bream and the main Neuse  will get you the Flatheads and Blue Cats.. 
We arrived at our destination at 1pm and fished untill 11pm. The Boat for today would be my Trusty 1984 vintage Coleman Scanoe with a Mercury 2.5 hp motor.  
First business of the day would be to fish for Bream.  For 2 reasons, they are fun,  and we need bait.  Bait of choice was crickets on 2 ul rods fished 2 ' under corks on #6 long shank hooks.  Man! did we have a blast and  we really got on to some good bream. My son actually lost one that was 1.5 lbs to 2 lbs and I had a similar one break 4 lb test at the boat!!!!. all of the big Bream were released for another day and a few of the smaller ones kept for bait.  Oh, I did catch a few on my 4wgt fly rod with a yellow popper and a black ant trailer.
Here are a few pics of some of the bream.

Not a big shellcracker but he fought like crazy!

Maybe my biggest of the day

One for the Longrod.... All fly rod caught fish caught on Yellow popper with Ant trailer.

This was probably my sons biggest of the day.

Here is the type of areas we were fishing. Throwing right up against Cypress trees and gum trees.

Right before dark we headed out to one of  my catfish hot spots and set up.

3 rods would be used tonight.

1. An  Abu 7000 loaded with 40 lb cajun line on a 7' mh American Spirit Nite Stik. This IMO is the best catrod on the market.

2. A Shimano 6500 Baitrunner loaded with 25 lb Golden stren on a 7' ugly Stik Tiger Rod. 

3. A calcutta 700 loaded with 30 lb big game on a custom made 8' rod that I can thank my Great freind Todd for!!!

All rigs were modified Carolina rigs with 2 oz sinkers, short leaders and 5/0 hooks. I left the 9/0 hooks at home!

The first spot yielded this decent striper that my son got in fairly easy on the calcuata 700. This Striper hit a piece of cut bream soaked in garlic juice.

After a couple of missed hits,   we moved down to another spot and right away I caught this small flattie.

After  a couple more missed hits we moved down to another spot and nada. 

Not a great day for bottom fishing but can't complain with a Flathead and a Striper caught,  and the joy of the day was seeing my son have fun with  those Big  Ole Bull Bream. Other wildlife seen was 2 Black Fox Squirrels , alot of white Ibis, some ducks and the usual Herons. Oh! on the ride down I did see that one unfortunate Fox Squirrel didn't make it across the rode and now I know someone who may have a red Fox squirrel tail for some Fly tying.

Mack

First Fly and First fish Caught with Them

I started fly fishing around 1977 or so in the Haw River  mainly for Redbreast since the Haw is loaded with them and it was in my backyard.   My dad had given me an Eagle Claw fly reel which I still have today.  My main technique  was to  float down the river and cast black ants and/or poppers under the overhanging trees and bushes from my mowhawk canoe, my float tube purchased from Netcraft, or  by wading down the bank.  Some days you could really catch over a hundred doing this. On those days it was better than catching those big ole largemouths!

I graduated to Trout fishing not long after that and though I still love to catch trount on a fly rod I prefer to catch trout on a spinning reel. (sorry flyguys) .  There is just something about a bream busting a popper on top that i love. My go to rig is a popper and then an ant(either a black or red ant) as a dropper about 1 ft back. Now , fast forward to 2011 and though I have always wanted to try my hand at fly tying I never have. Until now.  Last year my good freind Todd gave me a nice vise that he wasn't using and just recently I have added the bare basics to tie a few poppers and some black ants.

Here are some pics of my handy work. I think the ant looks decent but the popper does look kinda retarded.(ok it looks really bad).... If the popper won't catch a fish it will at least serve as a strike indicator for the ant.

 

There is a pond near my house that i used to fish alot but other more exotic places have been calling so I have neglected this spot for a few years. This pond is where I used to always go in early may to get some nice Bream and shellcracker on the longrod. So,  I was determined to fish this pond yesterday evening .

5/5/2011

Pond "x"

8' rod and reel loaded with WF-4

Lures would be my first black and and my first popper.

Here is the first lunker that hit that ugly popper on the 3rd cast!

Well not really  a lunker but my son said I had a really big smile when I landed this big girl!

Then I was rewarded with this bream which hit the black ant.

Then this shellcracker hit the black ant. What a good fight! Then some more Bream and Black Crappie.

This shellcracker was the biggest of the day. 

What a great evening fly fishing with my first hand tied flies. Caught 1 bass, 3 shellcracker, 2 black crappie and aprox 15 bream. 4 were caught on the popper, and the rest on the ant , so the ant lasted for at least 15 or so fish though it is in pretty bad shape now.   More to come on fly fishing.

A big thanks to Todd for the vise and to Jim at the GOPC in Raleigh for his advise on fly tying. If you ever need any supplies he is the man to go see. Thanks Mack