Divers

So it has been a while since my last post.  Even though I've been extremely busy I've fit in a surprising amount of flyfishing related activities lately which I'd like to get into at some point.  I just haven't felt like posting lately.  I do hope to get back into the groove of posting again.

I'd like to discuss divers.  Quite a while ago when I first thought about fishing for pike when pike were still fairly new to the state of Maine I did some research into pike flies.  I came up with a few must have flies like bunny bugs and mega divers.  So I sat down at the vise and whipped up some standard, book versions of these flies along with some odd variations that came to mind.  The bunny flies caught fish although not many due to lack of knowledge and probably skill at the time but I could not catch fish on the divers.

I waked them on the surface and also made them dive slightly then let them float back up to the top on a floating line.  I swam them deeper with sinking lines.  They just did not produce for me.

This winter I wanted to change that and tied up some divers in a couple different color combinations.  They looked good coming off the vise but the fish are the real critics.  Here is a sampling of my creations.

    
This past weekend I had a chance to get out and after a slow start with some of my usual go to patterns I decided to put on the chartreuse diver and give it a try.  After a few casts to get the fly wet and fishing I took a small pike after a nice, visual strike.

The strikes were frequent after that with some impressive missed ones.  About 3 or 4 more fish were brought to the boat.  I was on to something with this fly.

The boat was moved to allow casts to be made to an edge bordering deeper water.  During one of the first few casts to this spot, a pike of unknown size took the fly and cut right through my 50# flourocarbon tippet leaving me without the hot fly.  I barely felt the strike.  Guess I'll have to go to wire or put up with a few lost flies along the way.

The action was fun while it lasted but the other divers didn't produce like the first one and after a while I started switching to some other types of patterns.  I do have some new found confidence in the divers and plan on stocking up on them for future trips.  I have so many flies I tied up this past winter I couldn't resist putting them on and giving them a swim.  I took one small pike on a 12" articulated musky fly.that I didn't think any pike would take a shot at.  Those pike are sure vicious predators. 

I'm still learning about pike and found a lot of fish in a little bit different location this trip out.  The water temp was about 50 F with overcast skies and the pike seemed to be pretty tight to cover like old weed edges, brush and other woody bushes.  Normally early season the pike can be found very shallow spawning but by the time the water warms up this much they seem to move deeper.  Maybe they are in a transition period.

This fly is more typical of the stuff I usually fish and I happen to like the way this one looks and fishes.

I was fishing with John again today.  I hardly fish with anyone else since he is one of the few people that can put up with me for the day.  He was able to catch the best pike of the trip and a nice, chubby bass getting ready to spawn shortly.

As always I hope to get out on the water again soon.

Favorite pike fly

These are a few variations of my favorite pike fly for different situations.  I've posted them elsewhere before but thought I'd add them to the blog.  The pictures make them look a little scraggly but once these flies get in the water they come alive and really swim.  The 3 variations I've tied are a basic standard one, one with eyes and one with a spun deer hair head.

To put the eyes on one of them I used some loon UV cured resin.  I loved having the ability to get it all in place without worrying about it curing then hitting it with the light to set everything in place.  I'm not completely sold on it yet and would like to try out some of the other brands too before coming to many conclusions.  My flytying room is a little cool and the resin seemed to be a little thick to work with at that temperature.  The finished head was slightly tacky too but for fishing flies I'm not worried about it.  I look forward to using more of it.

The deer hair version can be fished as a popper with a floating line but I've had the best luck fishing it on an intermediate line.  I can get a couple good pops on the surface then work the fly back with fast, erratic strips just subsurface.  The action is a lot like a jerk bait fished with conventional tackle.  Last year I got one of the most amazing topwater strikes I've ever seen by a nice musky on an orange version of this fly.  That strike still plays over and over in my mind.

Couple of favorite pike flies

Ken at Pike Adventures asked me what's been working for me for pike flies so I threw up a few pics.  These flies might seem a little fancy and fragile compared to most pike flies but I really enjoy tying them.  I love tying with natural materials like bucktail, marabou and feathers and mixing all the different colors together...oh and they usually need to have lots of mixed flash although I noticed I cut back on flash on one of these.  These guys really swim fished fast or slow.  I try to balance them so they don't immediately dive nose down on the pause and instead sit there horizontal or slowly glide downward.  For this reason I don't normally add eyes or epoxy towards the front and try to use lighter wire hooks.  Yellow perch and other combos with orange and chartreuse have worked best for me.  I can't wait to get out there and fish them.

Still around

I'm still around fishing and tying when I can fit in the time.  Got geared up to do some steelhead fishing but the river blew out and the predicted weather called for 15-25 mph winds and heavy rain so I ditched that plan last minute and decided to do a little pike fishing instead before the nasty weather hit home. 

Launched a driftboat with a friend on a perfect, spring morning at one of the few spots that wasn't still locked down with ice.  There was just enough wind to slowly push the driftboat along the shallow flats as we fan casted the area trying to cover as much water as possible. Had a solid bump early on that sure felt like a fish but might have been a log or weeds even though the fly came back clean.  It served to increase my focus on the presentation.  It wasn't long before I actually hooked up with my fly about half way back to the boat.  The fish made a series of short 5-10' bursts and took most of my loose flyline before I gained the upper hand and slowly worked the fish back to the boat.  I was surprised by the size of the fish as it was the largest I've landed in the short time I've been chasing pike.  Unfortunately the fish was hooked deeply and we both lost a little blood in the process.  Hopefully the fish survived after a quick pic and release in the cold water.

Caught a few more average sized pike including one that didn't want to give my fly back.

The wind really started to pick up later in the morning as the storm came in that kept me from going steelhead fishing.  We fought the wind the best we could and called it a day around mid afternoon.  Good first day on the water it was great to fish some new flies tied up over the winter.  Of course I got some new ideas about flies I want to tie and tweaks that need to be done to existing flies making the ones I have already in my box somewhat obsolete.  I don't mind at all since this process keeps my mind actively thinking about this great sport.

I also got to try out a new Rio striper intermediate line which replaced a very worn out older version.  It's a great feeling to cast a nice, slick line that doesn't tangle constantly.  The bad news is I managed to step on it or get it caught on something over the course of the day, stripping off some of the coating of the running line.  The core of the line seems solid still so I'll keep on fishing it.

I've been so busy and while sneaking in a little fishing and tying I haven't felt like writing here much.  I want to thank everyone else for regularly updating their blogs with great reports, stories and flies.  Won't be long and some better weather will be here along with a few stripers making life a little more interesting.

Square head poppers

These square headed poppers have intrigued me so I tied a few up in different sizes for largemouth to pike to musky.  I'm looking forward to see what kind of pop and disturbance they make.  I used similar flies last year with deerhair heads that caught fish but didn't stay above the surface for long especially with an intermediate line.  I'm thinking these will float high even with an intermediate.  Shouldn't be long until I can give them a try if we ever get some warm weather.  Need to tie a few up for stripers too although the green one has a mackerel feel to it and should do the trick.

Last year John http://coop-fly.blogspot.com/ caught a few pike with me on a twin tailed yellow deer hair popper so I tied one with the yellow foam head as well.

 Directions and more info on tying these flies can be found on the Zero 2 Hero blog.

Deep water flies

I sat down to tie some flies to be used for pike and bass in deeper water. Last spring when there was strong wind the shallow water got very murky from the wave action. The bite for pike really turned off under those conditions so we felt like we were forced to fish deeper water. Maybe there was some other presentation we could have tried under those conditions in the shallow water but we couldn't come up with anything that worked for us.

I tied these flies up to fish deeper in these conditions, around submerged weed edges later in the summer and rocky points and shoals for bass. They will also hopefully fish a little deeper where there is current in some of our larger rivers.

Initially I wanted to tie a whistler but started layering saddles, marabou, bucktail and flash up the hook shank similar to a lot of the other flies I've been tying lately.  I finished off the fly with a grizzly hackle over a few extra wraps of lead behind some lead eyes.  Unweighted this style of fly really swims so it should be interesting to see what kind of action they have with the weight up front and the jig hook.

Bunker flies

I've been told that the flies I have been tying for muskies aren't big enough. So I dug through my striper fly boxes and pulled out some of my old bunker and grocery flies. I don't have as many opportunities to fish these flies anymore for stripers so maybe they will be better put to another use.

Fly Tying Jamboree II Photos

Had a great time at the jamboree on Saturday.  About 10 people showed up to try tying a few bass and pike patterns.  I thought there might be a few more experienced pike fisherman in the group but I found out that not a single person in the group said they had caught pike before so they had plenty of questions.  I did my best to answer even though I have only one season of chasing them myself.   We chatted about where I have been fishing and what time of year and conditions I found to be most productive.  Hopefully I gave them enough good info to get them started.  We discussed the controversy that surrounds pike in the state since they aren't native and spreading into more traditional cold water fisheries.  Overall we had a very enthusiastic and friendly group.

The first fly we tied was a 3/0 red/white banger variation using white yak hair for the tail and wing at least that is what I was going for. I like this style of fly and want to make sure and tie some more for this year.  I haven't seen any tied with yak hair and wanted to see how it would come out.  pikeflyfishingarticles.blogspot.com blog has many great variations of this fly including a step by step tutorial.

The next fly was a black bass gurgler.  I've been fishing a fly very similar to this with a spun deer hair head and wanted to modify it to have a gurgler style head instead.

The last fly tied was one of my favorites from last year.  It is based on the hang time musky fly which I keep tinkering with.  I have yet to even fish for muskies but the local pike and both smallmouth and largemouth bass eat them up no matter how big I make them.  Most lakes in the area have large populations of yellow perch so I tend to tie a lot of perch colored patterns.  I just like the perch colors too.  So much prettier than the typical shiner or most suckers.

Even though most of the people in the class weren't pike fisherman many do tie for stripers and they commented on how they could fish some of these same patterns for them or incorporate some of the tying techniques into their striper patterns.

I have some friends that come over every other Tuesday night to tie.  This week we plan on doing some crease flies and whatever else comes to mind.

Where did the summer go?

I slacked on updating the blog this summer.  It sure was a busy one and I ended up spending a lot of time with the family mostly camping, hiking, fishing and just playing around home.  I took a few fish pictures here and there but nothing all that exceptional.

I did more bass fishing than I have in quite a few summers.  They always seem to cooperate and come out to play when I have the time.  Went after the largemouths with deerhair poppers and chased smallmouth on the rivers.  The hot, dry summer seemed to be to their liking.  Had a close encounter with a very large smallmouth on a gurgler just five minutes from home.  In between catching little guys, a pig took the fly, dove downward taking line then came back up and exploded on the surface.  The hook pulled free once the fish splashed down.  Hard saying how big the fish was.  Just as well I didn't land it so in my mind it can be as big as I want.  I'll remember this fish as well as any this year.

The striper fishing was better than the last few years but it was hard to gauge how much better.  Fishing from shore was a struggle and after the early season just catching a couple fish seemed like a good day.  The average size of the fish was amazing although I didn't land any exceptional ones.  The lack of smaller fish was concerning.  Local anglers continue to argue about the state of the fishery but I'm betting on some dark times to come.  I kept going back to some of my favorite spots just to prove to myself that fish were still there but most of the time I was proven wrong.  I mostly attribute the better fishing this summer to the improved weather.

I didn't do much trout fishing.  The water got awfully warm and low and I wasn't able to travel to some of the areas that were less affected by the weather.  I did see someone close to home catch a legitimate 20"+ brown last night while walking along the river.  I'll be checking this spot out a little more until winter comes.

After having so much fun pike fishing this spring I wasn't sure I was going to get the chance to fish some more this year.  Lately we have been hit with the remnants of hurricanes frequently making the ocean dangerous to fish so Coops and I decided to spend a weekend chasing the pike around.  Even better I got to try out some pike flies I tied early summer that I thought would be sitting in a box unused until spring.  They fished beautifully.  We had to work for the pike but Coops ended up catching the best specimen of the season for us.

The bass fishing was pretty good too and provided some nice action both for some fattie large and smallmouths.

I'm not done for fishing for the year but have to say good bye to summer and hello to my favorite fishing season the fall.

Pike

I had a tough time getting time to fish this spring and when I had the time I was faced with some tough conditions especially the due to weather.  Overall the weather was great this spring but as soon as I had some free time the weather would take a turn for the worse...not so this last trip.

The trip almost didn't happen but at the last minute John and I shuffled around our schedules and ended up with with some time for an early Sunday morning trip.  We met along the way at the usual spot we meet at when heading north at 4am and were on the water by first light although it was tough to tell since it was so foggy.  We had what I consider to be perfect fishing conditions; a dark, overcast day with just enough wind to put some ripples on the water.

We took off across the lake in the fog and darkness.  I hadn't fished this particular lake in a few years and once John stopped the boat I wasn't sure where we were at.  John assured me we were in a good spot and it only took me a few casts to prove him right.  We fished along a shallow point with some emergent grass that I could barely see in the dark.  A couple casts along the edge and I picked up this nice largemouth.  Once again on these pike excursions I was catching something other than the target species but I shouldn't complain too much.

We worked our way around the point to the shallow bay on the other side.  In a matter of a few minutes John hooked up and landed the first pike of the day.  It was a little guy but worthy of a picture because of our luck this year I thought it might be the only one we would see.  Thankfully that wasn't the case.

We worked our way along the bay and had pretty steady action.  I tried out a big chartreuse deer hair popper shown in a previous post and on the first cast caught my first pike on a topwater fly.  John switched over to a pretty cool yellow twin rabbit tail deerhair popper and had some good action on it also.  He kept with it for a good part of trip.  Not long after putting it on he had what he thought was the biggest pike of the day take a shot at it but he didn't hook up.

We had some more nice largemouths mixed in too.

Eventually the fog burned off and the skies cleared up.  We thought that the action might slow under the bright sun but it actually improved.  The subsurface flies we used had a lot of flash and really lit up in the bright sun.  The bigger pike started to turn on and we landed a couple of 26" fish and my personal best 30".

My goal this spring was to learn more about the local pike fishing.  I had a lot of fun doing it and it felt good to finally have some decent weather and fishing.  Between the 2 of us we put about 25 pike in the boat in about 5 hours.  I felt like I accomplished my goal and can move on to fishing for stripers this summer although it will be tempting to chase these guys around some more.  There's always the fall once the stripers are headed south again.

Recent trips 1

Got out with John for a few pike excursions over the last week or so.  John and I have been getting out when we can which hasn't been that much with everything else going on.  When we have the time we just go independent of the weather, fishing reports, and whatever else. On this day the weather report was for heavy winds and high pressure and for once the report was spot on.  We got an early start and luckily the winds were moderate at first but they built fast.

We headed up to the Belagrade lakes again which is basically the center of pike fishing in the state and tried out a new lake for me anyway.  This one has a big shallow bay with a small inlet that is supposed to be the best spot.  We worked our way around the edge of the bay sometimes casting to the edge if there was deep enough water and structure, otherwise drifting a bit away and covering the flat.  After a few strikes we missed it didn't take John long to pick up this little guy so we figured we were on to something but that was the end of the pike action except for a few half-hearted follows until late in the day.

Thought this guy was a small pike until I pulled it out of the water.

The bay had a soft mud bottom and as the wind picked up the water became quite turbulent and dirty.  We thought that it probably turned the pike off although the smallmouth didn't seem to mind.  We started picking them up in what we thought was pike water.  These weren't the big spawners that we normally run into this time of year but still fun.  With the off colored water we switched over to the brighter fire tiger patterns which are great for smallmouths anyway and they jumped all over them.  These little guys had no problem wolfing down the pike sized flies.

After taking a beating from the wind for a while we headed up to the more sheltered side of the bay and found some rockpiles and ledges.  John was into a fish after a couple of casts and it didn't take me too long to hook up either.   The next hour or 2 was spent steadily picking up some larger smallmouths.

It's so nice that the state of Maine puts out these smallmouth markers.  It makes it so much easier to find the fish this time of year.

Tried another lake later in the day.  The shallow bays were still too tough to fish so we worked some more rocky structure out of the wind for smallmouths.  John ended up catching the biggest pike of the spring so far off of one of these areas.  Once he took the hook out the fish flopped out of his hands into the water so we didn't get a pic. We got some more smallmouths and found some spawning ones also but I don't like to bother them much.  The wind never gave up but eventually we did and called it a day.