I tied some flies which are may be a bit strident. But they worked.
The first ones I called "candycanes"because of the red/green stripes. I did some variations with and without hackle. I also tied a bright pink hackled royal coachman. Both of these--especially the first--proved exceptionally attractive to redbreast sunfish.
So I followed that up the next day with a set of really wild green flies. I think I'll call the red middled one the chartreuse buzzer. It is really just a "Bibio" fly re-imagined. (Thanks Dietrich for the Bibio enthusiasm:):
When I fished them, only one of them proved useful for the stocked rainbows--the chartreuse buzzer (need a catchier name)--but it turned out to be the most attractive--moreso than even the tried and trusty wooly bugger.
What was in the stomach? Hemlock leaves! Tons of them! The mixture of green and brown leaves looks suspiciously similar to this fly.
Rainbows are the stock of choice for fall stockings in Connecticut.
My local river received some a few weeks ago, and there are some very good fish in some spots. One in particular has been a lot of fun to work repeatedly. Each afternoon I've gone, I've caught one trout. I only ate one of them (see "Oh, The Irony"); I intended to eat a second but it had other ideas.
The most rewarding thing is that they took my own wooly bugger flies. I even caught one on a spinning rig. Yes, my elbow is still not up to casting. I've got a problem there that needs some serious attention.
These fish are 11" to 14" and all of them are good looking fish, but I think they are very hungry. The one I ate had very little in its stomach--but did have a few bugs.
One day I walked the stream for about a mile and I threw bread flake in at spots--and got some reaction! That was fun. I'm going to do that again. I did this without the rod--just out on a walk with the dog. If I chum with bread and then follow up with flies am I really fly fishing? Haha.
The best part was fishing with my son today. We switched rods and then I caught one. He was supposed to be the lucky one today. Next time:-)
After two weeks of occasionally trying to fish, and never catching a damned thing, on Sunday (Nov 13) I decided it Was Time. I went to the tackle shop and got what I needed to go tautog (blackfish) fishing.
Or so I thought.
I got one of these:
Clipped on one of these to the snap:
Killed one of these and hung each side to each of the hooks:
And I proceeded to row from rocky reef to rocky reef, anchoring and fishing each spot.
Until I lost my terminal tackle with 7 crabs still in my bucket.
Not a bite. But I know why. I was doing it wrong. When I got home I saw that Rich at FishAholic Fishing on youtube had gone blackfishing and done much better. Watching him I see what I need to do!
But now for the irony. I went bottom fishing and couldn't catch anything.
So today the rain cleared and I was restless at 3:30 and so I snuck out to the stream. One mile from home. I cast a salmon pattern fly for about 5 minutes, but again, I need to use my right arm because of my sore left elbow, and besides, how do fish eat eggs? I decided to simply cast it out to a slow area downstream and leave it to sink to the bottom. Then I switched to the spinning rod with my right hand. With a small rapala dace pattern I hooked into a lively fish in no time. But I forgot my net and once again lost it at my feet--but it was so busy I did not identify whether it was a bass or a trout. It was definitely not perch. Too lively.
Then I got a tangle, dealt with it and went back to it. After about 15 more minutes I was untangling the mother of all tangles with the spool off and the drag nut off and the sun down, and suddenly the fly rod, which I'd left at my feet on a big rock, started jumping. So I quickly put the spinning rig down and picked up the fly rod, Fish ON!
I played the fish to the bank and slid it safely up the mud. I could see it was a trout. At this point I was getting very excited. Mid-autumn, sea run brown trout stream, silvery looking hard fighting trout, taking a salmon egg pattern....was it a salter?
No.
It was a rainbow! Still--good! Gut hooked. I guess it was hungry. There was only a tiny bit of digested insect in the bottom of the stomach. After getting it home I looked it up: the river was stocked a week ago. OK that explains it.
The irony though is not lost on me. I go fly fishing for trout and manage to catch a fish on the bottom! Ha!
Started with a Sunday (22nd October): caught one schoolie striper--after seeing 3 or 4 little tunnies swim by 40 yds distant! No photos from the rowboat.
Monday snuck out on the Shetucket. Caught a largemouth and a huge sunfish, both on rapalas. No salmon to be found. That was in a previous essay on chasing salmonids
.
Tuesday in torrential rain and wind, wore a wetsuit at Chatfield Hollow and caught 3 rainbow trout in 14 minutes. I kept the first one and returned the others.
It turned out that pond had been stocked a few weeks previous--twice.
Wednesday back up in Massachusetts, go to a new pond--Upton--and catch 2 sunfish and 2 largemouth bass. The sunfish on flies, the bass on lures--one that famous Salmo brand pattern. That was also written about previously in the mad spinning lure entry.
Thursday same pond, catch 5 fish in a row. HOT! That's the one in journal entry on the mad spinning lure.
Friday, Ashland reservoir, yellow perch and a largemouth, on the "salmo" which gets snagged. I went back the next week and got it back by swimming with my mask!
Saturday, a rockfish, fly casting off the bridge, on my newest fly:
