From Fresh to Salt and a First

So much fish frenzy in the saltwater this week, I had a hankering for the river this afternoon. I really want to catch a big fallfish. It has been two years. I was very excited about catching them--but they seem scarce now--or I just don't know how to find them properly.

At any rate I caught the micro LMB )on my gray ghost) and the micro BG that live in the river. One of each. And a lost even smaller LMB.

Then back to the salt where son caught first herring ever. I think Hickory? 14" or so.

The fly that did the trick in 12" of water at the fast ebb current running along a jetty out of a small estuary was a simple craft fur contraption on a #1 O"Shaughnessy:

Pseudo Scientific Fishing

After that epic day with the palmered fly, I thought I'd see what else was going on. The next night I fished the same reefs.

The small blue fly was first.

Took a fish immediately.

 Then I re-tied and put on the craft fur one directly below the blue one. I hooked up immediately on a big strong fish and fought it for 5 minutes but it got off. After that, it got hit over and over but not taken, so I switched again to the big pink one. That took a fish immediately too:

 After catching that fish, I tied on a fourth fly: the chartreuse one. Now it was getting dark. And not a single touch.

The next night I decided to try the craft fur (2nd of four from top) again. Same seam where I found the big fish the previous night. Sure enough I hooked up immediately. 21" fish. Biggest yet this year.

False Reasoning, Fine Fishing

I tied a new fly a few days ago on a 2/0 O'Shaughnessy:

The chartreuse and blue one. I decided to palmer a hackle. Not common on saltwater flies.
 


Well, then I fished it and wham! But I really don't think that's why I caught a lot of fish (I lost count maybe 8?). I think there were simply a lot of fish! Furthermore the striped bass appeared to be feeding on a school of tiny bluefish. The blues also took the fly--caught two of them. They were schooled and jumped in unison like baitfish.

Great day of fishing. But the previous night I caught nothing at 2 AM with this fly even though I heard and saw big striped bass sucking bait down right under me at a bridge. Therefore I know the fly is good, but I may have caught just as many on another pattern. Who knows!

Two of them ended up measuring 18". Not 20 as I was sort of wondering out loud in my video clip.

Fun Summer Fishing

Sometimes the fish go for a balsa or cork fly popper

 

The Yellow Perch always prefer the Gray Ghost

You can find a black sea bass in the shallows, with a spoon. I guess they were chasing the shoals of small baitfish.