Night crawlers and Cats

Ah, the good 'ole days, baiting a hook with a fat juicy night crawler, casting it out to what you think is the deepest spot on the lake, and waiting. I was rummaging through some old files on an external hard drive of mine, and came across some old pictures.

I haven't caught a catfish in so long. Makes me want to set aside an outing to dunk some bait this summer. With the lake right behind my GF's townhouse, I just might have to do that, while I fire up the BBQ and grill some steaks.

Thee biggest catfish I have ever caught.
(No idea why I'm wearing a batting glove. HAHA)

I had a different system. I always thought adding the bobber helped keep the bait off of the bottom a tad. The fish never minded it. In Illinois, you're allowed 2 rods per angler. I used to soak some bait with my spinning rod, and cast lures with my baitcaster or other spinning rod.

Nice little Channel Catfish at Mallard Lake.

Catch and Release

Salad

These photos are probably 10+ years old, and they brought back some really good memories. If I find any more good ones, you can bet, I will most definitely share them!

Recent Orders

Finished up some recent orders. Seems everyone has predators with teeth on their mind.

Here are 2  flies that will be hunting down Northern Pike locally for a guy that just got into fly fishing. I've had success with these flies, and I know that they will serve my buddy well.

2/0 bucktail baitfish

These big beautiful flies will be hunting down Southern Ohio and Kentucky musky. Those Clear Cure Goo Jolly Roger eyes on my cotton candy pattern is sure to piss off any musky that it crosses.

8/0 musky flies

I wish I was still chasing musky and pike. If the weather is nice this weekend, I will be fishing.

Option A - Des Plains River for Northern Pike from my kayak. I just don't know if I will have the time.

Option B - Small creek wade fishing for whatever is around. Smallies, creek chubs, bluegill, and tilapia. Haha A buddy of mine caught a few tilapia out of this creek in a certain section this summer. We believe that they were planted there, with hopes that they would sustain their own population. I highly doubt that those warm water fish are still there....but you never know! :)

Step by Step - CARF Crappie

Here's a step by step of how to tie a small but big crappie pattern I've been tying up lately for bass, pike, and possibly musky.

Step One - Self explanatory.

Step Two - Tie in nice size hunk of white craft fur to use as a tail.

Step Three - Silver crystal flash.

Step Four - Black holographic Flashabou.

Step Five - 2 natural grizzly hackle feathers. One on each side.

Step Six - Reverse tie in some black buck tail.

Step Seven - Add more silver crystal flash.

Step Eight - Reverse tie in another small hunk of black buck tail

Step Nine - Tie in some white craft fur. Make 2 wraps and work it around the hook shank with your fingers before making more secure wraps. (I ran out of black thread....Oops!)

Step Ten - Dumbbell eyes towards the front.

Step Eleven - Palmer some silver polar chenille up to the back of the dumbbell eyes.

Step Twelve - Tie in some black Senyo laser dub to make the head.

Step Thirteen - Whip finish.

Step Fourteen - Beer yourself or go fishing....or both at the same damn time!

Material list

1. 5/0 aberdeen hook
2. White craft fur
3. Crystal Flash - Silver
4. Flashabou - Black
5. Natural grizzly hackle feathers
6. Black buck tail
7. Hareline Polar Chenille - Silver
8. 6.3mm dumbbell eyes
9. Hareline Senyo laser dub - Black

Visiting the Grandparents at Fish Lake

Took a short day trip to visit my Grandparents at Fish Lake. One of my cousins was up there and wanted to fish. After dinner my cousin grabbed one of my grandpa's fishing rods and his tackle box. We quickly sifted through it, and he asked my advice on what to use. It was a mix of old and new lures. I was intrigued by a few of the older ones.

Here's an old popper I found in the tackle box. It has a light wire in the front that serves as a weed guard. This was my favorite find in the tackle box. He used to toss this with an ultra light spinning rod. Very cool!!

Unfortunately, this lake apparently had an extremely bad fish kill this past winter. Lots of reports and locals indicated that a frightening number of bass, crappie, and other fish were casualties.

Golden roach. There were schools of these guys around the fishing piers. There were some with more size.

I ended the evening catching a few golden roaches, and one small bass tossing a black and red gotcha fly with my 3 wt. My cousin tossed every small lure he brought, with no luck. I'll get him hooked up next time!

My cousin Giacomo looking for his first fish of the year....It didn't come this night.

Fake food for the salt.

I've been pretty excited for my trip to Florida.  It's given me a fresh mindset at the tying desk.  Here I thought I was going to be tying up some big bait fish flies, boy was I wrong!  I've been asking around and have been told that small flies are the way to go when fishing the surf. Size 4, 6, and 8....I never would have thought that.  I'll still be bringing some big meaty flies with me, because, I just have to! :)

I would like to say thanks to the following people, for providing me with some knowledge about fishing the area I will be in, and saltwater in general:

Captain Austin Adduci of Grab Your Fly Charters

+BrookField Angler over at Brookfield Angler

A.J. Gottschalk over at Nickel & Dime Fly Fishing

and my buddy Dom. (Who introduced me to fly fishing.)

Here's what I've cooked up at the vise, thus far.

Red and black Gurgler

EP Fiber bait fish...mullet?

Some small white EP bait fish for the surf. Snook Candy

Fly inspired by +Luis Santiago whose fly was inspired by Waters Edge Fly Co.

Orange bucktail and craft fur shrimp pattern.

Size 6 Fox fur shrimp.

Size 6 Fox fur and zonker strip shrimp. 1 is weighted and the other is not.

Hopefully, these will end up in the face of a saltwater fish, and I'll be able to cross some new fish off my species list.

Night Fishing

As of late, I have not been able to fish during the day as much as I would like, but it's all good in the hood. The bass have been extremely active right at sunset, and this is when I am able to fish. I've been starting out with top water...poppers...todds wiggle worm...and any other type of insect I see hatching. I have been very successful with todds wiggle worm in the chartreuse. It has produced the most top water action out of all of my top water flies.

When it get's too dark. I've been switching over to my baitcaster and throwing a buzzbait, swim jig, chatter bait, or just a reagular spinner bait. There is just something awesome about fishing in complete darkness, and reandering your vision useless.

What is your favorite sunset fly/lure? ...and what is your favorite night fly/lure?

Surprise, It's Trout!

The past few day's have been an absolute hell. I've been stuck inside sick with some sort of virus that has been kicking my ass. I haven't even had the energy or motivation to tie anything. Just lay around like a potato.

This evening I finally was feeling good, and antsy to get out to my local lake, because, it was so nice out the past few days, and today was just awesome. It felt like it was close to the 70's, and there was hardly any wind. Got out to my local lake and began to cast. Started with a black wooly bugger, and quickly switched to a small bead head I tied. I was curious as to how fast  it would sink. 2 cast and I had a follow from some bluegill, and hooked up with a few.



The Bluegill loved this fly!

Once I was done fooling around with them, I tied on a small ep baitfish pattern I had tied with hopes of hooking up with some bass cruising the shallows. After my first cast and fixing the line that had wrapped itself around my reel, I gave the line a 2 strips and BAM!!! Thought I had a bass until it went airborne, and I saw that it was a rainbow trout. I was very surprised to see that there were some survivor stocker rainbows in the lake.



Surprise, it's Trout!!

Finally...the fish showed up!

I FINALLY caught my first fish of 2013! I was starting to forget what the tug of a fish felt like at the end of the line. Haha

I caught a small large mouth bass, 16 bluegill/sunfish, and 2 overgrown golden roaches (I presume). I do still need to shake the rust off of my hook setting skills, because, I missed 2 very nice large mouth bass. One of them had to be at least 3 lbs. Thing's are on the up!!

I assume that this was a golden roach that just survived winter and being eaten, after being dumped in the lake after an unsucessful day of fishing. Your thoughts?