Mixed Bag

Over the weekend I did a little fishing in the backyard lake. Had a few things to do around the house, so, I had to stay close. There was also quite a bit of rain in the forecast, so, I didn't want to press my chances on my free time.

The backyard lake was on FIRE! I tossed around a size 6 olive woolly bugger, and I never had to change it. The fish were all over it. Bass, crappie, bluegill, and green sunfish/warmouths. I think the ratio of crappie to bass was 8:1.

So, I've had a few talks about this fish. In the past I have always referred to these as warmouths, but others say that their greenies (green sunfish). I've looked them up on the Google, and everything points to them being a greenie. Forever, I have called these warmouths....what are they!?!?!?!?!

Lunch Time Bass

With the new job, I am able to step away from the office and down the street to a local forest preserve lake, Busse Woods. I kayak and fish this lake often. Tons of people come here to fish, kayak, jog, and bike.

Once I get there on my lunch break, what do you think I do?
A. Kayak
B. Fish
C. Jog
D. Nap
E. Skateboard

If you guessed "B" you answered correctly. If I were to nap in my car, I'd just stay in the parking lot at work and maximize my napping time. All of the other things I listed, I just don't have time for on my lunch, but you can bet I'll be doing one of those on the weekends.

Not a bad way to end the work week. Friday lunch time bass!

Caught this little guy on a KVD rattle trap. I really need to start leaving my fly rods set up, lined, and ready to go in my car. 

Lake X

I met up my buddy FishDank at 9 am this past Sunday. It was cloudy, windy, warm out (to me anyway), and so damn windy. Did I mention that it was windy? Good thing I had an anchor. It's not a very good anchor, but it does the job, sort of.

I brought out 3 rods. My 10 wt fly rod (I haven't sent in my 9 wt to get fixed, yet.), my baitcaster, and my spinning rod. Eventually, I just gave up on my fly rod, because, it was just too damn windy.

My buddy FishDanK was the first to hook up, on a jig and craw trailer...and what he hooked up with was a freakin' Sherman tank! HOLY SMOKES!!!!

He caught 2 more later in the day. Around 11 am a few more guys from the fishing forum that we post on showed up. DanK knew them from some of the tournaments he's fished, but it was my first time meeting them, and they're a bunch of cool dudes. Always nice putting a face to the screen name. One of the guys Kevin was nice enough to bring a grill and some sausage and hot dogs for a quick shore lunch. How awesome is that!!! Thanks, again, if you read this!!!

I caught 2 bass on the day. Both of them came on a KVD rattle trap. The lake was about 6-8 feet deep with some nice weed beds that I ran the lure right over the top of. The 2nd bass I caught was a nice healthy one, and put my landing skills to the test. I really thought I was going to lose it boat side.

Action Shot!!

Hello and Goodbye.

The fishing is starting to heat up, and I'm getting excited!!!!

Fiberglass Fun

I am finally joining in on all of the fiberglass fun. With my recent win of an Abel Reel in an F3T photo contest, I needed a rod to go with the satin blue colored reel. I am one for things to look good, and a blue reel wasn't the easiest reel to pair with.

At first, I thought about all the beautifully colored fiberglass rods from Swift Fly Fishing, and Blue Halo...and then I started looking at the price. I just couldn't do it. Then it hit me, duh, how about those yellow Eagle Claw Featherweight fiberglass rods. It's a match!

Now I'm just waiting for the blue line I ordered from Shadow Fly Fishing, and then I can take it out on an outing. Looking forward to it!

Eye of the Fire Tiger

+Dave from Urban Assault Fly Fishing was headed down to Florida for a week. I tied him up some of my white and gray EP fiber baitfish. Hopefully, these worked out for him down there. If not, I'm sure these will catch some bass around our parts.

I also tied him up a gurgler. Just like the baitfish, if he doesn't catch anything on it down in Florida, it'll most definitely be able to attract some bass up here. One thing I did with this pattern was glue the 2 pieces of foam together, which I have never done in the past, and it makes for a much better fly. Always learning, I am. 

Eye of the Fire Tiger. I've got it! 

HA!

Big Crappie

Just like, Mel over at The Pond Stalker, I love catching me some crappie and other various panfish on the fly. Lakes and ponds are where I grew up fishing, and those are the bodies of water nearest to my home. I spend a lot of time at these places after work during the week catching bluegill, sunfish, crappie, and bass.

I just wanted to share an old picture of the biggest crappie I have ever caught, and it was on a size 4 black zonker. I thought I had a decent sized bass on, then I saw the flash of it's side. It was pretty exciting.

Justin Carfagnini approves this message.

What's your biggest crappie on the fly??

What's your biggest crappie ever??

Fly Tying video...failed.

So, I attempted to make a fly tying video, and this screen shot from the footage was the only thing worth sharing. Maybe next time....

Here's a cool video from Fly Fishing the Ozarks. These Iron Fly events hosted by Pig Farm Ink look pretty cool, and fun. A great way to get people who haven't tied involved. It's a completely different way to promote the sport, but I believe it's perfect for the times today. I hope to partake in one of these events this year, where, I don't know, so, we shall see!

Stankx Bait Company

Here are the baits I used from Stankx Bait Company this year.

These tubes were irresistible to the smallies in the rivers up in the North Woods of Wisconsin. Hands down the best tubes you can get. Not one of the tubes in the package had an uncut skirt. Kudos for that! I will definitely be ordering more of these bad boys!

The "Mud Bugz" - I to use this as a trailer on my skirted jigs. I caught some tank largemouth bass utilizing this trailer. The color pattern is one of their custom colors - Gobi Wan. Being a star wars fan, I just had to go with it. (Sad to not see product not on their website anymore.)

POICHES

MIDNIGHT CHROME

RAD GILL

The NXT LVL Swimz - these were new to me this year, and they were a fish favorite. I would rig these up with either a weightless offset hook, or a weighted one to get deeper and farther. This became one of my go to search baits when I was out with my traditional gear. The bass loved these! I even caught a few pike on them, as well. The colors on these really pop, and grab your attention.

.40 Caliber Stix in Aurora

I didn't get to use these, because, of all of the success I had with all of the other baits, and my fly gear. However, I did give a few to my friends, and they were thoroughly impressed with how slow this bait fell when rigged wacky. I'm looking forward to giving these a shot next year. I was never really good with the wacky rig technique, but that's one of my goals next summer.

All in all, I must say, that Stankx Bait Company creates some high quality plastics. There is a definitive difference, and once you get your hands on one of their products, you will immediately feel it. While I do favor and prefer fishing with my fly rod, I do still use my baitcaster and spinning rod from time to time, but I don't have as much tackle as I used to 7 or 8 years ago. I gave all of my other plastics and some lures away, because, I didn't need them, and they were just taking up space. Once I run out of my current supply of plastics, I'll definitely be ordering from Stankx Bait Company.

**Note - I have no ties or have received anything free for writing this review. I am just simply letting you know my opinion. I'm all for supporting the smaller companies who make a high quality product.

***All photos were taken from the Stankx Bait Company website.***

Busy Busy Busy

I've been very busy as of late. My Girlfriend just closed on a townhouse, and I've been helping her move in. I've also, started to SLOWLY move my things over there, as well.

This is a photo of me, and the last fish that I caught, all while rockin' my new awesome Dead Weight Fly trucker hat. I went out for trout, but couldn't find any willing takers.

Small Fish

I don't always catch big fish. Here are some honorable mentions. You gotta give the little guys some love, so, they can grow up to be big.

Catch and Release.

Buzzing in darkness

3:30 AM is either late in the into the night, or early in the morning. It all depends on how you look at it.

Clocks wrong. The hammer will fix it!

For me 3:30 AM is early in the morning, and for the past 2 weeks, I have been fishing for about 30 minutes before I go into the gym for my morning workout.

There's just something really peaceful about fishing when you have nothing but the moon and stars providing you light. The lake I fish is always calm and almost glass like each morning. The other day I was joined by 2 hooting owls, who talked me into fishing for an extra 10 minutes.

Watch out for those skunks...and not the fishing kind.

For these quick outings I primarily use either a spinnerbait, or a buzzbait. I always start off with the buzzbait, because, there's just something extra cool about casting that lure into the darkness and being able to hear it chug along. The best is when you hear the bass blow up on it, and even better is when you hear a blow up and you can no longer hear the chugging of the lure. FISH ON!! 

Beware of the shadows.

Ninja fishing!

I'm going to try tossing a big popper with my fly rod next!

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

New Toy

Received some awards points from my employer to use towards a prize/gift/small bonus.

I cannot wait to start using this for my fly tying. I have a lot of foam and balsa wood that needs shaping.

Exciting things are on the horizon at my fly tying desk.

Frogger

In a recent post, I mentioned that I have never caught a bass using a frog lure with my bait caster. I have tried countless times only to come up empty. I am the only person to blame for missing over a billion hook ups with a frog. I just get so damn excited seeing that explosion underneath the frog, I tend to set the hook way too early, and pull it away from the fish.

I finally thought that it was time to put line on my old bait caster once I started seeing the spool show after a long cast. It's been paired up with the same 30 lb test braid that I put on when I bought it...say 8.5 years ago. Not bad, huh!

So, 2 days after I had it relined my reel, I ventured out to my honey hole, because, I really wanted to work on my frog techniques, and I knew that the bass there would cooperate, and help me out. I ended the day going 2 for 12. I can honestly say that 8 of those missed bass were due in part to my drag getting changed in the relining process at Dicks Sporting Goods. I had some monster hook sets, because, the frog was so far out, but failed to hook up, because, my spool just let out line, in turn, letting the bass spit the frog, and get away.

I should also give a shout out to my homie DANK for inspiring me to use a frog lure, again, and give another shout out to my other homie Fat Gordo who told me some key advice when fishing the frog. He said, "When you see the bass hit, just keep telling yourself - "don't f#@king do it! don't f#@king do it!" and just wait until you feel some weight on the other end before setting that hook."

Pre-workout bass fishing - Got this one at 5 AM at sunrise. Missed at first, but came back.

Froggin'

Took one of my good friends DANK, and another buddy GEO to the honey hole I found last year for the first time. I've been trying to get him to come out, but just never happened until now. He doesn't fly fish, so, he was wondering what would work...I told him to bring his frogging rod, and his finesse set up for a weedless rubber worm. DANK is a Jedi Master with a frog, and I knew that he wouldn't even need his finesse set up on this lake, because, the weeds have started to take over. I have never caught a bass using a frog with my regular rods, and I am truly envious of his skills.

Foggin' force is strong with DANK

DANK with a tank!

GEO hooked up with his first top water fish of the year with this fine specimen. 

GEO and a beautiful bass

A lot of bass were caught. The aerial display put on by the bass was quite impressive. On 2 occasions I had 2 bass come straight out of the water to take my frog fly offering. It reminded me of Discovery Channels Shark Week and how the great white sharks attack and fly out of the water at Seal Island.

Air and water show participant

I love top water!

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.