Weekend Fish

[Red Childress]

After 4 hooked/lost fish on Saturday we finally put 2 in the net and only losing 1 fish today.

[lowbidder]

They seem to be eating well :)

[river rat 83]

Red,

If you don't mind me asking, casting or trolling? We casted all weekend without a sniff.....

[Anzomcik]

Those are some very nice fish. I also tryed to get somthing rollin this weekend and struck out. Great fish!!

[evw659]

Red,
what causes the sore on the gill plate?

[Red Childress]

We lost 1 fish trolling (decided to up the speed for 47 degree water temps and trolled at 3.5 mph) and the other catches and misses were casting. 7 of the 8 fish we had action from were on the same color pattern and I only had 1 of that particular color. So after I handed my client the bait on Sunday, he proceeded to put 2 in the net and I rolled a nice fish on a bulldawg that must have been color blind. :)

We fished all areas very thoroughly making multiple casts to the exact same spots working slow on the first cast and then much faster on the other casts. It seemed like you had to hit them in the head with the bait to get them to move. Both fish Bob netted were boatside strikes, however. Go figure.

As for the sore, there was another one on the other side that was much worse. I have only seen 2 other fish from the river with these sores and that was 10+ years ago. I am not sure what it was or what caused it but the areas were in identical spots. Both areas had healed and were completely closed up but there was plenty of scar tissue on the other gill plate. It almost looked like some type of fungus but that is just a guess.

[Red Childress]

Maybe lamprey scars as well.....

[river rat 83]

Thanks for the info, I knew I should have "borrowed" my uncle's bulldawg.....

[ttabaleulb]

Man, definitely some nice fish, congrats!!!

I was out on Sunday and landed one Pike and had a follow from a mid-30's Musky but spooked it at the boat, before being blown off the water from some nasty wind.

This fish was hot after my fly and I saw it coming from about 15ft out. It was right on the fly as I started into an 8 and then it saw me and took off. This seems to happen pretty regularly. Am I positioned too high when i am standing on the front deck of my boat? Should I try to kneel if I see the fish coming from that distance or would that create too much movement. What do you guys normally try to do when you see that fish coming in like that?? I was really hopin to get another one on the fly before ice up, but may have missed my last chance for the year.


Jay

[Red Childress]

After reading dozens of other posts regarding this as well as discussing it with many very good musky sticks plus my own experiences with boatside blunders, there are a few commonalities that can help prevent spooking boatside fish:

1) Try to wear clothing that will blend in with the sky/surroundings.

2) I try to pull the 'figure-8 fish' away from the trolling motor, which is usually running during river trips.

3) Turn off your graph if fishing pressured fish, especially. I can hear the pinging of the transducer above the water so you can bet the fish can really hear it from far away.

4) Try to keep your arms tight to your body and do as little movement as possible. I think if you are going to kneel down, that should be done well before the fish gets close to the boat which means you are fishing from your knees all day. :)

Hopefully, others can chime in with some other tips they have picked up along the way. Hang in there....just because it is December, doesn't mean they still won't chase a big fly close to the surface.

[ttabaleulb]

Thanks Red, I think those are some great ideas. I do know that the sun was at my back when this fish came in and I had a dark shirt on at the time. I bet I stuck out big time against that backdrop. I did try to limit my movement, but I'm sure that probably came into play too.

By the way, those Swimtrue flies that I have been throwing are the real deal. Big flies with great underwater action. I can't wait to throw them the next time I book a trip with you to see how those river fish like them. Plus, they actually have some weight to them and can get down a few feet with not much of a problem.

[Red Childress]

Sounds good......

Are you still using weighted line with those flies or does it depend on the situation??

[ttabaleulb]

I am actually using an intermediate line with about 15ft of clear on the casting end. I think it has a sink rate of 1-2" per second or something like that. The clear really helps with the length of leader that I have to put on. Right now, I probably only have about 2feet of 30# mono thats connected to the wire. This REALLY helps me turn those big flies over without much effort.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I am just happy to see that this technique appears to be suitable for my entire fishing year seeing that I usually don't go out once the snow starts flying. Its tough to cast a frozen flyline. LOL

[Red Childress]

Oh yea, I forgot about the freezing fly-line being MUCH harder to manage than 100lb. braid. :)