More weed than Cheech & Chong

The weather has been true to forecast this week, wish it wasn’t but that’s showbiz! So with this in mind I went back to the same area I fished on Monday, bigger tides and possibly bigger problems with weed but I was optimistic with the incoming tide coinciding with the fading light. Anyway fished the tide down, good news, no weed to speak of. Weapon of choice fresh crab, like McDonalds I went large and didn’t hold back on the baits hoping for a big back end fish to beat my PB. Things looked promising from when on my third cast the rod indicated a solid thump followed by a standard issue slack liner which produced a fish of 3.10. This was followed by a slightly smaller fish about 20 minutes later. With the incoming tide still to come it looked like a promising session lay ahead. Well it came and went with no joy and instead the dreaded weed arrived, not a massive problem but enough to cause me to pull my hair out (if I had any). It was manageable till I got about 20 yards and the gripper, trace and leader knot picked it up like a hoover, lovely. I gave myself to 7.30pm and with the light almost gone I sat watching both rods as I tidied things up when the rod in the left cup displayed a decent bite which developed into a rod stand wrenching pull which sent the whole lot , 2 rods , stand and the bag suspended below it seaward. Having seen this happen before on this mark it’s usually the sign of a decent Bass and once I got a handle of saving the gear and with a slack liner I picked up and felt for what was surely a good fish…nada. I disappointedly wound in one rod and then the other and my reward was a surprise 2 pound cod on the other rod, not really what I was looking for but it was a fish. Makes you wonder how they can do it and not get a 2 x 3/0 pennel rig to stick, maybe a full on line bite in or around the bait and rig but I will never know that’s for sure…

Every day is different at beautiful Lake Manatee

Another beautiful sunrise at Lake Manatee

I have a client who asked me to call him when the action gets hot.

“I’ll just fly in the next day,” he said.



One of eight channel catfis that hit the Myakka Minnow



No way.

You can’t judge fishing tomorrow by what’s going on today. And what would I feel like if he purchased an airline ticket, flew into town and the fishing suddenly went south? Or if a high pressure system moved into the area? Or we were hit by thunderstorms or gale-force wind?

My last two outings are a study in contradiction. One was wonderful and the other quite slow.

I fished Lake Manatee, perhaps my favorite Florida lake, the first day and did wonderfully. Things started out slowly, but picked up as the morning went on. Using the Myakka Minnow, I caught 60 bluegill, stumpknocker and shellcracker. In addition, I caught a pair of bass and landed two of the eight channel cats I hooked.

Even little bass can't resist the Myakka Minnow

Quality day and quality fish.

The best morning, I met Dusty Sprague of North Port. We were going to fish out of his renovated Bass Tracker, a beautiful aluminum skiff. We launched at the Lake Manatee Fish Camp ramp and headed east under the bridge and along the north shoreline. Things started out slow, but we weren’t worried because it was that way the morning prior.

After an hour, we had only two or three small bluegill. In fact, the fish weren’t hitting the Myakka Minnow at all. I was getting them on a No. 12 Aunt Sarah’s Homely Daughter nymph under a strike indicator. Sprague was using something similarly small.

The morning was crisp and bright. Only a few clouds were in the sky, indicating that perhaps a high-pressure system had pushed into the area. The wind was out of the northeast.

A nice bass on the Maykka Minnow

We were protected along the northeast shore and quite comfortable. But things would have been better had the fish cooperated just a little better.

We started picking up a few more fish and then the Myakka Minnow began to works its charm. After both of us switched to that fly, we combined to catch 25 or 30 bluegill and a couple of stumpknocker. We didn’t land any bass or shellcracker. We didn’t hook a catfish.

It was 180 degrees from the day prior.

Most of the bluegill were small, with only four being “hand sized.”

We did encounter schooling bass. However, every time we approached them, they’d go down. Shouldn’t be too much longer before they begin to stay on the surface longer.

The day prior, I’d hooked eight channel cats and landed two. This trip resulted in no hookups.

A typical Lake Manatee copperhead bluegill

Channel catfish are trophies among freshwater anglers. They hit savagely, pull like an elephant and are tough on fly rod to land. The two cats I landed were only about 3 pounds, yet they took about 5 minutes before I couldn’t get them alongside my kayak.

In addition, channel cats are excellent on the table.

The main thing about fishing Lake Manatee is that you often are lulled into a false sense of what’s going on. You’ll catch a hand-sized bluegill and follow that with seven or eight smaller fish. The bites are all the same.

This will continue and then you get the familiar take of a bluegill and set the hook. But the water erupts, your rod bends deeply and line begins to streak out the rod tip.

You’re quickly aware you don’t have a bluegill.

Channel cats often will take you into your backing – if you can get them away from the vegetation. If they decide to head to the shoreline, you don’t have much of a chance. But if they head out into the open lake, you have hope.

You never know when the cat bite will take place. You’ll hook none for three days straight, then they’ll with reckless abandon the fourth day.

Don’t tell your buddies. The fish just might get lockjaw the next morning.

Monsters!!

Hey guys, the past few nights the Hybrid fishing has been off the charts. Last night Amy and I crushed them...The bust lasted quite a while and we got into some nice fish. The biggest one was a little over 8 pounds of the boga grip scale. He took me to the backing!! As October continues, we should start to see even bigger fish and the action will last longer and longer! If you have a trip planned to come fish the Little Red, you might want to consider squeezing a Greer's Ferry Lake trip into the mix as well. Holler at Jamie and I! We can do group trips!

Dutch Anglers Get Big Tuna

We have a group visiting from Holland right now, who are having the time of their lives.

Yesteday they fished aboard 38 ft Blackfin " C Rod" and did very well to release a striped marlin and then to boat two hefty yellow fin tuna. The first tuna took a black & green lure and took 45 minutes to land on 80 lb test, weighing 160 lbs; the second fish took a dead ballyhoo and weighed a little under 200 lbs taking one hour and 15 minutes to bring to the boat. They were fishing at the 180 spot on the Cortez side which is about 1 hour and 15 minutes out from Cabo. Pictured here are  Ron Veenendaal, Kees de Bie, Piet Weldam, Louis Bakker, Barry Sillerman and Theo Buddingh.

Making the best of my options

It’s been about 5 weeks since my last trip. That wouldn’t have been that big a deal as I should have been in Wexford this week for 6 days Bass fishing. Unfortunately this was quite rightly cancelled due to a horrendous forecast that would have made it pretty difficult to catch anything on lures. Add this to the fact that I had to cancel my trip to Alderney late in October due to work commitments (Wexford was the replacement) left me feeling a little sorry for myself.

So on Monday despite a grim outlook in relation to wind strength and direction I left home at 4.30am. The plan worked, two fish on lures with the best one about 3 pounds and then with a bit of a drive and a change in tactics four fish on fresh crab with the best again 3 pounds and the other three about 2 pounds.

So there you have it, not where I wanted to be but with the time off work I made the best of it. There is little chance of me using lures for the rest of the week but I do have plenty of crab left over. The tides and weather look ok for Wednesday so, will see what that brings.

Here is how not to take a photo, self timer in sunshine oh dear! The fish sat pretty but I failed miserably and this is after trying to change the contrast in Photobucket!

Just Like This

And The Heat Goes On

85° F IN OCTOBER ?

Average Max = 55° F

oh well

-------

.. As the warm weather continues, (briefly interrupted by insignificant cooling showers,) the neighborhood hunters and fishers are befuddled about how to approach this most searing of late fall weather in recent memory.

Upper Gllatin Dry Channel

.. It looks like after the hottest decade on record, it’s the hottest year on record, and barely removed from the hottest week of all time in satellite record, (LINK.)
.. Don't fish the Gallatin River above Bacon Rind Creek. Don't fish above Mile Post 25. Don't fish the Confluence Meadows or Fan Creek.
.. Don't even think about fishing until you're well below Specimen Creek. And then, don't bushwhack through the willows because the bears are thick.
.. And why not? Simple enough; there's no water. And where there's no water, there's no fish; not even the fabled sand trout of Arrakis.

Upper Gallatin Nearly Dry Channel

.. The hoppers are dying of heat stroke and the beetles only come out at night. The heated air is so thin that caddis seldom make it off the water, and the trout are too few and lethargic to bother them.
.. Or: it's so bleak in the N.W. Corner of Yellowstone National Park that most of our fishing neighbors have taken up indoor, (air conditioned,) shuffleboard.
.. Some fishers are braving the intense heat and lung searing dryness, (not really as bad as it gets around Bad Water, California,) and occasionally hooking up with a dehydrated and oxygen-starved trout.

Local Hopper - Not Hopping

.. These poor fish look worse than kippered herring and some of them are floating belly up in the few shallow runs left in the Confluence Meadows.
.. Discharge from Bacon Rind Creek , and Specimen Creek add just enough water to the Gallatin River to make fishing a possibility.
.. Catching is probably still a crime, but it's being done.
..There are a few runs and deep holes in the meadow sections of the river along the Bighorn Trail that still hold energetic fish.
.. These are the fish that the bears and coyotes haven't caught yet. Human entrails full of jelly beans have been reported but remain unverified as of this moment, (thanks Tom.)

Fish Here If You Must

.. Were we rich enough to afford the gasoline we would sail across the park to the Lamar River. There's still water over there, along with bugs, fish and good catching.
.. Were we smart enough we would take our own advice and saunter down the shady path beside the upper Firehole River.
.. Were we sociable enough we'd hitch a ride with the neighbors that have cabin cruiser's on Yellowstone Lake or Hebgen Lake.
.. As it is, we choose to visit the Gallatin River near the big shady pools around Black Butte. Had some brief dances and a fairly long conversation with fish in the 10" - 12" range. But we bailed out when the sweat fogged our trifocals.
.. If you have an excursion planned to this part of the world in the near future, please exercise the telephone. Locales, hatches, heat, and water temperature will affect your chances for catching.
.. Call a local fly shop and ask to speak to someone that was on the water an hour ago. You may get some good tips. Better yet visit them and ask the hard questions: when did you last fish that stretch?, or have you ever fished that stretch?, or who told you that story?, or are there a lot of fish there?, or . . . .

-------