Pass Lake 11/02/2007

I put in at Pass at about 9:30. I waited till after daylight because it was cold as hell. When I arrived at the lake it was 38 degrees. My first cast slipped out of my hand and fell all of about 15 feet. My bad cast was rewarded with a fish jumping out of the water after my fly. I had it on shortly then lost it. As I headed down the roadside into the cove I had several strikes and a couple of fish on. I thought it would be a good day. I worked the water after the cove it and my day soon slowed. I picked up about a fish an hour and the strikes were less frequent.

The odd thing about the 19 and 17 inch fish that I released is that they were both injured. The 19 looked like a bird or a net had left scars on its body. The 17 inch fish had part of its gill missing and had some type of slash also.

Scooter and I had plans on returning on Sunday however we got over-excited and fished the lake on Saturday afternoon. I should know by now that Pass is always slow in the afternoons. We got blanked after a couple of hours of fishing and saw very little surface activity. He fished the transitional depths while I worked the shallows. The only fish we saw caught were on olive chronies.

Pass Lake 10/28/2007

It was an average Pass day not super-hot and not super-cold. I stripped a minnow pattern about 90% of the time. I am guessing there were probably 9 fish to the net. Most of the fish came from the trail entrance at the middle of the lake by the road. The minnow patter had taken some violent hits and I missed a couple of big fish. The highlights were a 21bow, 20 bow and a 16 brown. I tried to get a picture of the brown but it would not sit still. It fought the hardest of all of the fish and was still fighting when I landed it. The coolest thing was watching the 20 incher rip through the grass in the shallows.The grass was moving and making noise as he pounded on my fly.

Rod: 4wt

Line: Full Sink

Pattern: Clown Leech

Weather: Overcast 55degrees

Time: Mid day

Holding Water And Big Fish

I watched Kelly Gaullop's streamer fishing video and it got me thinking about predatory fish in still water. I have always had success in the mornings and evenings when fish are generally feeding. I tend to key on fish in the shallows more in the evening time than I do in the morning. If I remember right though, most of my big fish (25 and over) have been hooked during non-feeding times. These fish were not feeding. According to the theory, they were attacking something that was in their area and they were not feeding off of it.
So what is "holding water" in a lake? Where do big fish go when they are not feeding. I believe they hold in slightly deeper water than feeding water. I also think that this water is relatively close to feeding water (shallows). I think that they mostly sit near structure (drop-offs) so that they can be safe and rest in an optimum water temperature. This allows them to move in and out of feeding water without using much energy because the feeding water is close by.

Link:http://flyfisherman.com/ftb/kgtrigger/

Another Lake 10/14/2006

Arrived at Vogler near 11:00. The water was calm and the sun was out. The fall colors were spectacular!. I think that Vogler is shaped like a snow man. Welp having said that, the first fish I landed came after over an hour and it was in the belly of the snowman. It was a 17 inch bow. It was on a peacock bugger. I changed up several times but could get much going. I did get hits on a "Dave Special" but that was about all I could muster. I lost a couple of fish and that pretty much sums up my day. It was slow. I left as the sun started to sink but I didn't feel like waiting around for the evening bite. It is a long drive on a Sunday night before work the next morning. I wanted to get home. Vogler seems to be most effective early in the morning.

Pass Lake 10/13/07

Arrived at Pass at 5:45 am. There was a little over an hour left before daylight. I was anxious to fish the new 4 wt. Scooter was there and he was ready to go. As I hit the water, my line was tangled on my reel. I didn't get the chance to fish for another hour or so. By the time I had fixed my line it was 7:00 or so.
Started off in the cove with a white bugger and picked up a 6" minnow. After that I headed across the lake and to the point. I lost a decent fish on the way over. Things got slow as I headed down to the rock. I changed up to a peacock bugger. I picked up a few hits at the rock and scooter was having a slow time. I knew that there would be fish down at the far end of the lake so we headed down there.
At the reeds, I picked up a couple of hits instantly. As I trolled towards the road I picked up a 14 incher. I continued and landed a 16 incher. Now Scott changed to a minnow pattern and started catching fish. I change and pick up another couple of fish too but it begin to slow down for me. He needed to head back because he was hungry and had to leave. I think we left an area that we could have picked up a couple of more fish.

When we got back to our parking spot, I had a few brews. Scooter left and went home I continued fishing and headed back over to the point and back to the end of the lake. I went back to my peacock bugger. I picked up a decent fish but don't remember the size of it as I made my way back down the lake. It must have been 1:30 or so. As I continued, I picked up a few bumps but no fish as I made my way down the lake. As I hit the end of the lake I picked up a couple more fish but nothing special. Changed up to the minnow Scooter had given me and it wouldn't even buy a bite. I change to a couple of flys before heading to the small end of the lake again.
Before arriving at "the point" I picked up a decent fish. It had started to get dark and I saw a big fish cruising. I planted my fly right where he rolled and bam. "Fish on". It measured 21" (see pic). It made my day to have a worthy opponent on my 4wt.

First Build

Pass Lake

Rod Building Notes

Step 1: Find spine on each section of the rod. To determine where the spine is apply a little pressure and roll it. It will naturally roll to where the spine is. The giudes and reel seat will sit exactly on the opposite side of the spine.

Step 2: Epoxy the reel seet and the reel seat insert together. DO NOT put the butt cap on! Drink beer. Allow 24 hours for drying. After the reel seat has dryed, tape the butt cap on the end of the reel seat and mark where it sits on the rod with a grease pencil. Remember to align the seat with the spine. Evenly space 3 pieces of tape around the handle so the reel seat fits firmly but not tight. When placing the tape on the handle, allow an 1/8 of an inch of the reel seat to extend beyond the tape at each end. After determining everything is fit correctly remove the seat and evenly disperse cement on rod. Place the reel seat back on the rod and clean up the excessive cement.

Step 3: Ream the cork handle so that it fits snug on the rod when sitting next to the real seat. Before testing the cork handle on the rod, stomp the cork dust from the inside of the reamed area so that it does not scratch the rod when testing it for fit. Cement cork hadndle on the rod. Clean excessive glue. Allow 24 hours for drying of the handle and reel seat.Drink beer
Step 4: Place winding check against handle. Tape on hook keeper.

Step 5: Place a piece of tape as a marker where the guides are to be located on the rod. Place tape on the opposite side of spine. File excessive burs off of guides. Use tape to temporarily hold the guides in place for wrapping.Drink beer

Step 6: Start wraps by winding thread around the rod a 4 or 5 of times towards the guides to hold thread in place before completely doing the wrap. Tape the thread on the other side of the guide so that it is out of the way. Start your wrap towards the guide. Cover the previous 4 or 5 winds that you placed earlier. Remove the excessive thread from the "place-holding" wind. Snip excessive thread. Drink beer. Continue towards guide. After the thread is about 3/16 of an inch away from the end of the guide, thread holder loop in the wrap facing towards the guide on the bottom side of the rod. Wrap up to the guide. Cut the thread about 4 to 6 inches away from the rod while holding it down on the rod so that it does not come unwrapped. Run thread though the thread holder loop. Pull the thread holder back waay from the guide. Snip the excessive thread as close to the wrap as possible. Drink beer.

Step 7: Wrap from the winding check all the way to the hook keeper. Use the same holder loop.

Step 8: Burnish wraps until you are satisfied with their look.

Step 9: Realign guides. Drink beer.

Step 10: Apply color preserver to wraps. Dab excessive color preserver with a paper towel. Allow 24 hours for drying.

Step 11: Align the guides so that they are absolutely perfect. This is your last chance!

Step 12: Apply epoxy. Place a bead of epoxy on the brush and carefully wrap the epoxy around the end of the wrap. Extend the epoxy an 1/8 to a 1/16 of an inch beyond the edge of the wrap. Do the same with the other end of the wrap that holds the guide. Make sure there is epoxy around the guide to hold it in place. Allow drying for 24 hours Drink beer.

Step 13: Apply finishing coat and wait 24 hours.

Step 14: Epoxy end cap on. Drink beer Celebrate!

Step 15:Go fishing!

Lone Lake 10/5/2007

Here we go again....back on the ferry and over to Lone. I had been tying flys at my lunch hour all week. When I arrived it was cold out (47 degrees) and the water was calm. The fish were rising close to the boat launch. The clouds smelled like rain but I could see small signs of blue skys. I elected to go without a raincoat.
As I entered the water I had a gameplan of heading to the back of the lake. Like every other day, my game plan quickly changed. The fish were slamming my fly on the corner before I even got to the backside of the lake. I landed 10 fish in the first 2 hours as I slowly worked my way backwards. The most impressive thing is that they were mostly big fish.
My fly was toast after 15 fish or so I went to change. That is when I realized my pliers had fallen down into my waders. I found a cheezey version of the pattern I wanted and put it on and decided to head back to the front of the lake. At that point it didn't matter, I ended up landing another 5 fish.
As I pulled into the boat launch Scooter arrived. I ate a tuna sandwich and BSed for a bit. After that we headed out and he had a fish on immediately. I then landed one shortly there after. As the sun broke out, he kept catching fish and I went cold. I changed up several time and only landed one more fish with a Doc Spratly.
We left about 45 minutes before the fishing was going to pick back up again, but that was fine I was pretty tired from fishing all day. I did happened to pull another fish from the right shoreline just off of the boat launch.

Equipment: 5/6 weigh tLine: Full Sink, 5 weight patterns: Dave Special, Peacock Bugger, Doc Spratley, Green Seal Bugger/ Leech with (red wrap around the head)

Methods: Trolling and mostly stripping at medium slow retrieve

Lone Lake 9/30/2007

The forecast called for gusty wind and rain but I had to fish, so I hopped on the 7:00 clock ferry and headed over. When I arrived at the lake it was raining lightly. YES! There was no wind and I had the lake all to myself. After I put in, I did a tour of the cove near the boat launch and it was gunkier than last year at this time. Nada..... no fish, just a couple of little teasing hits. Since the cove was slow it meant either I used the wrong pattern (Dave Special) or I was in the wrong location. I worked my way over to the spot that GUARANTEES fish. On my around the corner I picked up a little 13" bow. Before I went to the GUARANTEE I headed down the shoreline. I remember picking up a 25 inch beast off the shoreline in the fall last year. I casted to the shore 3 consecutive times and got hits but no takes on each try. I wondered why no hook ups? I then changed to a peacock bugger, knowing that the fish are more likely to stay on with this fly. Sure enough, first cast......bam it was a 14 inch largemouth. I hate bass, but this one fought hard and he was a worthy opponent, so I let him return. I casted a couple of times before I headed to the GUARANTEE hole. Now I like the GUARANTEE hole but I am getting tired of trolling. I decided to troll across it before I hit the back side of the lake. Sure enough.... a couple of hits and bam... nice 15 inch bow. I kept going and nailed another fish on the way to the backside. I am guessing I had been fishing for about an hour and a half now. As luck would have it, as soon as I flung my fly at the shore....bam a nice 19" bow hit it. It was hot the rerst of the day. Welp except for the fact that I kept losing fish. I am guessing I had 40 fish on and 17 to 20 to the net.



Equipment: 5/6 weight

Line: Full Sink, 5 weight

Patterns: Dave Special, Peacock Bugger

Methods: Trolling and mostly stripping at medium slow retreive

Weather: light to heavy rain, no wind