Sight Fishing for Birds on the Flat

Fly fishing is undeniably more fascinating when you can see the fish. That's why I love flats fishing. Spring, summer, or fall, there's always something to be sight fished on a LIS flat. One of my favorite species to target on the flat in summer and early fall is a species a lot of anglers consider a trash fish. As you all know, there is not a fish on this planet that I think of as a trash fish. So when I say I love targeting sea robins it shouldn't be that big of a surprise. Sight fishing on the flat for them is some of the most fun fishing you'll ever have.

Yesterday they were busting bait. Not the sporadic, infrequent jumping or busting that is most frequently observed. This was constant, aggressive, loud blitzing by a species often wrongly accused of being a bottom feeder. They would frequently injure large silversides, which would come to the surface and skip along with the orange, brown and white winged goblin right on its tail. The kill strike was nearly always loud and quite spectacular.

Put a sz. 2 chartreuse and white clouser near a busting fish or in front of a cruising fish, it will at least take a look. Often a fish that s a little suspicious will sometimes follow the fly 40-0 feet, often from the time the fly hit the water till the time it gets to your feet. I've had sea robins do circles around me before chasing poppers.

Robins are not really a schooling fish but they do tend to hunt in little packs, the most I've seen at once was about 6.  Yesterday I saw a few schools of three. If you have a buddy with you these fish are really easy to double up on. If not you can still get it done because they tend to follow each other around during the fight and it is not impossible to unhook and lip one fish and immediately catch his buddy without risking killing the other one. Prime example:

Towards the end of my outing I was hammering school bass at the end of a rip and I had a big robin follow one of the stripers in. I quickly unhooked the fish and got it back in the water. the robin slowly circled around me, too close for me to actually use the rod. Using my and I dropped the clouser right on the toe of my boot. The fish came around my left side and started looking for the fly which it had clearly felt fall. I twitched the fly and saw and felt the robin eat my fly right off the toe of my boot. I set the hook with my left hand and pulled the fish right out of the water. That was a real "wish I was being filmed right now" moment.

Next time you're fishing a nice flat and the stripers or blues aren't cooperating, try for some sea robins. They are just so damn fun.

Big Bass at Dusk

Last night I got out in the kayak to do some fly testing. And map out a drop off that I knew existed but didn't know the full scope and position of. The fly I was testing is my answer to the heddon torpedo, my favorite topwater plug of all time. I've been trying to translate that awesome chugging dog walking action into fly form for a while now. I recently started making my own popper bodies and realized this was the perfect medium to build a dog walking fly. Not too long ago Joe Cermele a F&S writer and Hook Shots producer, created a fly called the slop mop, a popper on an articulated shank with a wide gap worm hook behind it. A rabbit strip and bucktail clump are tied to the worm hook in a way that makes is pretty much weedless. Building off of this design I used the same upward facing worm hook trailer, a 4 inch length of bite wire, and a long foam popper body with a flat front face and three rubber legs to create a fly that walks the dog and makes just the right amount of noise on a steady, slow two handed retrieve. It works.

I got a number of takes from big bass, a few were real heart stoppers. I landed four fish on it, three largemouth and one smallmouth. The smallmouth was by far the largest I have ever caught in this pond, and to be honest I don't think I've even caught more than 8 of them in this pond in the 6 years I've been fishing it. It fought incredibly well, no surprise. Clearly proof of concept!

For those wondering why the format changed in the second half of this post, I'm writing it in the car on the way to the shore, and my phone will not let me reset the alignment.... I'll fix it later. 

Happy Birthday

Today is the birthday of the United States of America. Happy birthday. Although I must admit this country is going in a direction at the moment that I don't entirely like or agree with, it is still an amazing place to be a fly fisherman. Fly fishing culture here is a special thing. Not to overshadow the accomplishments of fly angling heroes worldwide, but many of the big names in fly fishing honed their craft in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Lee Wulff, Mary Orvis Marbury, Ed Hewitt, Al Troth, Fran Betters, Dan Bailey, Joe Brooks, Dave Whitlock, Lefty Kreh, Mel Krieger... these are just some of a long list of names which I believe anyone who calls themselves a fly fisherman must know. Fly fishing as a sport developed in Western Europe and the U.S.and though a lot of names and a lot of countries have contributed, it is the U.S. that gave the world catch and release, coated fly lines, bass fishing, saltwater fly fishing, and millions of flies and techniques.

So on this country's birthday, if you are a fly fisherman, take a bit to thank the greats that made this the sport it is today. And don't forget, we have a lot of work to do to keep this country great. Fight for public lands. Fight to protect endangered species. Fight for clean water, clean air, and clean land. Fight to prevent greedy commercial interests from depleting stocks and destroying habitat. 

And don't forget to get out on the water and enjoy what this country has to offer, preferably instead of burning things and drinking excessively. That's what Kirk and I did this morning. The first thing, not the last two. Ironically we were targeting mostly European fish species, but this country is a melting pot.

The Wrong Direction

Well, I'll be leaving where I am now in the next few days at some point. Unfortunately we'll be going south and it won't be a particularly long drive. I'm sorry everyone, I was really pumped for this one but it just isn't going to happen. I might still get to Rangeley sometime this year but I'm not sure it will happen at all. Montana was also in the works and has kind of fallen apart. I'm planning to do some traveling, when and where is not fully worked out yet. I'll try my best to make up for this disappointment soon, some way or another. In the meantime​, here's Mark Phillipe with a nice holdover rainbow from last night.

Sometimes Things Go Wrong

I wish I could say I was in Rangeley right now. But sometimes life throws a curve ball. In this case the curve ball came in the form of a serious health scare. This has never been a place where I share personal information so I don't feel like going into details, but everybody is fine now. For my family members that read regularly everything is fine, those who need to know what happened already do, no worried phone calls needed.

The trip has been delayed and at the moment we don't know exactly when we will be able to leave. So we're stuck in hot an sweaty CT for now. I had to drown my sorrows yesterday, and I tend to do so with fishing rather than alcohol. The fish gods had mercy and I got some absolutely stunning brook trout, hopefully not the biggest I catch this week but for a tiny tiny CT stream one fish in particular was really special.

It was very cloudy last night when I fished, and under the forest canopy it was extremely dark despite it only being 7:00. I had to use the flash, which is not optimal, but I think it did that fish justice. Count the red spots, if you dare!