Spawn : Week 7

I haven't had the chance to fish this week. Been to busy with work and getting some flies tied for my trip on Lake Tawakoni with Tony Parker. Here is a fly I started tying a few months ago and put this little video together. It is a rattle tail clouser and is a perfect way to add a rattle to a fly. The clouser minnow is in my opinion one of the best baitfish imitations there is. I fish clousers 90% of the time due to the fact I am always very successful with them and they ride hook point up. The rattle I added is just another sense the fish can use to pick up the fly. I have had the best luck with the brass rattles because the glass rattles just seem to break way to easily. I do like the sound better from the glass but the fact that they break so easily made me look for a different alternative.  

Here is another variation without the added bucktail teaser

I spoke to Tony Friday morning and he was on the lake with his clients in a school of fish. They were catching hybrids on top and while his clients were catching fish he took a few minutes to go over the game plan for my trip Saturday morning. Needless to say I was pumped up and didn't get much sleep Friday night. I meet Tony at Holiday Marina at 6:45am and we where on the water fishing a little after 7am. The fishing was great, the fish were blowing up on top and we were catching a lot of big hybrids and sandies. The Chartreuse Rattle Tail Clouser caught all the fish today. Tony Parker is a great guide and has been guiding for 25 years. I would highly recommend booking a trip with him if you are interested in getting into some fish. Storms and high winds ran us off the lake by noon, but we caught plenty of fish to have a great day. I'm not one to count fish but we ended with 15-20 nice hybrids and probably 10-15 big sandies. I know I'll be booking another trip with Tony again. 

   

A few seconds of the rough and wet 

boat ride back to the dock. 

Spawn : Week 6

Fishing this past week has been tough. We have been hit with a lot of rain and cooler temps. The fish have been off a little, but I have been able to pick off a few small bass and bluegills. The bluegills have started to move up shallow, they are still not real active but should be on their honey comb beds in a few more weeks. The weather cleared up for the weekend and the fishing was good. The weather looks better for next week and I'll be chasing some hybrids next weekend.   

Think this fish has a headache?

 My favorite rod for small waters. 

Here is a little video I shot this weekend. It funny how many times this bass hit the fly before I was able to finally hook it. Mostly because she wasn't fully eating the fly just kissing it. 

The fishing was great Sunday but full of mishaps. I missed 2 huge 20-30lb grass carp. The first one I pulled my fly right out of its mouth, he was facing me and I watched him came up and take it and then I stripped the fly to set the hook and I did it before the fish had closed its mouth and the fly came right out. On the other one the carp was swimming towards me when he took the fly and I could never catch up to the fish and he spit the fly before I could get any tension on him to set the hook. I also missed a 10 lb koi due to some faulty casting my fly got tangled up in the tippet and got turned around to when I set the hook the fly just popped out of his mouth. I did catch some nice 2-3 lb bass but spent most my time chasing grass carp. Due to the lack of wind today the grass carp were just cruising around all day right on top. I did see some fry already have hatched and got the below pic.

Spawn : Week 5

Shot this video this week of this male being very aggressive and not letting the camera bother his duties of guarding the bed. At one point the fish comes right up to the camera. Overall the fishing was good for bass and the fish are aggressively feeding/attacking anything that comes around their beds.  I hooked and broke one bass off on Tuesday and after a little coaxing hooked it again on Thursday and was able to get my fly back. Did I say the fish are aggressive!! I fished the river on Saturday, not sure what was going on there but the fish where in a funk and I couldn't buy to many bites. I caught some small catfish and a drum. Drum are probably one of my favorite off species of fish to catch, they hit hard and fight great. I also caught this softshell turtle, that's a first for me. 

Spawn : Week 4

We had high winds, clouds and rain all week so I was only able to fish today. The fishing was good with a dozen to fifteen bass landed in a few hours of fishing. The fish are not on the beds at this particular pond yet. Caught all my fish on clousers in 5-6 feet of water. It was a lot of fun getting to use my 3 weight to land these fish. Hopefully this week will be better but they have a lot of rain and clouds in the forecast. The time has changed and  the days are getting longer so I will have more time to fish after work. The bluegills have not moved up shallow yet but should start to become more active in the coming weeks.

A pretty bass from today

Spawn : Week 3

The females are starting to join the males on the beds. The fishing is getting better with the males becoming more aggressive and territorial over their beds. Most the females are still holding on the outside edges of the beds but they will move up soon with the approaching full moon. Expect the fishing to only get better over the next few weeks.