Fly Fishing BS thread

http://www.internationalflytyingsymposium.com

Anyone going? It's November 11-12 in Lancaster

 

I used to go when it was in somerset. i don't know if I'll make it out there this year. I will go to fly fishing show i think its in jan. it moved to Edison nj

 

I went to the show in lancaster earlier this year, February I think, and it was a lot of fun. I'm not as big into fly tying as I used to be but the seminars look pretty good, some focused on entomology and techniques as well as tying the suggested patterns

 

This

 

2" of rain in my rain gauge so far this week

 

Any of you guys go after stripers with a fly rod? I'm trying to figure out the better areas to try for them using a kayak. I have a 9 wt with floating, intermediate, and a full sink line (and only two reels so I'll probably do floating on one and intermediate on the other). Is trolling viable with the full sink?

 

@YotaBum gets after them in the fresh

I've never trolled with a full sinker but I bet you'd get a belly in the line unless your fly was super heavy

 

Well skunked again. This stream holds bull, cuttys and redband trout but nothing in high density. It probably didnt help that my fishing buddy was happy to run up river and investigate all the good honey holes before me .

Still a great day. Never saw another person (never do here) and got to watch dippers dip and kingfishers race up and down stream a few feet off the water.

 

Beautiful dog!

 

Great pics!

My G3 boots showed up yesterday. They fit more like hunting boots than wading boots. Im looking forward to trying to destroy them.

 

I saw that post. Super jelly.

 

Dakota Angler and Outfitter had em on sale for 160$ shipped. I just checked their website and they are out of stock now. They had a buncha sizes in stock when I ordered them at the beginning of the week. Trident Flyfishing has them for 170$ and they appear to be in stock

 

Freshwater stripers are about the only thing I go after nowadays! Can't really help you out on the saltwater front, but I imagine they'd be tough in a kayak.

Biggest thing with stripers is finding the bait... The stripers won't be far behind!

Here is a pm I sent someone last week that breaks down how we chase them year-round here in GA... You may be able to use some of this in the salt too.

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I recommend an 8 or 9 weight for striper. I fish both regularly. 9 weights are so much lighter than they were 10 years ago, so they aren't as bad to blind cast all day with. And the extra backbone is definitely appreciated when needed!

A solid reel with at least 150 yards of 30lb backing is ideal.

I like fast action Sage rods personally. I usually throw an 8 weight Method with a Rio Outbound Short intermediate line or a Sage Salt 9 weight with the same Rio Outbound line. Reel wise, something with a SOLID drag... These fish will PULL!

I'm not familiar with saltwater striper fishing, but here is a rundown of how I fish for Georgia striper in freshwater.

On my lake, the fall/winter is for the schooling topwater bite. The stripers key in on small 1-3 inch threadfin shad. We fish intermediate lines with small grey/white Clouser minnows and Cowen's Somethin' Else flies. We just ride around looking for fish busting on top or for sea gulls/loons diving on bait that is pushed up by feeding subsurface fish.

As Spring rolls around, April-May'ish, the fish will start moving up lake and staging on points and humps before they start making their false spawn run upriver. They can be targeted with sinktip lines and bigger blueback herring fly imitations and then early and late with big topwater flies, like Pole Dancers and big poppers.

They can be targeted in the river on their spawning run as well. I like white/chartreuse baitfish patterns tossed in the deeper pools and bottom of shoals, with a sinktip line.

They will drop back down into the lake and as the water heats up, they will drop down in the water column. This is a tough time for fly guys because they tend to be deeper than even heavy flies and sinking lines can get efficiently.

During the heat of the summer, some fish will spend their summer in the cooler rivers. This is where most fly guys focus their efforts. Again, baitfish flies and int/sink tip lines cast to deep pools and woody cover can pay off.

Hopefully that will get you pointed in the right direction. Once you get into some striper consistently, it is hard to go back to any other fish... Especially if you can target them year-round like I can!

Let me know if I can help with anything else!

-Alex

 

And speaking of stripers... I had an awesome afternoon this past Monday! Especially considering the Fall/Winter topwater bite is just getting started!

I had a school that blitzed on top for nearly an hour and a half. They'd come up for several minutes and drop back down. Then a few minutes later they'd come up and drop back down again. They repeated this pattern and I just kept following them uplake and managed to hook 11 fish and land 6 in that feeding frenzy!

 

Awesome reply! I'm near the last dam on the susquehanna river so I can fish from the fresh all the way towards the bay, just not sure where to start. Earlier this year I fished the shad and perch runs and caught one smaller striper by accident

 

Local fly shop is having a sale on basically everything in the store. They had the Helios 3 for 20% off...

 

Good deal! Getting into them in the river would most likely be very doable in a kayak then... You just need to figure out when they start their spawning run. They like moving water and woody debris from what I've seen. So focus on blowdown/structure, and deeper pools/holes below shoals. They'll also stack up behind dams and shoals.

Try to figure out the forage fish in the river and that'll help you figure out style/size of flies to throw. But you usually can't go wrong with white and/or chartreuse.

Here's a good forum to check out too...
http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/

 

Been some good stripers coming out of the Norfork River in Arkansas. We may try to fish that sometime while we’re out there this weekend.

 

Time to buy more stuff you dont need....