This increase has had some drastic, direct affects on shoreline fishing. Due to this rise, the population of feeder fish has had an inverse affect, creating a drop in their numbers, causing the larger trophy fish to remain off-shore, no longer coming into shallow water to feed.

The “Red Tide” has been, throughout history, associated with many myths of war and gods, however, in reality, such a tide is caused by the blooming of specific algae in the water. The color of the algae can range from brown, to green, and is only visible during a large bloom, when the density of the algae is high enough to make the single-celled organisms visible as a mass.

Although Red Tide may occur often, they are not typically a threat unless they reach a piont where the algea is removing more oxygen from the water than can be sufficiently replenished. This will cause fatalities amoung small bait-fish species, thereby causing larger game fish to remain offshore, sometimes resulting in larger fish-kills, as occured in Florida during the Florida, and California Red Tides.

The method was simple, wade into the muddy waters near the oceans edge, and tread water so that your feet just barely settle below the mud. After you have properly established your position, and have become familiar with the smell of the manure-like mud, slowly squish your feet around just below the mud and feel around for any hard objects. When you have stumbled across target, usually marked by a stubbing of a toe, or a cut along the bottom of the foot, use your toes to bring the object in question to the surface to reveal if you did, in fact, find a Quohog.

After a number of hours, and the recovery of many glass bottles, shoes, and golf balls, did manage to fill our two pecks of Quohogs, and had a wonderful evening of scrubbing and boiling those disdained creatures.

When we arrived at the canal, we adorned our rods with Slug-Os, and began our quest. After hours of slippery slopes, and sand flies, we walked away completely ’skunked.’ Why, you might ask, am I telling you fail stories? Simply because today I don’t want to discuss techniques or equipment, but rather simply make a pitch for fly fishing.

Although I do enjoy the occasional excursion, handicapped by the use of spin-rods, nothing can beat the thrill of catching a large cow on nine-weight. Furthermore, regardless of its productivity, the simple joy that comes from casting a fly-rod, due to the skill that is involved, makes it that much more fun.

In my mind, the simple action of casting, then reeling, then casting, then reeling, just seems to get to me after a short while. All in all, I simply wish to suggest that if anyone out there has never had the opportunity to cast for striper; try it.

However, cork falls subject to a number of unavoidable mishaps throughout use. The two major factors that play into the wearing of cork handles, are moisture, and insect. Contrary to what might be readily accepted, dirt and grime are actually good for your cork handle. This layer not only helps to break in the handle to make it more fitted, but will also create a protective coating over the handle, thereby keeping off termites and other wood-eating insects.

I own a number of cork-handled rods, and recently found small larva living inside the handle. Because of this, I had to cut a section out of the handle, and reconstruct that section, an art that I will explain more about tomorrow. Today, however, I wish to discuss the precautionary measures that can taken to maintain a cork handle, and thereby extend its use.

First, I stated that water was a leading cause of decomposition of cork handles. This is mostly due to the fact that the water can soak into the handle, and actually rot the handle from the inside out. To avoid this, be sure to not store a cork handled rod without first making sure that the handle has dried out. Furthermore, do not store such rods in musty sheds, or other such placed that tend to maintained a humid atmosphere. This leads to the next point.

Be sure to store such rods indoors in a place where bugs will not not be able to get to the cork to eat and lay larva. This is actually more of a problem than people seem to understand. Following proper storing instructions will definitely extend the life of your cork handle, and will allow it to serve you better.

The U.F.O. is particularly successful during the dry seasons, when the rivers, streams, and lakes, tend to have less water than normal, and the temperature of the water warms. During these odd times, when trout seem to almost become dormant, terrestrials generally become a must-have, if you want to fill your creel. The U.F.O. is an extraordinarily useful fly because it can be used as a substitution for almost the entire beetle and ant families.

When fishing with the U.F.O., placement and presentation are key to catching fish. Acting as a terrestrial, the U.F.O. is best if fished across the banks of the streams, preferably under overhanging branches and shrubs.

To better give the illusion that the U.F.O. has fallen from hanging undergrowth, once should present the fly more ‘floatly’ than usual. Generally, when presenting a dry fly, it is recommended that the caster lays the line perfectly parallel with the water, about a foot above the surface, before allowing it to touch down. When fishing the U.F.O., it is important to delay this leveling process, and instead, allow the line to lay out with the line hitting the water just slightly before the fly. This will allow the fly to have the appearance that it is falling, in its own weight to the water. To furthermore present the fly as real, try to keep it from hitting the water with more force than would be natural. This will keep the fly from startling the fish, and causing them to disperse.

]]> http://flyfishingdish.com/2008/08/03/ufos-are-real/feed/ http://flyfishingdish.com/2008/08/02/wild-eyed-wooly/ http://flyfishingdish.com/2008/08/02/wild-eyed-wooly/#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:42:37 +0000 CtScribe http://flyfishingdish.com/?p=68 The Wild-Eyed Wooly (WEW) is a common fly amongst North American fly fishermen. Due to is versatility and productivity, it has earned its place as one of the best streamers to use when trout fishing in streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds.

The WEW can be used as an imitator of the damsel nymph, which makes this pattern particularly effective on those hot summer days when there seems to be no other hatches rising. The WEW can also be used as a wooly bugger supplement when fishing on those last few cold months of fishing toward the beginning and end of fishing season.

The WEW is most effective in dark, murky areas of rivers, or the outside edges of bends in the river. The reason for fishing this fly on the outsides edges of a turn in the river is because that is where drift wood and leaves will tend to wash ashore in the most abundant amounts. These sticks and leaves sink to the riverbed and rot, creating an ever growing area of black mud where these damsel flies make themselves at home.

When fishing the Wild-Eyed Wooly, it is best to use a quarter turn sweep, and then retrieve it in short smooth bursts of movement, allowing the fly to bounce along the riverbed. It is important to remember to never let the WEW lay dormant for any period of time while in the water. The WEW’s tail and gills, being comprised of black malibu, gives the WEW the realistic appearance of having moving body parts. What you must keep in mind, however, is that on a real damsel nymph, these body parts are almost continuously moving, and therefore, your imitation should keep moving as well, not giving the fish a chance to inspect the fly before making the choice to strike, which they tend to do during the pause directly after the head of the streamer hits the riverbed.

Another important thing to remember is not to back-cast this fly unless it is weighted with lead! I have tried before to back cast this fly in order to achieve a greater distance to fish, and found that if you back cast more than one cast rotation (once back-then forward), the fly becomes to dry that it can take excruciating amounts of time to sink. If you prefer to not roll cast, and enjoy the art of back casting, as do I, you can tie the fly using copper beads for eyes, as opposed to plastic, and add further weight using lead wire. This will allow you to back cast, and still have the WEW sink efficiently.

As you may have noticed, in the early months of fishing season, such as in April, and early May, the streams will be flowing with a variety of trout. Furthermore, while the trout are running, bass seem to remain unseen, and effectively remain out of site. However, when the water levels drop, and the temperature rises, it seems as though spontaneous generation occurs, and bass rule the water of New England streams. Baffled by this strange occurrence, my uncle begged to ask the question, “Where do the bass for the winter;” a question that spurred a very long discussion, and many assumptions on the topic, resulting in a quest to find the truth behind this marvel of nature.

One of the most common responses to the question, was that the bass find their way to the downstream sides of dams, sitting in the warm runoff water. Although this seemed plausible, it still did not explain where the bass relocated during the winter freeze, when ponds are partially drained, and the water ceases to flow over dams. After a long phone conversation with a local, weathered fisherman, the mystery was solved, or so we believe.

The conclusion that was agreed upon, was that bass, like frogs, store enough energy to survive the winter without needed to eat. Furthermore, these bass lay deep in the mud, allowing their bodies to come to the point of almost a coma-state, laying in wait until the warm water returns to revive their lifeless bodies.

Remember, this is just the thoughts of searching men, and, if anyone should have any further insight into the topic, please write me and fill me in!

Although sealed cases are popular among most fishermen, many of us have that special, handcrafted, bamboo rod that we just cannot help but display, whether it be hung from a wall, or stood in a corner, it is important to remember that bamboo bows. If the rod is not properly supported, such as if it is stood in a corner, the tip of the rod will begin to bend, and eventually will hold the curve, compromising the casting of the rod, and making it structurally unstable.

The best way to show off that beautiful rod, is to simply hang the rod for the wall. It is important, however, to make sure that the rod is supported along its entirety, and not simple just at its ends. Furthermore, I have found it most effective to display such rods in their separated pieces; this will completely remove all chances of damaging the rod.

Because of how vast the ocean is, it can be a difficult task to keep all of your bearings, such as the distance and windage location of your line, and the times of strikes. Furthermore, due to offshore currents it can be very easy to miscalculate how much line you actually have in the water. Most inland fishermen are able to judge the amount of outgoing line by relating it to another distance, such as the width of the stream, or the distance to a specific rock. However, with such vast expanses, there are very few ways to calculate this.

When fishing during daylight hours, it can be very effective to simple take a number of colored, permanent markers, and systematically color code the float line, marking out different lengths of reference. This can be very effective, and will allow you to keep from overextending casts, as well as will keep you from falling short or desired distances. Although this is very effective during the daytime, there is one problem; it is only useful during the daytime.

For night fishing, there is a similar technique, involving thread instead of marker. Simply tie a small piece of thread, or preferable yarn, to the distances of the line. As the line masses through your fingers, it is possible to count how many feet of line you have released into the water. This method is only advised for fast moving fishing, where a disturbance to the flow of the line will not be noticed by the targeted fish. Furthermore, this method may lead to a hindered flow of line from the reel, as the float line may become caught on the yarn markers. If one has a reel large enough that the line is not too constricted, this problem will not occur.