What a thrill - SM on a fly
 

Had a great thrill Sunday morning up on the North Fork of the Susquehanna.
Caught a 15" SM on a 5wt fly rod while wading. I'm totally "hooked"!

Thanks from Rick

"Richard Liebert" wrote in
message ...
Had a great thrill Sunday morning up on the North Fork of the Susquehanna.
Caught a 15" SM on a 5wt fly rod while wading. I'm totally "hooked"!

Thanks from Rick


Is that enough rod for it? I think one of my cheap (a gift from a family
member) rods is a 5 wt. I figured it was too heavy for little stream trout,
and not quite heavy enough to go bass fishing so it has gone unused.


--
Bob La Londe

Win a Tackle Pack
Jig Fishing - Tips and Techniques Contest
Courtesy of Siebler Custom Baits
http://www.YumaBassMan.com

"Bob La Londe" wrote in
:

"Richard Liebert" wrote in
message ...
Had a great thrill Sunday morning up on the North Fork of the
Susquehanna. Caught a 15" SM on a 5wt fly rod while wading. I'm
totally "hooked"!

Thanks from Rick


Is that enough rod for it? I think one of my cheap (a gift from a
family member) rods is a 5 wt. I figured it was too heavy for little
stream trout, and not quite heavy enough to go bass fishing so it has
gone unused.



A five weight is fine for fishing for trout in large streams, and will
work fine for small streams too. In fact, it's preferable to a lighter
rod if you think you'll be casting big wind resistant streamers or
heavily weighted nymphs, like huge perla stones. It can keep you fishing
if the wind kicks up, in situations where you might just call it a day if
you were using a 3wt. Many trout fisherman start with a 5 weight, and
never move to a lighter rod.

As for bass, it's more the size and shape of what you're casting than the
size of the fish you're targeting. I've never seen a smallmouth that
couldn't be comfortably landed with a fairly stiff five weight. It's a
tad light to be casting big bass bugs, but will certainly cast smaller
bass bugs and most streamers and that most useful of bass flies, the
black wooly bugger, just fine. It depends a lot on the rod. I have a
cannon of a 5-wt that will do most of my largemouth fishing just fine,
and all of my smallmouth. I also have a five weight that wouldn't.

Your 5 wt is a versatile rod. Break it out for trout or bass, and see
what happens. Even if its a bust, a day on the water is better than a
day off the water.

--
Scott
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"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"Bob La Londe" wrote in
:

"Richard Liebert" wrote in
message ...
Had a great thrill Sunday morning up on the North Fork of the
Susquehanna. Caught a 15" SM on a 5wt fly rod while wading. I'm
totally "hooked"!

Thanks from Rick


Is that enough rod for it? I think one of my cheap (a gift from a
family member) rods is a 5 wt. I figured it was too heavy for little
stream trout, and not quite heavy enough to go bass fishing so it has
gone unused.



A five weight is fine for fishing for trout in large streams, and will
work fine for small streams too. In fact, it's preferable to a lighter
rod if you think you'll be casting big wind resistant streamers or
heavily weighted nymphs, like huge perla stones. It can keep you fishing
if the wind kicks up, in situations where you might just call it a day if
you were using a 3wt. Many trout fisherman start with a 5 weight, and
never move to a lighter rod.

As for bass, it's more the size and shape of what you're casting than the
size of the fish you're targeting. I've never seen a smallmouth that
couldn't be comfortably landed with a fairly stiff five weight. It's a
tad light to be casting big bass bugs, but will certainly cast smaller
bass bugs and most streamers and that most useful of bass flies, the
black wooly bugger, just fine. It depends a lot on the rod. I have a
cannon of a 5-wt that will do most of my largemouth fishing just fine,
and all of my smallmouth. I also have a five weight that wouldn't.

Your 5 wt is a versatile rod. Break it out for trout or bass, and see
what happens. Even if its a bust, a day on the water is better than a
day off the water.


Not arguing. I know product descriptions are tailored to sell product.
Having been in sales in one form another I know that simplifying choices
makes it more likely for people to buy.

These guys seem to think that a 6 wt is the low end for bass fishing.
http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catal...=SearchResults

I am curious about the hookset when flyfishing. I have hooked an order of
magnitude more trout on flies than I have landed. Admittedly my best days I
was unprepared and did not have my landing net. I had a lot of them get off
while I was trying to grab them with my hand. LOL. Still, with bass
wouldn't the problem be worse? How do you compensate or adjust to get a
good hookset when flycasting for bass.

Do you favor a longer rod for bassing? Maybe a 9 footer? All three of my
fly rods just happen to be 8 footers. It just worked out that way. I
didn't pick that length for any particular reason, although I have a hard
enough time in the close quarters of over hanging brush between the great
oak treees along Oak Creek with an 8 footer, and often in frustration will
switch to a float and fly or small inline spinner on a spinning rod for ease
of fishing.

Oak Creek is a put an take rainbow fishery with a few wild browns and a few
smallmouth. Actually I have been considering trying some fly casting down
here on the river for largemouth and maybe some stripers when they are
boiling in the early morning.

--
Bob La Londe

Win a Tackle Pack
Jig Fishing - Tips and Techniques Contest
Courtesy of Siebler Custom Baits
http://www.YumaBassMan.com

For the record, I was using a 3 pc Loomis IMX 9 foot 5 wt rod which is a
pretty fast (stiff) fly rod. I used 8 lb trout tippet and leader. The last
fish hit while I was reeling in the line which was a bit much so he broke
off because the rod was pointed at the fish when he decided to hit the fly.
We had most success with bead-headed #6 Mudler Minnows. The bead-headed
black Wooly Bugger also worked. I am sure the SM thought they were both
crayfish trying to get away.

My 15yr old son was also catching SM on his 9 foot 5wt Gander Mtn generic
rod which only has a medium action. He had no problems.

I also have a 7wt GL3 bass rod which I use for surface poppers and mice and
stuff like that. I also have two 8 wt rods which I use for salt water mostly
(bonefish).

I have to say that the SM was almost as good as a bonefish, in some ways
better (the acrobatics).


"Richard Liebert" wrote in
message ...
Had a great thrill Sunday morning up on the North Fork of the Susquehanna.
Caught a 15" SM on a 5wt fly rod while wading. I'm totally "hooked"!

Thanks from Rick

"Bob La Londe" wrote in
:

"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"Bob La Londe" wrote in
:

"Richard Liebert" wrote
in message ...
Had a great thrill Sunday morning up on the North Fork of the
Susquehanna. Caught a 15" SM on a 5wt fly rod while wading. I'm
totally "hooked"!

Thanks from Rick


Is that enough rod for it? I think one of my cheap (a gift from a
family member) rods is a 5 wt. I figured it was too heavy for
little stream trout, and not quite heavy enough to go bass fishing
so it has gone unused.



A five weight is fine for fishing for trout in large streams, and
will work fine for small streams too. In fact, it's preferable to a
lighter rod if you think you'll be casting big wind resistant
streamers or heavily weighted nymphs, like huge perla stones. It can
keep you fishing if the wind kicks up, in situations where you might
just call it a day if you were using a 3wt. Many trout fisherman
start with a 5 weight, and never move to a lighter rod.

As for bass, it's more the size and shape of what you're casting than
the size of the fish you're targeting. I've never seen a smallmouth
that couldn't be comfortably landed with a fairly stiff five weight.
It's a tad light to be casting big bass bugs, but will certainly cast
smaller bass bugs and most streamers and that most useful of bass
flies, the black wooly bugger, just fine. It depends a lot on the
rod. I have a cannon of a 5-wt that will do most of my largemouth
fishing just fine, and all of my smallmouth. I also have a five
weight that wouldn't.

Your 5 wt is a versatile rod. Break it out for trout or bass, and
see what happens. Even if its a bust, a day on the water is better
than a day off the water.


Not arguing. I know product descriptions are tailored to sell
product. Having been in sales in one form another I know that
simplifying choices makes it more likely for people to buy.

These guys seem to think that a 6 wt is the low end for bass fishing.
http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catal...29357&hvarTarg
et=search&cmCat=SearchResults

That's usuallly what you see. Not to long ago, a 6wt was the recommended
rod for people starting on trout, too, and it's come down to a 5wt. I've
always thought of smallmouth fishing as much closer to trout fishing than
largemouth fishing. You barely need to change methods. I can't tell you
how many times I've reeled in a smallmouth when I thought I hooked a
trout, and was targeting trout.

I am curious about the hookset when flyfishing. I have hooked an
order of magnitude more trout on flies than I have landed. Admittedly
my best days I was unprepared and did not have my landing net. I had
a lot of them get off while I was trying to grab them with my hand.
LOL. Still, with bass wouldn't the problem be worse? How do you
compensate or adjust to get a good hookset when flycasting for bass.

That sounds about right. Keeping fish on can be tough, especially if
you're using barbless hooks. Keeping a bend in your rod is extremely
important. This is a lot tougher than it sounds, until you get some
experience. It's not like a spinning reel-- when you hook up, there's
often 10 feet of slack fly line between your off hand and the reel. I
like to get the fish on the reel as soon as I can. Many people will just
continue to strip line in until the fish is close enough and played out
enough to land. Guides yell at you pretty good when you do this. It
works well enough for small fish, but if you get in that habit, you're
going to be pretty embarrassed when the fish of a lifetime breaks off.

I try to always use a net-- it really shortens the fight, and prevents
those annoying last minute losses. For migratory brown trout, steelhead,
and salmon (now we've got both feet in the 8 weight category!) I like to
use a boga grip for much the same reason.

Most of the time, the set isn't a dramatic thing like when fishing for
bass. Just strip some line in and get tension on the line (I think some
call this a slip set, or strip set, or something like that)

For dry fly fishing, its important to wait for a second or two before the
hook set. The Brits like to say "God Save the Queen", or something silly
like that, between when they see the fish take, and when they set the
hook. Nymphing, the problem is knowing the hook has ever entered the
fish's mouth at all, and you set the hook as soon as you think you have a
hit. If you're doing it right, most of the time you set the hook just to
find your fly only ticked the bottom, and not a fish. I haven't figured
out how to dependably set the hook when fishing a traditional wet fly (as
opposed to a nymph). You think it's well set, and before the fight
really gets going, the fish just shakes it off. Serves me right for
fishing with such a lazy, enjoyable, laid back method! A guide tells me
that this is because when fishing downstream, like you do with a wet, the
hook set can pull the hook right out of the mouth, and suggests that I
actually give line before trying a hook set.

In any case, most of the time the goal is to release the fish without
even touching it. With a barbless hook, its pretty easy to grab the bend
of the hook with hemostats and back it out, even if you're not using a
net. It doesn't matter so much to me whether the fight is finished or
not and the fish spits the hook (so long as I don't leave the hook buried
in him)-- Long distance release or short distance release, I fooled that
fish, and sometimes on streams where that's not so easy, with a fly that
I tied (and maybe designed), sometimes out of material that I hunted.
Usually, it happens in a very pretty place, and often, with very nice
people. The experience I got fooling that fish will help me out for the
next fish.



Do you favor a longer rod for bassing? Maybe a 9 footer? All three
of my fly rods just happen to be 8 footers. It just worked out that
way. I didn't pick that length for any particular reason, although I
have a hard enough time in the close quarters of over hanging brush
between the great oak treees along Oak Creek with an 8 footer, and
often in frustration will switch to a float and fly or small inline
spinner on a spinning rod for ease of fishing.

I try to use a 9 footer for trout. It's not as important when fishing
dry flies, but when you're fishing nymphs, the extra length really helps
with line control. For bass, I use an 8'6" or 9'. You'd think the
longer rod will help with distance, but it doesn't help nearly as much as
you think it does. One of the living legends, Lefty Kreh, likes to take
the tip section of a 2-piece rod and cast a whole flyline with it, just
to show that length doesn't make that much of a difference. Line weight
is much more important. If you have a hard time with the bushes, that's
a fine reason to use a shorter rod. With experience, though, you'll find
yourself doing more fishing and less rasslin' with the bushes, regardless
of rod length. You just learn more casting technique, roll cast more,
get more accurate on the front cast, and back cast less. When you really
need the back cast, and only have a small window where you can fit it,
turn around, and front cast where you would normally back cast, and let
the line fall to the water on the back cast.


Oak Creek is a put an take rainbow fishery with a few wild browns and
a few smallmouth. Actually I have been considering trying some fly
casting down here on the river for largemouth and maybe some stripers
when they are boiling in the early morning.


I love it. The other day, I went out to do some stream side brush
cutting, and on the way back stopped at a local farm pond filled with
bluegill and bass. All I had with me was a light three weight, and one
bluegill popper--probably around a size 10 or 8 hook, about as big as I'd
want to go with that rod. I couldn't get any distance to speak of, but I
managed to bring in six or eight panfish and two juvenile largemouth in
bright sun during an hour on a really hot midafternoon. I swear, pound
for pound, a small bluegill fights harder than a 10"-12" trout, and you
really feel it with a 3 wt.

On average, I think a good spin fisherman should be embarrassed if he
can't outfish a good fly fisherman most of the time. There's just more
techniques available to them, and they can cover the water much faster.


--
Scott
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