Gearing up for Flounder

With the summer heat, bass, crappie, and the other lake fish are deep and lethargic during the daylight hours.  Unless you get out very early, or very late, you shouldn't expect too much on the surface, with the exception to bluegill, because, hey, bluegill are always up for hitting topwater.  Additionally, the heat brings major stress to our resident brook trout populations, so hitting the mountain streams should wait until the weather cools back down.  The end result?  Time to hit the saltwater.

The good news for me is that I have family near the coast, and they make a perfect staging point to hit the back bays along the Maryland and Virginia Coasts...and it's nice to seem them as well:)  One of my goals this year was to try and catch a flounder off the fly.  Obviously, flounder are not the most targeted fish off the fly, but they are catchable, and even a small flounder could be fun off the long rod.

There are two strategies for targeting flounder with the fly.  The first is to stick to the shallows, and use weighted flies.  This permits the use of a floating line, while still being able to get the fly into the strike zone.  Of course, this means there will be a limitation in the habitat and waters that will be fishable.  To overcome this, a sink tip, or even a full sinking line will be required.  For me, I will be using a full sinking line.  This allows me to fish all zones of the back bays; allowing me to target not only bottom dwelling fish like flounder, but also the mid and upper levels of the water column.  Remember, even though the line may sink, the moment you start stripping, the fly will come alive.  This still allows casting into breaking fish, with the added advantage of hitting the top of the boil, as well as allowing the choice to let the fly to sink to where larger fish may be lurking.

As for flies, the usual saltwater suspects apply.  Think clousers, deceivers, half-n-halves, but shrimp and squid patterns are also useful.  Granted, tying an all white clouser or deceiver may do a decent job of imitating a squid, and tying either in pink colors is a decent soft shrimp imitation (they are pinkish when they shed their shell), but having an excuse to tie something new is more than enough for me to have to break out the fly tying kit.

Tying a squid fly is a nice change from the typical trout and bass flies

There are plenty of good guides on youtube and the Internet to find interesting patterns and ideas for saltwater flies.  My search helped me to develop the squid fly above.  I chose to use dumbbell eyes near the rear of the hook to (1) invert the hook, and (2) change the action of the fly to more closely resemble a swimming squid.  I also used some of my holoflash, which has tons of different colors, and, I think, will more closely imitate the rapid color changes squids are known for...plus, it helps it look cool :)  Sometimes, making the fly look better to yourself actually makes the fly fish better, because you will fish it with more confidence, and throw it for longer.  A great quote is even a poorly tied fly will catch fish if you throw it long enough.

For shrimp patterns, I decided to try my hand at the crazy charlie.  This is one of THE patterns for bonefish, because it imitates a small shrimp or crustacean...hey, that sounds good enough to me.  I did tie mine a little larger than the average charlie, and added some colors that more closely match the shrimp in the back bays where I fish, including some touches of pink for one of the flies.  Believe it or not, pink can sometimes be the only color flounder will hit, and therefore I always make sure at least one of my flies incorporates this hue.

Some of the crazy charlies I tied for flounder

All in all, it will just be nice to get out and hit the salt.  I'll be sure to post an update, but, remember, getting out to fish is just as important as actually catching a fish.  Even if you strike out, you should always have a good time...I know I will.

Upper Potomac Fishing Trip

Greetings Everyone!  The good news is that the waters have subsided long enough for me to brave the Upper Potomac.  Earlier this week, while visiting my parents, my father and I snuck out to spend a few hours on the river for some summer smallmouth action, and the river did not disappoint.

It's always nice going out on a river with someone familiar with the water, and my father chose a spot packed with smallmouth, and a few other surprises.  While most smallies were subsurface along the edges of the whitewater, requiring a sinking leader to get down quick while moving the fly quickly...luckily I forgot mine, a few were found to take a topwater popper, which I was happy enough to oblige.

Any size smallmouth is a blast on the fly

It is always a blast to catch smallmouth, and even more so off a fly rod.  If you haven't had the chance, I dare you to try.  Pound for pound, they are one of the scrappiest fish, and I dare say more fun than a trout twice its size!  The little guy pictured above was no exception, and decided after several failed attempts to shake the fly while going airborne the best course of action was to do a crazy Ivan, and swim right under a log.  Fortunately, I was able to get Mr. Smallie out from under the submerged tree, and safely land and release...to be caught another day.

In addition to the abundance of smallmouth, my father also managed to land his first tiger muskie.  While it was a far cry from the size of some of the monsters the Potomac is known for, it gave him quite a fit on his ultra light outfit.  Personally, I have yet to battle a hybrid or a full strain muskie on the fly, but, just like my father, there is always a first time for anything.

As expected the rock bass were also quite active, being found near the edges of grasses, and in the shallows along the shore.  What was unexpected, was the occasional walleye we caught in the deeper pools and eddies.  For these, the trick was to get the lure down as far as possible, with slower movements.  I found the greatest success with a half n half, which is basically the offspring of a clouser minnow with a Lefty's deceiver.  Typically, this is a good saltwater striper pattern, but sometimes its worth throwing something they may not have seen before.  As always, tight lines.

An unexpected, but welcomed catch