Fishing Report 25-APR-2017

The bite is on everywhere, so pick your species, grab your rod, and hit the water!

In the freshwater, the largemouth and smallmouth prespawn bite is currently underway, with most takes occurring on subsurface streamers fished slowly.  For largemouth in stillwater, go for suspending streamers like deceivers and CK Baitfish that can be paused, twitched, and paused again.  In moving water for smallmouth, go for bottom baits like the clawdad, that can be swung down current, or slowly moved through the deeper pools.  There is some topwater action, but the bigger fish are looking for bigger meals, so don't be afraid of putting on your 6"+ streamers.

Don't be afraid to throw your big streamers in the spring!

I also had the good fortune to spend some time down at the ocean to do some saltwater fishing.  This is always a mix of conventional and fly, and fun was to be had on both.  While the weather was fairly miserable, we did manage to catch several flounder, including the keeper below.  Remember, the only three colors you need on your bottom rigs for flounder are Pink, Green, and White.  Once I figure out how to catch these flatfish on the fly, I'll be sure to write up a report.

I've got to figure out how to catch these on the fly, but I'll take 'em anyway I can.

From the vacation house, we had pretty close access to the water.  We could actually fish from the lower balcony, and it was rare when a line wasn't in the water.  I threw the fly a few times, but the close proximity of the dock to the house made this very tricky.  We also wanted a static line that we could sit and walk away from, so a conventional rod was again deployed.  What I was not expecting was a massive chopper bluefish to hit the line!

These blues hit both fly and conventional tackle...but without steel leader they are near impossible to land

Given the relative abundance of these big blues in the bay where we were staying, I spent some time targeting them on the fly.  I had some success with a large red/white deceiver, but without steel leader I was only able to fight them for a short period of time before they cut themselves free....next time I will be better prepared!

This was the most successful pattern for targeting the big blues, and also works for striped bass, springtime largemouth, and northern pike.