Good job Dan.
I have a similar rig spooled up. Big reel, 30' of lead core with a braided running line big enough to grasp, though I wouldn't want a fish ripping line out if I wasn't wearing gloves. The lead core tends to tangle on the bottom unless I'm in really deep water. I'm going to cut it back 5' and see if that helps.
I'm going out tomorrow and plan to spend the morning fishing for stripers with that set up.
I gave up after an hour the last time out due to the rowing crews making casting impossible. I saw Alex and Mike having a conversation with one of the chase boat captains that day. I hope that did some good towards getting them to respect the boats out fishing.
I watched Mark Binsted deal with a tail hooked Hshad a week ago, I can't imagine the PAIN of dealing with a foul hooked cat.
Sent from my iPad
Bob Smith
--Thanks Mike, and thanks for the replies guys! First off, I want to say it was a privelege to share the water with Mike and Alex this morning. These guys seriously know the River, and as we all know through TPFR, they love to share their knowlege and help others enjoy this incredible resource we have. So thank you Mike and Alex for taking me out this morning.The goal today was simple, see if we can get a fly down and fishing with a similar action to what they are able to achieve with Alex's jigs. From prevoius posts here, you all know they have been tearing it up by "vertical jigging" along the rocky bottom structure in anything from 12'-30'+. 12' we can cover with a standard full sink line, but 30'+ is a bit problematic for conventional fly tackle. Even if you can count it down, keeping it in the "zone" is just as big of a challenge once you do. So, the setup I put together to adress these issues is:- 9' 11-weight rod- BIG friggin' reel (less memory in the mono-running line, quicker line pickup when you need to clear the deck fast)- 60' of 52# Fluorocarbon for a running line (.025" diameter) - this cuts through the water like a knife but is still round enough to handle, and strong!- 20' shooting head of T-17 (340 grains)- 4' 25# Fluorocarbon leader- 9" long 6/0 articulated keel-weighted baitfish pattern - something I made up last night, I'll post pictures when I get a chance.So, with the above rig, I tried every which way to duplicate the "verticle jigging" motion Alex and Mike have dialed in. I'd cast up stream, let it sink until it was directly below us (or so we thought), then effectively strip or jig the rod to acheive the up/down motion. Problem was, my fly and head would take twice as long to sink back down than their jigs after each jerk ( = less fishing time), and whenever I did hang up on the bottom, it was usually somewhere other than straight below us, meaning the line was bellying in the currents and a tight, straight line was nearly impossible to maintain (read - slack!).So, I started casting up and across current, letting the fly and head dig in deep, then once it was running along the bottom we'd drift at the speed of the current allowing me to keep the fly in the zone the whole time. I'd give it one or two hard, sharp strips, then let the stripped in line pay back out and the fly sink again, usually about a three or four count. So basically - strip, STRIP!!, 1,2,3, strip, STRIP!!, 1,2,3, strip, STRIP, 1,2,3.....................Besides the nice Striper pictured above, I inadvertantly foul-hooked two big cats, one of which was well over 30#. They fight hard enough when fair-hooked, imagined wrestling one out of the deep when it's hooked in the back. That thing kicked my butt, and I was glad I brought the 11-weight for the lifting power. Good test of the knots and rigging too! That I hung up quite a few times on the bottom as well indicated to us that the necessary depth was acheivable, and maintainable.Like Mike said, it was on my last drift of the day that I finally hooked the intended species, and I feel like things may have just been switching on when I had to head in to work. Mike even called the exact moment he thought I'd hook up when I did, "alright Danny, you should be right in the zone now, get ready"....... and BAM!!!This is definitely a technique that will work, and I look forward to trying it several more times this season and really dialing it in. You absolutely need a motor to be most effective though, covering water is a huge part of it. Thanks again to Mike and Alex for letting me ride along today, I learned a lot from you guys and had a blast in the process.Dan DavalaOh, and I can't take full credit for the setup, I read some time ago about similar rigging and techniques being deployed by Captain Brady Bounds in the Chesapeake Bay to target BIG sea run Stripers in up to 60 feet of water!!! Once I read about his tactics, I realized deep water fly fishing is limited only by our imagination and willingness to experiment.
On Monday, April 21, 2014 2:00:13 PM UTC-4, Danny Barrett wrote:I'm jealous. I had one take top water Sunday night. and it broke me off so fast I couldn't even enjoy the fight. so much for 15lb leaders. nice fish.
Thanks,
Dan Barrett
On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 1:57 PM, Bob Smith <planesmith@aol.com> wrote:
So what was his method?
--
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com .
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com .
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly- .rodders/e9a9d2f3-ca50-4990- af16-1f139249fb65% 40googlegroups.com
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout .
http://www.tpfr.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/ijbZeOSdNCo/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to tidal-potomac-fly-rodders@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tidal-potomac-fly-rodders/e9d09315-50c9-49cf-824f-321d5d57be38%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment