Matching line weight with rod.

This comment was left recently. Thought I would share it.

Riverwalker... The simple way to determine if a line is right for a rod is that fly lines are designed in weight to fully load a mathing fly rod with 30 feet of line in the air. Even for the best of casters loading an eight weight rod with a two weight line would be almost impossible! Each rod is a little different and you can usually go up one size in your line, for example fishing a three weight line on a two weight rod will give you really great control on shorter casts. In some instances you can go down one line size also and get very delicate presentations, but the gap you had is too wide to cover. For the fishing you're doing your best shot is probably a weight forward or bass bug taper in a floating line and a weight forward intermediate sinker. The fly you're showing is basically a Woolly Bugger with some (looks like) rubber added to the tail. This pattern will catch the hell out of the bass, but try to find someone to tie you up some with a weed guard and in colors that would roughly match what ever colors you'd fish a jig in. Slow roll it along the bottom, particularly around the beds when the bass are bedding and they'll hammer the thing. Just remember that with a fly rod you're not going to be able to yank them out of cover like old Bill Dance does!
Hope that helps.....

Mismatched fly rod and reel

Started out with this fly. Bought it last year. Not sure what it's called. I had my 8 wgt. rod. Went out to the local pond. It has been about a week and a half since I went out there. Algea or some sort of bloom happened on the bottom of some parts of the pond. I was using sinking line. Obviously, I was pulling in green stuff. I tried a few poppers and landed a few bream.

After trying several flies, I switched to floating line. However, it was 4 wgt. line and I only brought my 8 wgt. I didn't want to head back to the truck. So, I decided to mismatch line and rod. It wasn't too bad but there obviously wasn't much flexibility in the rod and line wasn't coming off as it would with a lighter rod.

It was my first time to mismatch line with rod. I am used to heavy flies with an 8 wgt. rod but really couldn't tell if it was my casting or that I had light line with a light fly that was causing my casting to look and feel horrible. I was slapping line on the water too.

Now I see the importance of keeping lines and rods matched up.

Still lookin' for bass.

More Panfish? Come on!

What can I say? Went out for bass . . . landing panfish only. Where are my bass this year?? The only thing that impressed me today was the depth of detail my camera phone showed in this pic.

lol

Strawberry Bass??

I've heard of Calico Bass and Sac au Lait but Strawberry Bass?? Must be a northern description for Crappie.

Somehow, I broke my reel. Yet, I decided to use it. I mean, do ya' really need to reel in a panfish on a fly rod? ONLY IN MY DREAMS. Still thinking of going out for some crappie today. Beginning next week, I'm going on vacation for 8 days. I will be targeting some local waters and possibly even targeting Carp.

Still gotta find that oar for my kayak . . .

Oh yeah, I was amazed to find a section in the paper yesterday about Crappie fishing. There was even a photo of a large bluegill. I absolutely love it when I see the photo of bluegill in the paper.

Crappie on the Fly . . . again. Fly fishing for Crappie.

Landed about 15 or so crappie today. Brought in a number of bluegills and sunfish too. No bass though. But after a lovely day like this, I could care less. Went out to a local pond. About 4 people fishing - and nobody landing anything.

I fished slow. The fly I started with was a custom fly - a fly that is now gone. I took it from the Yellow & Black pattern found in Tom Nixon's Fly Fishing and Fly Tying for Bass and Panfish. I put my own spin on it - pheasant tippet for the tail, light yellow thin chenille and no hackle.

The fish tore it up. At first, I was bringing in small fish from around the mud line. I decided to fish slower - a lot slower. I started landing crappie and larger bream.

I began casting out about 30 feet or so. The larger fish were in deeper water and were hitting the fly about 12 or 15 feet out. Then I lost the fly on a wicked back cast.

Switched to a small nymph pattern that I received in a fly swap (shown above). I was stripping my fly in really slow - REALLY SLOW. I was making long draws on my line. Got a lot of soft strikes - which I knew were crappie. It wouldn't sink but an inch or so. A crappie came up and took it from the surface - took him a couple of swirls before sucking it in.

Decided to move to a pattern that would go deeper. I tied on a Crappie Killer (yellow fly shown above). I still stripped the fly in VERY SLOWLY. Kept on getting hits from crappie. Most of them were coming out of the same spot. I never left my position on the bank the whole time I was fishing.

I was still getting soft strikes but landing crappie too. I lost my Crappie Killer. Switched to the green fly (shown above). I landed just a couple more before calling it a day.

I was happy with the amount of fish and the fact I was landing crappie. Most of the crappie weren't keepers but I didn't care. I love fly fishing for crappie.