Tony Buzolich
06-21-2011, 04:14 PM
As all of you surely know the warm weather has finally gotten here and by the time the sun gets high in the sky (9:00-10:00am) the best fishing is done with until dark, at least for stripers that is.
This morning Bill and I got on the water at 4:30am and it was already getting light. We crossed over to a quiet long channel on the opposite side of the river and began casting. Geez, this is a perfect time, we're going to nail them today. Bill is throwing a large black fly and I'm using a large 4/0 sardina pattern I had left over from Baja. After a couple of casts I hang up on a snag and break off my fly. Re-tying in the dark isn't the easiest thing either. A few more casts and I snag again, this time taking the fly and the leader. Re-tie again, it's almost 5:00am and at least I can see the hole on the eye of the hook. Over the next hour I snagged and lost five flies and three leaders:( What a way to start the morning ! Uugh. To make matters worse, neither of us have even had a grab and we've covered a lot of water.
The last couple of days the water on the Feather has really started to drop and this re-arranges the fishes holding areas and they have to get settled back in to a new locataion. This means we have to find them and we can't count on the usual hot spots to go to.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/105.jpg
Finally after almost an hour and a half on the water I get a solid grab with a nice seven pounder coming to the boat. I get another, and then another, and we keep working this new water. Bill's flaying away but no grabs on his black fly and he switches to purple/white, one of my favorite color combo's in clear water.
We move back upstream and work the willow edges in barely a foot or two of water. WHAM! and I here Bill yelling his usual "Ooh,ooh" "It's a good one" and the fish immediately starts to head to the center of the river. I get the boat away from shore and follow this fish to deeper water. Bill is almost into the backing several times on his 8 weight and we still haven't seen the fish to know it's size. Around the boat several times and finally up she comes to the net, a beautiful 17 pound hen.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/107.jpg
After a quick couple of high-fives and a few pictures we get her back into the water and start another pass through the same run. We pick up a couple more nicer fish in the seven to ten pound range and decide to give this area a rest. All this time we're on the water we haven't seen another boat go by and there's not even a breath of wind. Talk about perfect conditions,,,,,,,,once you find them.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/112.jpg
We move and hit several more spots but only pick up a single here or there, no big schools this morning. Have they moved up or down? Is it all over for the Feather now? I don't think so. You just have to put in your time and go find them.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/111.jpg
The water is dropping a lot quickly though and more snags are beginning pop up so be careful when you go exploring,,,, especially at 4:30am in the dark:)
TONY
This morning Bill and I got on the water at 4:30am and it was already getting light. We crossed over to a quiet long channel on the opposite side of the river and began casting. Geez, this is a perfect time, we're going to nail them today. Bill is throwing a large black fly and I'm using a large 4/0 sardina pattern I had left over from Baja. After a couple of casts I hang up on a snag and break off my fly. Re-tying in the dark isn't the easiest thing either. A few more casts and I snag again, this time taking the fly and the leader. Re-tie again, it's almost 5:00am and at least I can see the hole on the eye of the hook. Over the next hour I snagged and lost five flies and three leaders:( What a way to start the morning ! Uugh. To make matters worse, neither of us have even had a grab and we've covered a lot of water.
The last couple of days the water on the Feather has really started to drop and this re-arranges the fishes holding areas and they have to get settled back in to a new locataion. This means we have to find them and we can't count on the usual hot spots to go to.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/105.jpg
Finally after almost an hour and a half on the water I get a solid grab with a nice seven pounder coming to the boat. I get another, and then another, and we keep working this new water. Bill's flaying away but no grabs on his black fly and he switches to purple/white, one of my favorite color combo's in clear water.
We move back upstream and work the willow edges in barely a foot or two of water. WHAM! and I here Bill yelling his usual "Ooh,ooh" "It's a good one" and the fish immediately starts to head to the center of the river. I get the boat away from shore and follow this fish to deeper water. Bill is almost into the backing several times on his 8 weight and we still haven't seen the fish to know it's size. Around the boat several times and finally up she comes to the net, a beautiful 17 pound hen.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/107.jpg
After a quick couple of high-fives and a few pictures we get her back into the water and start another pass through the same run. We pick up a couple more nicer fish in the seven to ten pound range and decide to give this area a rest. All this time we're on the water we haven't seen another boat go by and there's not even a breath of wind. Talk about perfect conditions,,,,,,,,once you find them.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/112.jpg
We move and hit several more spots but only pick up a single here or there, no big schools this morning. Have they moved up or down? Is it all over for the Feather now? I don't think so. You just have to put in your time and go find them.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/111.jpg
The water is dropping a lot quickly though and more snags are beginning pop up so be careful when you go exploring,,,, especially at 4:30am in the dark:)
TONY