Tony Buzolich
06-11-2012, 04:07 PM
I just had to get out of the house Saturday. I had already turned down a striper trip, my wife left for a quilting bee, my cat died, and I was all alone for the weekend. So what am I going to do? The wind is blowing like hell out there and I'm feeling sorry for myself. Fortunately my fly club had planned a fishout on the Yuba for shad, but nobody in their right mind would fish in wind like this,,,,,, would they? Well, I never go to these things but today I will. I'll just go and help cook hotdogs or do something useful. When I got there the food prep was already under control and one of the guys asked if I wouldn't mind helping teach some of the other guys how to throw a shooting head. Great, I needed something to do,,,,,,,,,,but, in this wind?
After getting the president of our club rigged and strung up (he had only thrown floating lines before this) we waded out into the Yuba. After a few minutes of trial and error and a few slaps to the back of the head, our Pres. was able to make a roll cast and get the line out of the water. Even with all of the wind a short roll cast was possible and he got started.
I moved a few yards below him where I could still coach instructions and also cast at the same time. It wasn't long and I was fast onto my first shad, then another, then another, and they just kept coming. The guys around us were getting anxious as none had even had a grab yet, including our Pres. As I look down in the clear water under me and I've got shad all around my feet. I'm acting like a rock and breaking the currant for them.
I tell the Pres. to back up a little and swing his line to me where I change his fly to another color. Chartruse today wasn't working. He cast again, swung close to me, and immediately got a grab and his first shad. Yahoo! The Pres. is happy and my job is done and now I can get back to fishing for myself,,,,,,,,,even with the damn wind blowing.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/shadupload.jpg
That night I go over to my buddy Jim's house for dinner and he asks again about going for stripers. "The wind is supposed to lay down to 10mph tomarrow" he says. Okey, that sounds good to me.
The next morning I get to Jim's house around 5:00 and it's STILL BLOWING like hell. It's taking the leaves off the trees and it's no better than Saturday. " Come on, I've already got the boat hooked up and we'll just try it for a little while" Jim says. So, off we go down Hwy. 20 getting blown sideways from lane to lane. After launching, it doesn't get any better on the water. But the water is really looking good and maybe if we can just get behind a few trees we can cast. We try a few of our usual spots without success. Try and hide from the wind, keep moving, get behind these trees here, etc. The wind is NOT dropping to 10mph like we'd hoped and seems to be getting worse.
After more than an hour of trying, and after loosing several good flies, I tie on one of my purple clousers and get a hit immediately. Okay, we've got the skunk off the boat and our first fish of the day is returned to the water. Whewww, this is tough fishing with this wind but we're refreshed now and we keep going. Jim's got the next one and then I've got another that takes me under the boat. Geez, this is really fun on an 8 weight.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/Tont6-10-1201.jpg
We keep moving back and forth looking for more fish, and looking for where we can cast out of the wind. Some of our favorite spots produce nothing and we're forced to fish where we can cast. Damn wind is still blowing as hard as ever and it's getting late in the morning. "Let's give #$%^& *& a shot before we quit" Jim says. It's a long ride from where we are but let's give it a try. We set up our drift and Jim gets a big grab right away. "BIG FISH!" But he comes undone.:( We make another pass and I get a hook up to a nice schoolie but as he comes to the surface we can see several more fish with the one I hooked. "I must have gotten a female and these are males with her". "NO!!!! The small one has the fly and bigger one is trying to take the fly out of my fish's mouth!" I play the fish next to the boat and the other fish (including the bigger one) keep trying to take the fly from my fish's mouth. I keep the fish in the water like playing a dorado to hold the school. Jim tries a short cast but they drop deep and disappear. After another pass or two the bite turns off and they no longer want purple. " Let's just make one more pass with a different color fly and see if that works" Jim says. Sure enough, Jim puts on a chartruses and gets a solid grab and another nice fish. Perfect way to end the day.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/Jim06-10-1204.jpg
Fishing in blowing wind for two days is tough, but sometimes things just work out. As for the stripers?, they're still here and will be for a while. I hope :)
Tony
After getting the president of our club rigged and strung up (he had only thrown floating lines before this) we waded out into the Yuba. After a few minutes of trial and error and a few slaps to the back of the head, our Pres. was able to make a roll cast and get the line out of the water. Even with all of the wind a short roll cast was possible and he got started.
I moved a few yards below him where I could still coach instructions and also cast at the same time. It wasn't long and I was fast onto my first shad, then another, then another, and they just kept coming. The guys around us were getting anxious as none had even had a grab yet, including our Pres. As I look down in the clear water under me and I've got shad all around my feet. I'm acting like a rock and breaking the currant for them.
I tell the Pres. to back up a little and swing his line to me where I change his fly to another color. Chartruse today wasn't working. He cast again, swung close to me, and immediately got a grab and his first shad. Yahoo! The Pres. is happy and my job is done and now I can get back to fishing for myself,,,,,,,,,even with the damn wind blowing.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/shadupload.jpg
That night I go over to my buddy Jim's house for dinner and he asks again about going for stripers. "The wind is supposed to lay down to 10mph tomarrow" he says. Okey, that sounds good to me.
The next morning I get to Jim's house around 5:00 and it's STILL BLOWING like hell. It's taking the leaves off the trees and it's no better than Saturday. " Come on, I've already got the boat hooked up and we'll just try it for a little while" Jim says. So, off we go down Hwy. 20 getting blown sideways from lane to lane. After launching, it doesn't get any better on the water. But the water is really looking good and maybe if we can just get behind a few trees we can cast. We try a few of our usual spots without success. Try and hide from the wind, keep moving, get behind these trees here, etc. The wind is NOT dropping to 10mph like we'd hoped and seems to be getting worse.
After more than an hour of trying, and after loosing several good flies, I tie on one of my purple clousers and get a hit immediately. Okay, we've got the skunk off the boat and our first fish of the day is returned to the water. Whewww, this is tough fishing with this wind but we're refreshed now and we keep going. Jim's got the next one and then I've got another that takes me under the boat. Geez, this is really fun on an 8 weight.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/Tont6-10-1201.jpg
We keep moving back and forth looking for more fish, and looking for where we can cast out of the wind. Some of our favorite spots produce nothing and we're forced to fish where we can cast. Damn wind is still blowing as hard as ever and it's getting late in the morning. "Let's give #$%^& *& a shot before we quit" Jim says. It's a long ride from where we are but let's give it a try. We set up our drift and Jim gets a big grab right away. "BIG FISH!" But he comes undone.:( We make another pass and I get a hook up to a nice schoolie but as he comes to the surface we can see several more fish with the one I hooked. "I must have gotten a female and these are males with her". "NO!!!! The small one has the fly and bigger one is trying to take the fly out of my fish's mouth!" I play the fish next to the boat and the other fish (including the bigger one) keep trying to take the fly from my fish's mouth. I keep the fish in the water like playing a dorado to hold the school. Jim tries a short cast but they drop deep and disappear. After another pass or two the bite turns off and they no longer want purple. " Let's just make one more pass with a different color fly and see if that works" Jim says. Sure enough, Jim puts on a chartruses and gets a solid grab and another nice fish. Perfect way to end the day.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/Jim06-10-1204.jpg
Fishing in blowing wind for two days is tough, but sometimes things just work out. As for the stripers?, they're still here and will be for a while. I hope :)
Tony