Wild West Bass Team Event at Shasta!!

[MThompson]

Was browsing around the interwebs and saw a familiar name from this board. Ryan Williams and his partner came out on top in a 180 boat field and beat a bunch of guys who are straight up assasins on that lake.
Congratulations!
SON!!

[McFish]

Way to go Ryan! Were you fishing Flot N Fly? Or was this a gear deal? In any case it's good to see your success.

[Ryan]

MThompson this is great! I love hearing stuff like this! I am so dang beyond ecstatic about this I have a hard time putting it into words. Absolutely shocked to be honest. Thank you for the cred on the board!!!

McFish I am proud to say I used the fly rod the entire time. And yes f&f was my go to of corse. Did not set it down once. And my partner used a conventional rod up front. Overall the fly rod deffinately contributed 50/50 to the bag. The fly got one fish that was close to 4lbs. And my partner Logan pulled our big fish at 4.5lbs on the spinning rod.

So I definitely went out there and proved a point for all us fly fishers! I really hope people recognize this as a huge victory for all fly fishers. That was my goal 100%!

[MThompson]

Awesome. I've really gone down the rabbit hole with the float and fly thing recently using your methods of course. It's fun to tinker with. I actually used my 4 wt switch rod last trip out and it worked pretty good. The extra length helps as far as getting fish in the net.
Hopefully all the circuits get rid of the stupid rod length limit.

[Andy]

Nice one! The Redding paper did not mention sticking with a fly rod for the win, that is confidence competing with the bassmasterson crowd.

Tied up some jig heads last year but never gave it a go. Gonna have to resist the ned rig temptation and stick with it on my next Shasta trip, I am inspired.

Andy

[Ryan]

Good stuff MThompson. Real fun to tinker with just like you said. So many different things you can do. 4wt switch would be perfect. I have heard good things about the switch rods and the technique.

Andy that sucks the Redding paper didn't mention this fact! They probably published so quick they didn't even realize. Kinda should have been in there with the ff community in redding though! Darn! Fish your flies with confidence!

[MThompson]

Best one today16520

[Ryan]

That's a big ol spot! So strong in the winter. I'm sure that puppy took ya deep. So cool!

[MThompson]

Winter around here would be a long period of dark despair if it weren't for the spotted bass.

[DPLee]

Winter around here would be a long period of dark despair if it weren't for the spotted bass.

On 6 April 1973, the California Fish and Game Commission authorized the introduction of Alabama spotted bass as part of an "experimental" management program to improve fishing in California reservoirs. The decision was based primarily on the rapid growth and longevity attained by this subspecies in certain oligotrophic impoundments in Alabama (Brown et al. 1977). Aasen and Henry (1981) added that the choice was also dictated by the desire to secure a species of black bass that could spawn successfully in California reservoirs during periods of fluctuating water levels, and could maintain a sizeable population where organic habitat had deteriorated, leaving a predominantly barren or rocky substratum.” From William A. Dill and Almo J. Cordone. 1997. History and Status of Introduced Fishes in California, 1871 – 1996. Department of Fish and Game Fish Bulletin 178. Sacramento, CA. 414 pages.

[MThompson]

On 6 April 1973, the California Fish and Game Commission authorized the introduction of Alabama spotted bass as part of an "experimental" management program to improve fishing in California reservoirs. The decision was based primarily on the rapid growth and longevity attained by this subspecies in certain oligotrophic impoundments in Alabama (Brown et al. 1977). Aasen and Henry (1981) added that the choice was also dictated by the desire to secure a species of black bass that could spawn successfully in California reservoirs during periods of fluctuating water levels, and could maintain a sizeable population where organic habitat had deteriorated, leaving a predominantly barren or rocky substratum.” From William A. Dill and Almo J. Cordone. 1997. History and Status of Introduced Fishes in California, 1871 – 1996. Department of Fish and Game Fish Bulletin 178. Sacramento, CA. 414 pages.

Yep. Every spring when they pull the plug on the reservoirs it definitely leaves a lot of largemouth beds high and dry. Not as big of an issue with the spots. I've seen beds in 25 ft of water. I'm glad they're here.

[Andy]

Been out 2x with my float n fly. First day got 2 both nicer than average, stuck with it all day fishing 12' depth, 1/16 oz jighead. Second day went for 2 hrs before meter marks at 30 persuaded me to ned up. Plenty of bites on the ned.

Not that i'm willing to give up. Got 1/32 jigs to tie and try. Hard to stick with it though when the meter is going off deep and I know a ned will get there and bit. Tempted to slip bobber but seems like trying to fit a round peg in a square hole when at that point a conventional rod with a slip bobber would be way more efficient.

Andy

[MThompson]

Last Wednesday was the first time in 4 trips I gave up and picked up gear. By 1230 I only had 4 bass and one pathetic trout on the fnf. Picked up a Ned and caught 12 in about a half hour or so with spot lock on the whole time. Then the bite went in the crapper again.
All fish have to do in 30ft is inflate their bladder a bit and come up to 10ft and inhale the fly. Sometimes it just ain't the ticket.
As far as the slip bobber goes, I think the pendulum fall of the fly is what the fish really like usually so I stick with a fixed leader even if I use a conventional rod. I bought a 9'6" ml crappie rod a couple of years ago for this technique and it works pretty good. I can heave a 15ft fixed leader pretty good with it using a modified weighted cork.
Would love it if someone invented a fly that acted like the ned...

[Andy]

Hit Shasta again. The ned was working just fine though most fish were smallish. Saw some bass busting bait so grabbed the float n fly cause the fly looks like a fish and a ned looks like a...not sure what. First Immediate bite was a much nicer bass. Stuck with it after that for several more, all much nicer size than we saw on the rubber. Sold on the float and fly now.