Hairstacker
12-03-2006, 08:22 PM
Hit the Delta today in my inflatable kayak with a plan to focus on stripers and largemouths. Since the rest of you fellas have been experimenting with alternatives to fishing with Clousers, I was inspired to play around at the vise and I came up with this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta1.jpg
It takes on the profile and translucense of a baitfish when wet, and I really thought it would be the ticket for some stripers and largemouths. It is 3-inches long and I tied it on a size 2/0 wide-gapped hook. Thus, I was really shocked when I got into a string of these with it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta3.jpg
Yep, I seem to have stumbled on a GREAT crappie fly. :lol: (For crappies, though, I would definitely recommend a smaller hook. :lol: ) After pestering a number of crappie and getting no other species, I decided to switch to my trusty size 1/0 chartreuse/white flashtail Clouser. I didn't see any striper activity at all today and didn't hook any either. But I did get into largemouths by tossing up against rock levee walls:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta5.jpg
These are two photos of the same fish, which at 15" was the biggest one I caught today. He was a pretty blocky fish and put up a GREAT fight, bending my 7 wt. over and dunking its tip into the water. He hit the Clouser while it was paused. The ticket today for largemouths seemed to be to give the fly a couple of hard strips, then let it pause for at least 3 or 4 seconds, then repeating. The rest I caught were around 12" or less.
It was a beautiful, warm day today on the Delta with no wind to speak of. A great fishing day even if there was no signs of stripers. I think it's pretty cool that we can still catch largemouths on the fly even though we're now in December. Just gotta love the Delta!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta1.jpg
It takes on the profile and translucense of a baitfish when wet, and I really thought it would be the ticket for some stripers and largemouths. It is 3-inches long and I tied it on a size 2/0 wide-gapped hook. Thus, I was really shocked when I got into a string of these with it:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta3.jpg
Yep, I seem to have stumbled on a GREAT crappie fly. :lol: (For crappies, though, I would definitely recommend a smaller hook. :lol: ) After pestering a number of crappie and getting no other species, I decided to switch to my trusty size 1/0 chartreuse/white flashtail Clouser. I didn't see any striper activity at all today and didn't hook any either. But I did get into largemouths by tossing up against rock levee walls:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/Sachlil/12-3Delta5.jpg
These are two photos of the same fish, which at 15" was the biggest one I caught today. He was a pretty blocky fish and put up a GREAT fight, bending my 7 wt. over and dunking its tip into the water. He hit the Clouser while it was paused. The ticket today for largemouths seemed to be to give the fly a couple of hard strips, then let it pause for at least 3 or 4 seconds, then repeating. The rest I caught were around 12" or less.
It was a beautiful, warm day today on the Delta with no wind to speak of. A great fishing day even if there was no signs of stripers. I think it's pretty cool that we can still catch largemouths on the fly even though we're now in December. Just gotta love the Delta!