First Bass!
My new boat is launched and berthed at Bethel Island. However after a couple of fun filled but fishless voyages I quickly came to the conckusion that when it comes to LMB I didn't have a clue what I was doing.
Consequently, yesterday saw me afloat for an afternoon trip with Kevin Doran of Delta Adventures. All I can say is that he's every bit as good as everybody says he is: great instruction, great company and great value. Set off at 2.15 and caught my first ever bass at 3.00. Ended up with three around the 2.5lb mark and one tiddler.
For the record: 7wt rods uplined to 10wt wf floating lines! 5' 15lb straight through leaders and big deer hair bugs (Dahlberg Diver style)Retrieved with short sharp strips to create plenty of disturbance with occasional pauses. Kevin favours deer hair and ties a beautiful fly. He also recommends Lee Haskins' Gurglers.
Kevin had me pitching into seemingly impossible cover in what he calls the surge zone between the tulles/riprap and weed line. His philosophy is there's no such thing as an unfishable cast so stick it in there as far as you can. He has perfected an "upside down" cast where the fly travels in below the line on the forward cast and is ideal for piercing dense cover. (Wheras I have perfected a cast that seems to be ideal for piercing the back of my neck - tossing those big bugs in a strong breeze can be er, interesting uh?)
What struck me (apart from the fly) was that despite the heaviness of the gear this game is actually filled with subtlety and finesse- at least when watching Kevin it is!
So, I have gone from bass virgin to bass junky in one trip. I'm off to practise my spinning and stacking now 'cos my first two efforts look like an explosion in a mattress factory.
Bring on the stripers!
Mike
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Ken
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