Perfect Delta Morning

[mikenewman]

Gentle breeze, intermittent cloud cover and some very bassy looking structure next door to my new berth - what more could I ask for?
Started at 8.00 am and packed in at 11.00. In between about a dozen fish to hand and as many missed or lost.
Remarkable was the number of gentle takes. Made one presentation up against the rip rap and under a v small bush. Diver disappeared with barely a ripple. made a good hook set and realised this was a SUBSTANTIAL fish. No problems: out in clear water, plenty of pressure, she's keeping her head down and the 7 wt is hooped like a hula - this beauty was mine, no question.
She pulled off about two thirds of the way to the boat and I never saw a fin, never mind tonsils
Made a conscious decision today to fire the casts in harder - fed up with always falling a foot short of where I wanted to be. Consequently I was getting blow ups in the middle of the densest structure. One presentation fired into and up against some dense tullies and was instantly smashed. The fish departed as suddenly as he arrived leaving my bug snagged in a reed 6" above the water line (I've now started inventing new profanities of my own 'cos the old ones aren't strong enough )
This game is so much fun I can't believe it's legal.

Mike

[Adam Grace]

(I've now started inventing new profanities of my own 'cos the old ones aren't strong enough )

I know what you mean!

[JerryInLodi]

Mike, the afternoon wasn't bad either. I got to the water at 4 and fished until 7:30. The fish were hitting on top from the moment I started casting.

I played around with a floating line and a greased up woolly bugger, casting it, letting it sit and then waking it across the water. You talk about some explosive takes! The fish hit it a little different than a popper with a more horizontal attack which results in an instant rod bend!

Like you, my best fish LDR'd after a brief tussle. Hey, I was going to let him go anyway!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

My 12 year old grandson Tyler and I were out in the Delta Wednesday morning too.

Tide seemed to be running out all morning.

We ran into Andy Guibord and a friend who suggested this area.

Tyler was mostly learning how to fly cast from a boat but the large tackle and big bass bugs were quite a challenge.

We went out of Wimpy's Marina and went up toward Snodgrass Slough.

Andy mentioned the water was cooler than it had been and we did not see a lot of action even though we were not really getting the fly in where we wanted a lot.

Did have several boils to the large Swimming Frog but only landed one small Black Bass.

My grandson learn quit a bit about casting from a boat, stripping and I let him drive the boat too.

We had a great time out on the quiet water with very few other boats around.

PS: I think I will be getting a GPS so I won't get lost.

[lee s.]

Mike,
That is some of the HANDIEST advice applicable to LM pestering....toss dense, the densest you can find. ALL else seems secondary.
For that reason, almost ALL our LM bugs sport wire weedguards. Just like the one's on EC's weedless worm hooks. They are concocted and added AFTER tying the bug so they could also be added to any store bought bug too. Wire seems essential for where we toss. Mono does not cut it here.
Worry NOT that your fish will not spring or squash the guard. These fish LIVE by crushing and stunning their prey. Ever stick your finger in a cow-trough full of catfish? The suddeness and strength of their clamping on one's finger is startling, to say the least, and makes one mindful of how meaningless a flexible piece of wire is to a hungry predator of the piscatorial sort.
Busting brush seems essential to busting LM's and wire weedguards seem essential to busting brush.
....lee s.

[mikenewman]

Lee

I tied up some wire guards once according to instructions in a Lefty Kreh book: tracked down the correct gauge and followed instructions to the letter. They were bent out of shape after every cast! (Guess I shouldn't have kept chucking them into all that nasty structure )
Now I just stick to KD's method- 25lb Mason mono in a single loop.

Mike

[lee s.]

If you tie the wire as two singles, they too are useless.
The good guards are a very narrow loop, bent to accomodate the hook point. Yes, they can also be bent, though not very often, and the lady in the front of the boat was hung in the weeds much more with 25# mono.

[mikenewman]

Thanks for the pic - I'll give it a go
(Then I'll phone Lefty and tell him where he's going wrong )

Mike

[lee s.]

Mike,
It ain't that this is the "only" way....just one way. Too many people use the wire you speak of and mono guards quite successfully. It just may be that some of us toss harder into deeper brush. We get very few LM's this time (or most times) of year where the wad of weeds on the string does NOT exceed the amount of fish buried inside of it. Heck! Often we have to go to the fish cause we can't get the fish to us.

[Ed Wahl]

I just want to know why someone would put their hand in a cow trough full of catfish.