tgoodmanii

Went to hear Rich and Mike at the show tonight. Brought my 3 year old boy with me. Sorry Rich, we only made it 5 min before he had to go to the bathroom. Then he got distracted by the elevator. Before I knew it he had to test all the pontoons. So we missed the rest of your talk. On the bright side he caught two trout and won a new soccer ball by catching a tagged fish. He had fun. Didn't seem like a very good turnout to the show. Maybe tomorrow it will have better attendance.

Congrats on the new canoe. I second the comment about being able to carry your kitchen:)

March 8th sounds good.

Gurglers in the mail!

Those look great Mike. Definitely going to fish those.

Gurglers are ready to ship. Finished them up a few days ago.

Ha! It was a good event. Now if I can remember all the steps to tying the Jude bug.... Thanks to Terry, Mike, and Jude for sharing your fly tying knowledge with me. Definitely a good way to pass the cold winter days.

My wife and I, my brother-in-law Jordan and his girlfriend Kelly, and maybe my father-in-law Wes and his wife Connie. That is four with a possibility of six just in case you can't add:)

I'm in if there are still spots open. Sounds fun. I'll be tying a variation of the Gurgler. I will admit I have not fished this fly since I started tying it so I can't say how well it performs. Let me know if I'm in.

Excellent seminar! Thanks for coming up Jonn. Thanks for organizing it Paul and Terry. Nice to see everyone that was there.

Terry, I am very happy you will be the opening act for the main event. I get it. It's not a competition. Two completely different leagues. The minors and the BIGS I will be there with my wife.

Jude Bug!.........Jude Bug!..........Jude Bug! Yaaaayyyyyyyy! oh...terry is tying some kind of silver thingy too.

Thanks Rob. Good idea with going with a bright color like yellow for the peice on the back for visibility. Mike, Jude gave me a few of his Jude Bugs and they are great. Where do we learn how to tie those. Is there a thread post or online article?

Complainer!!!

I've been tying up a version of the Gurgler also. I haven't used them yet but they are easy to tie. Pay no attention to the goofy polka dots i put on them. Here is the video that inspired me to tie them.

I've been ice fishing for weeks now. "Global Warming"...Thought they changed it to "Climate Change"? Anyway, ice fishing is actually enjoyable and bluegill taste great this time of year. Better than sitting in my cozy warm house complaining about how it's too cold to go fishing:)

This is a great event. My brother-in-law and I attended last year. We got a good deal on some material and bought some of Jonn's flies. Unfortunately I won't be able to attend this year. Hope all goes well and that this event continues to grow.

Nice fish Jesse. Glad you two enjoyed the float. Hope to see you two again.

Had a good time on the outing. Thanks for organizing this Terry. Here is my quick recap. Started out with a good ole breakfast at the cafe and some good conversations. Then headed down to Bauman Park. Unloaded boats and took vehicles to take out. After returning to Bauman people began launching out at different times. I started out somewhere in the middle of the pack but eventually made my way to the back. When going on group floats like this you have a few options depending on the size of the stream and water conditions. Since the Kish is a smaller stream and the water level is lower this time of year you have about three options if everyone launches from the same place. First you can get out front of the pack and stay there. The benefits are you hit all the good spots first and get the aggressive fish. The down side is you can't work an area too long because everyone is heading your way and it gets congested real quick. This is my usual plan but I forced myself to stay back and let others get out front. The second option is you stay somewhere in the middle and play leapfrog. I did this for awhile and found it to be a bit of a pain. The upside is you get to see others catching fish. Jesse and Katie where doing well and where consistently catching fish. This option gives you more interaction with the others in the group. And the third option is to stay in the back and play clean up. This where Jim started out but I eventually took his spot. The down side is of course most of the fish have seen various presentation already and have possibly been caught. At the least they may have been spook by the other anglers/boats especially in the low clear water we have on the Kish. The benefits are you can work areas longer without causing congestion. This gives you a chance to slow down and pick up less aggressive fish. And If you do something stupid and fall out of your boat no one will see. (Sorry to disappoint you Terry I stayed in my boat this time) I was one of the half dayers who took out at KFP. It took me about 2 hours longer than usual. Because I was running late I had to blow past some good areas. The wind was a challenge. I ended up with 29 smallmouth, 1 largemouth, 2 rockbass, and a pike (about the same size as Paul and Sara's). I had three rods rigged up. Two spinning rods. One with a plastic craw on a slider head and the other with a chug bug. I also had my baitcaster rigged with a swim jig. The craw picked up most of the fish with chug bug coming in second. Many of the smallmouth were 10-13 inches. I did manage to pick up 2 at the end of the float that both went 16.5 in. I wish I had more time to fish that particular area. There were several larger smallies following these fish as I brought them in. These fish were very aggressive and slammed the craw. They also put up a good fight.

I'm in.

Rain!

Back to Terry's original question please. For the record I fly fish, spin, and use a baitcaster depending on my mood. I fish from the bank, wade and fish from a kayak. They are all enjoyable, rewarding, and challenging at times. It's all personal preference. I have noticed on various ISA outings I tend to wade faster than most. I'm usually looking for the aggressive fish. If I'm not getting very much action or the fish are small I will slow down bit. Basically I let the fish tell me what they want. Most of the waters I fish I know pretty well so I move at a good pace. Moving ahead of others on outings makes me feel like a jerk. I have to force myself to slow down and let others fish the upcoming spots first. I enjoy watching others catch fish. Except I will occasionally cut Jude off and fish a spot ahead of him;) I've seen guys burn through spots and catch nothing and then someone else moves in and lands some nice fish. I've also seen guys work a spot so long that I imagine the fish (if they are there) laughing at each presentation. For me, I just don't have the time or the patience to wade real slow most of the time. There are just too many good spots to fish.

Hey Dana, I've never fished the Mack before. I was thinking about trying to make this outing. I'm assuming we will be wading. It's a 2 hr drive for me. I'm curious about water levels, clarity, and how productive it has been over the past couple of weeks. I don't want to make the drive if the conditions aren't good and the fishing is slow.

Don't Take advice from Terry...that's my advice Seriously though, all the suggestions above are very good. Fishing from a kayak on the river can be tough. Wading or bank fishing is your best bet. I love fishing from a kayak but unless the fish are real aggressive you may need to get out and work the "fishy" areas thoroughly. Learn to read the water. Dana is spot on. If they aren't hitting the lures you mentioned tie on a tube and work the bottom. Tubes produce year round and account for the majority of my fish. Keep reading the forum and try to get out on the water with ISA members who can teach you a lot. Oh, and don't listen to me. I don't know jack about fishing the Fox.

We need to follow the forum policies. I don't know why anyone would want to broadcast specific locations anyway. Share them with your friends, family, or someone else you believe to be a responsible fisherman privately. But to put it on an online forum just seems like a bad idea. Why would you give up such info and invite even more pressure to your preferred spots. Good fishermen will find them anyway.