Ed Wahl

Run Jonn run! This way lies madness! Once your hooked your hooked for life. Save yourself now. Flee! Run! Don't even think about those bent rods, get out while there's still time! Good Luck buddy. Ed, way out there in California.

I'll let you know how my enlightenment goes. I'm trying it out because of a lot of deep hooked fish last year. I know some serious striper guys that won't use anything else. We're having an unusually cool spring so far, when things start to heat up I'll start doing some side by side comparisons. Ed

Hmmm, interesting thread about Smallies spawning. Is water temp the firm indicator? Here in the Sacramento Valley of California my local creek is at 76 degrees. It really never gets very cold by midwest standards. Do you suppose the fish adapt to the 'ambient' temp and adjust accordingly? I know the bass adapt to the rapidly changing stream bottom of this creek because there are quite a few older, larger, fish present. This creek changes bottom structure in almost any good sized storm. A really heavy winter and the creek can move several hundred yards from where it started. It sits in a wide, gravel and cobble floodplain, almost devoid of trees. Craig, I hit the creek for a couple of hours on Sunday, after almost a week of 70 degree weather. Water up a little and cloudy, I think from the runoff in the coast range. The one Smallmouth I caught took an olive Hairy Fodder tied on a #4 circle hook. Have you used circle hooks on any of your flies? I've had problems in the past with Smallmouth and Stripers taking the fly all the way into their throat. The fat 2 pounder on Sunday was neatly hooked in the lip, despite my being rather slow on the draw. Ed

That's Jay Murakoshi, he lives in Fresno, CA. Here's his site....Ed http://www.fliesunlimited.com/Home.html

Russ, your two older outfits are probably just fine. Save yourself some cash and give them a try. If you have a fly shop somewhere in the area take them both in and ask the guys there to check them out for you. The most common problem I've seen is the wrong line size, IGFA standard or not, sometimes a particular rod will cast better with a size heavier or lighter than what's listed on the rod. You can get by without lessons, myself and all my friends have. You can find tons of books and inst. videos at a shop or on the net. You can ignore the latest equipment ads while you figure out what you like and don't like, the most popular reel I see onstream and on Ebay are the 30 to 40 year old Pfleuger Medalist reels. Once you know what you like in a fly rod, and what kind of fishing you'll mostly be using it for, then shop around for particulars. Hope this helps and doesn't confuse you too much. Dive in, the waters fine. Ed Wahl

Thanks for the tips guys. The day here started out cold and rainy and just kept getting worse. We had a storm 2 weeks ago that seems to have rearranged the streambed a bit. Looks like this creek gets a lot of that. Did flush a Bald Eagle out of the trees though, not a total loss. Here's a pic of the Tequila Bugger, I found it in a magazine from 2000, it's used for Rainbows in Alaska.

Greetings my midwestern compadres, I'm in the Sacramento valley in northern California. Actually, I'm a transplant from Momence Il., Illiana Hts. to be exact. I just got skunked on one of my favorite Smallmouth creeks and thought I'd see how you guys handle cold weather Smallies. If I remember right, for a flyfisher there don't you have to cut a really long, narrow, hole in the ice to fish? Do you guys have some insight into cold water fishing, or is it mainly just tying and waiting for spring? My water was 47degrees today, maybe not cold by your standards but pretty chilly for here. Normally I can at least catch some Squawfish(a native fish, lately the name was changed to Sacremento Pike Minnow), but they weren't even in the mood to play. I fished crawdad imitations slow on the bottom, also a bugger variation called a Tequila Bugger, but without results. You'd think the name of the Tequila Bugger alone would get you something wouldn't you? . Ed

Hello from Sacramento, Ca. I'm a native of Momence, now living and fishing in the Golden state. Came across this site and loved seeing all the pics of my native land. Here's a pic of my granddaughter Abby fishing my favorite local smallie spot. It's called Cache Creek. Ed