Fly fishing in a riverImage via WikipediaI was just reading an article in fly fishing magazine I bought back in 1995 and I still learn new and interesting things.

This morning I was going over an article that talks about using or creating flies that are way out there and it reminded me of some of the horrible looking things that have done well from time to time.

Over the years I have tied a lot of flies and caught a lot of fish. It’s a great hobby and few of my other hobbies have brought me so much joy. Well I would say maybe my guitar comes close.

While I am tying flies I sometimes get the urge to tie something that’s way out there.

For brook trout I usually stay with the artificial flies that have worked well for me in the past, the same with my Atlantic salmon flies but when it comes to smallmouth bass or chain pickerel, well that’s a different story.

Unfortunately I don’t have any of them left, well any of the ones that worked pretty well. But I have had fun with making up flies.

One particular day comes to mind.

I was fishing near Fredericton one very hot and still day. I was at a location that I had never fished but was given directions from my fishing buddy Kerry that lived in Fredericton.

I arrived ready to fish smallmouth bass but when I looked at the brook I was sure he meant I was going to be fishing trout.

The water didn’t look deep enough to use my float tube so I just walked the banks and fished for a while.

To my surprise my first cast landed me a cute little bass who thought he was much bigger that he actually was. I gave him a little kiss and dropped him back in the brook.

I followed the brook for a little ways and as a moved around a corner in the brook things opened up and I could see that I was able to get my float tube in so it was back to the car.

I relocated the car closer to the area I should have started in and what a day I had.

The bugs were unstoppable and I was glad I had plastered myself with bug spray, but as soon I as I got a way from the bank they died down enough that I almost forgot they were there.

The further around the bend I got the more I could see weeds and it was getting deeper. It was starting to look more like water I would find bass and pickerel in.

It was time to try one of my wacky flies. I had tied a few flies that were deer hair. They were fat flies, getting close to the size of a golf ball. Okay they were a little smaller but not much and they were hard to get that cast I wanted as they just wanted to float around in the sky.

I had a lot of action with those flies but didn’t catch much. The flies were just too big and round to get a hook set.

I had to use my nail clippers, as I didn’t have any scissors with me, to cut the deer hair back a bit at the bottom, but I didn’t want to cut it back so much that it would start getting hooked on the weeds.

Well I did mess up the fly. I started catching the bass but it wouldn’t go through the weeds after my hacking at it with my clippers.

I still had one of these really goofy looking balls of deer hair and so I put it on and spend most of the day just getting those explosive stricks that make your heart stop or explode.

I am going to try and duplicate that particular fly to use this year for pickerel. I will put a guard on it so that it should be pretty weedless.

We will see what happens. If they attract pickerel like they did bass I am sure we will have a blast.

For the bass I just left the flies brown but for the pickerel I think I am going to add a bit of red coloured deer hair. It seems that any thing I have thown at pickerel with red in it gets there attention.

I have even had soft plastic baits that they would hold on to even though they didn’t have a hook in them. Too much fun, can’t wait.

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