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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 10:29:27 GMT -6
Well, I didn't have the place entirely to myself, but darn near! I couldn't get over how few shore anglers there were, but the boat numbers were pretty much as expected. I didn't even try the floodway outlet, given water levels. The east side reef just downstream of the dam was just at the water line and a new set of shoals further downsteam (compared to two years ago) were visible. Water clarity was pretty good, given the time of year. The place looked like mid June, but a month earlier! Cats were slashing all over the river and some of the boat crowd were doing very well. Me, not so much, but I did manage to land three cats and had a really big guy break me off. One of them - a 30"er - did something I haven't seen before: It lept about a foot out of the water! My first fish was a 26" drum and I caught about a dozen over the morning (started at 5:45 and finished about 11:00). Most of the drum were in the 20"+ range. I fished with my normal two-fly set up: a bright minnow pattern with a flouresent yellow San Juan Worm dropper, and just about everything hit the dropper. That darn fly just shouldn't work, but it does! There were also carp around but I could not get a hit, though a couple were foul hooked. I ended up breaking my new Streamside 8/9 rod on one Overall, the best fishing was....not exactly where it has been in the past! The area is eminently wadeable and fishable. And, unlike other times, it seemed that the fishing did not drop off as the morning progressed.....TIM
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 11:15:20 GMT -6
Nicely done!
Joel and I through our float tubes in the floodway outlet just below the spillway. Just a bunch of small pike and I lost a little walleye. Was slow in there. To be expected I guess.
After Joel bugged out I waded out to the current seam at the mouth of the floodway outlet and got into some drum, 6 landed, 20-24". I also got 2 cats, 32" and 34".
I was totally out-gunned and was trying not to catch cats. I got one cat on a leech under an indicator with my 6-weight and the other on a streamer with my 7-weight! Won't do that again! lol.
Nick
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 12:49:01 GMT -6
"After Joel bugged out I waded out to the current seam at the mouth of the floodway outlet and got into some drum, 6 landed, 20-24". I also got 2 cats, 32" and 34"."
I have never been successful fishing that seam - at least not fishing the 'river' side. I'm gonna have to skulk in the bushes and watch your technique!....TIM
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 13:11:35 GMT -6
There was a bunch of fish around me, the odd one bumping into my leg. I've never fished the main channel below the dam so maybe we can swap "spot tactics". lol
Nick
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 15:19:24 GMT -6
Re: below the dam, everything that works with some consistency, I learned from Stu. Basically, it's all about fishing the "fishy" spots that are fishable with a fly (deep enough to hold fish but not so swift that you can't swing a fly effectively along the bottom). I think that, for the most part, these cats lie in places not unlike trout in a large river. The key is to fish your fly quartering downstream, so that you can deal with the snags. Still, I rarely finish a morning without the need to fill half a dozen holes in the fly box!.....TIM
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 15:29:41 GMT -6
Basically, it's all about fishing the "fishy" spots that are fishable with a fly (deep enough to hold fish but not so swift that you can't swing a fly effectively along the bottom).
Reading that sentence now, I realize that it must sound inanely stupid and self-evident! In my defence, I have seen many fly fishers at Lockport fishing spots that just don't hold fish, or they have little chance of getting their fly down in front of a fishy nose. Further, I am always amazed by how much the area changes from trip to trip. Some of that can be water level related (wind tide extremes can change the levels by over a foot, changing water depths and current speeds in the riffles) and sometimes I think they just move. You have to adapt.....TIM
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Post by stevene on May 14, 2012 15:33:39 GMT -6
I fished the main channel Sunday and had a great day. I saw Bruce Bolster in the afternoon if anyone here knows him, and there was one bait guy wading, but there were surprisingly few fishers otherwise. I waded out to the reef - there are some good shoals and wading spots. I found casting toward the main current then letting the fly swing into the slack water seemed to be working well. Started fishing about 8:30 or so and on my first cast I landed a 35 in cat! Woo Hoo! After that I hooked into several more but didn't land another. I got broken off by a beast of a fish once and a couple of fish threatened to spool me! You know it's bad when you can see your real arbour through the backing. I suspect that one was a foul hooked carp. I did foul hook a couple of carp that I did see, and had a couple more that never came close enough to see if was mouth or snagged. Around 10:30 it switched from cats to Drum - for a while after this it seemed like a drum pretty much every other cast. Most were 23-24 inches, my largest was a 25 incher. A few photos: A nice drum: Before and after photos of flies. That clouser with just the white was still catching fish though! Documenting difficulty in photography when by oneself:
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2012 23:24:30 GMT -6
I fished the mouth of the floodway outlet first and landed 6 drum. Biggest was 26". Then I moved over to below the Locks where I bumped into Joel who was fishing there. We each caught some drum he got a decent cat and I foul hooked one cat. I managed about a 28" carp with a leech hung under an indicator and a 15"ish white bass. The wind really whipped up and blew us off shortly after 9:30. Joel with his kitty. A couple pics from Saturday. Nick
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Post by scaleson on May 21, 2012 15:00:10 GMT -6
thanks for the heads -up Tim
tied 3 Juans on #37160 mustad and hit drum after drum, one 5" sauger(obviously with attitude), and ldr a carp
had a great 2 hours.....now 3 more Juans must be tied
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2012 17:14:41 GMT -6
How big were ya tying the San Juans? My suggestion...tie em about 3" long and as gawdy as you can. With the rain forecasted this week, worm patterns should be dyno-mite!
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