Fly-Fishing Report 11.17.16

[John Jarosz]

It was a dark & stormy nite. Not really, but I always wanted to write that. Daylight was trying to peak out but it was so foggy this a.m. you couldn't see G. I. from Isle View.

Ryan Shea called me last night & asked if there was anything in a scrambled egg, bacon, sausage & cheese sandwich that I'm allergic to. I told him "he77 no", I'm Polish & the Polish know how to eat! At 7:00 a.m. this morning he greets me at the ramp with a home-made sandwich made of said ingredients & a thermos full of strong home-brewed coffee. After a breakfast like that I was ready to take a nap in the Tacoma. Fly-fishing was slowly moving down the list. Maybe it also had something to do with the 37 deg air temp.

He gives me a couple packets of hand-warmers for the journey up river. The ride was so foggy I saw him watching the GPS to navigate up River to avoid buoys & bridge abutments. It's going to be an interesting ride. By 7:30 we're slinging flies in UN3.

10 minutes into it, Ryan has a nice, well-above 40 incher follow his fly into & around the figure 8, then lazily turn & swim away. By that time it feels like 82 deg instead of 37. Mornings like that turn out only two ways though.

Half hour later he says "let's go to Blue Water." We're fishing there & I trust it's his spot. I look behind me & I can't see Blue Water much less Grand Island. I look to my right to gage my orientation to Motor. Can't see that either. Oh, well.

My very first cast out at that spot brings in a high 30's follow. It gives me the middle fin & turns away with a bored look on its face. Two follows in 30 minutes. Could be a great day or it could be a bad day.

Seven hours after that & hitting all the spots up & down river, we call it a day. 7-1/2 hrs of slinging flies with a 9'-10 & 12 wt's with full sink line & I'm ready for a short Irish Red & a shot of cortisone.

Water was around 52, clear in UN2 & 3, nicely stained in 4,5, & 6. It didn't matter. Nothing was following, nothing was hitting, & nothing was even moving off the bottom of the graph....... for 7 hrs straight. Unusual though, was the absence of weeds on some of the bottom areas.

Like I said, early success means one of two things & I know what kind of day this turned out to be; without a doubt, the best day of musky fishing I had all year. And many, many thanks to Ryan.  It doesn't get any better that that (except for the sandwich)!  Now THAT was better than the day itself!

[Cory Krawczyk]

No flies here but fished 330-930 in un2 an 3. Moved a low 30's and a thick mid 40's chucking cranks and jerks along channel edges and shallow weeds. At about 545 trolling in un2 had the down rod go off, line peeling and big head shakes but couldn't get the rod out of the holder then gone. Still makes me a little queasy just thinking about it but just happens. Beautiful night with the river pretty much to ourselves. Wish I could of got out tonight but playing puck late. Maybe get out this weekend if I can fill a tag tmrw.
Goodluck to those who get out chasing ski and brown this weekend

[John Pensyl]

Launched around 3pm and think I saw you and Ryan casting strawberry in his alumacraft as we headed to lunge lane. Did 3 quick jigging drifts. 1st drift produced 2 thick low 40s fish and 2nd drift cullen stuck a fat 46. 3rd drift no bites so we ran to harbor. Started trolling a 6 rod spread outside south gap. Lots of bait and hooks, same screen inside gap. Tons of bait through the middle of harbor with random pods all over the place. Made our way north and found tons more bait sporadically placed in the open. Made the traditional El norte gapo passes and had the out rod with a jointed shallow sniper fire along the rock wall at the coast guard station. Typical low 40 weed bed resident. Broke down the spread and headed back content with 4 fall chunkers. Today I decided last minute to do a quick am trip. Popped another low 40 in lunge lane early and them had a few dinker follows casting. Way too nice out for fall fishing. Decided last minute to harass a low 30s that had followed a couple times early and managed to trigger him snapping a shallow sniper through his territory. Stupid move on my part as I took out his eye. Another reminder to myself leave the damn babies alone. Back to the harbor late tonight til she blows me off tomorrow. Good luck out there and be safe with this approaching weather.

[John Jarosz]

John...yeah, that was prob us. Ryan has a black Alumacraft with a big Merc driving it. Nice boat for any kind of casting as it has fold-down back seats that convert to a nice casting deck & plenty of room on the front deck. It's especially nice for fly-fishing as there's not much to get hung up on & he keeps the decks clear.

What I noticed is that you guys (you, Cullen & Cory (and us) got the activity either early in the a.m. or later in the day. We quit just after 3:00 & the Strawberry drifts were the last ones of the day. I think Ryan would have stayed until dark if I wanted but after 7-1/2 hrs of flailing that fly around, I was beat. Timing, coordination & concentration were going south & when I noticed that I was barely shooting the fly line out into the running line, I knew it was time to head in.

Nice days don't help either. By late morning, the layers were coming off.

Best of luck to you, Cullen, Cory & everyone else who goes out. You can't say the fish aren't starting to wake up.

[04qgbjv11ur6a]

You tell a great story and make an outing of no landed fish seem like an event of a lifetime. Good read for sure.

[Josh Ketry]

I was out on 11/16 as well.  The usual American drifts were not producing so we went downstream near the GI bridge.  My partner lost a tank near the boat.=, and we lost 5 jigs under that bridge trying to get her to eat again.  Fun note:  Cortland Masterbraid is the best line out there.  I broke a hook and a snap trying to get my jigs off the snow fence down there.  The Cortland line refuses to fail.  

[John Pensyl]

Agreed. After falling in love with suffix premium and then ohero adrenaline I was blown away by masterbraid. Holds less water than any line out there and u can tow a truck with it. Anybody have a contact for 1200 yard spools?

[John Jarosz]

Mark...glad you enjoyed reading it, hopefully as much as I did just being able to be out there. It seems that every single time I go out, whether I catch fish or not, and it doesn't even matter what I'm fishing for (perch, bluegills, walleye, musky, smelt), is an event of a lifetime and I enjoy the heck out of it every single time! And I don't even have to catch anything. It's a great attitude to have & I'm glad I have it. If I ever lose it, I won't even be sorry because these are all great times with a great bunch of club members; then on to the next phase.

[John Jarosz]

John...my niece & her husband live in Ithaca and in the wedding party two years ago was a guy who works for Cortland Line. As you prob already figured out, we had a real good conversation. I just sent her an email with a copy of your posts about the Masterbraid & will keep poking at the Cortland line you're writing about. Maybe this guy can help you out. No guarantees, though, but I'll keep poking.

I'll let you know as it progresses.

[Scott McKee]

If John and Josh love this braid I am certain is the best or pretty damn close to it. We should pursue a bulk purchase with Cortland.

[John Jarosz]

Scott...Totally agree with you.  Great minds think alike!! Hard to believe that you & I think alike, isn't it? Actually, it's kind of scary!! More scary for me than you, I'm sure.

My niece's husband knows this guy real well as he was in the wedding party on the groom's side.. My "plan" is to make contact with him & see if we can get a Cortland rep to come over one of these first Tuesday's with a bunch of samples & give us a presentation on the latest Cortland products. 

Ryan S. had me use a new Cortland full sink fly line & to tell the truth, it was one of the best lines I've ever slung. There were a couple of features I really, really liked so we'll see where it goes from here.

The poking around keeps on.......

[John Pensyl]

I'm using the 80lb but also curious about the 100lb. 80 is a 8 carrier braid and the 100 is listed as a 12 carrier. I think jojo and Marc Arena have been using masterbraid for years. Should have listened as soon as I heard the word come out of their mouths.

[Scott McKee]

John, how would you compare masterbraid with maxcuatro?