Post by mirvc17 on Mar 29, 2015 19:11:48 GMT -6
My 6 (almost 7) year old boy Jack and I headed to the Blue River late Friday afternoon. We arrived just in time to get a good camp site with enough daylight left to pitch the tent and get a fire going. The night was spent chatting, listening to music, cooking cheese dogs, and burning up multiple "poker" sticks in the fire. Jack did most of the stick burning, while I smoked a good cigar and enjoyed a few silver bullets. By 10:30, he was asking to go to bed.
It was a little chilly before dawn, but we had no reason to try and beat anyone to the water. Since they stocked Thursday, I wasn't worried about the fish or how many I could catch. We were on the water by 8:30 and Jack was off to exploring the islands. Most of our time was spent near the sand bar and a little down stream. He wound up catching a 12" catfish with his bait cast rod, a bobber, some weight, 5X tippet, and this fly. He lost interest so I got back in the water.
I wound up keeping three of the 10 or so fish I caught. I started out fishing with a size 16 jighead gold Copper John with a small baetis pattern in trail, but this was hanging up way too much and I eventually lost the rig. I decided to fish with a single fly and see what happens. The largest fish of the day was caught on a size 16 pink Frenchy. Others were brought in on a size 14 orange belly Psycho Prince nymph, and others on tan and green variants of size 12-14 of the jig pattern posted above. I saw some egg laying caddis hitting the water as well as midges. Matching the hatch seemed less important that just getting any fly down to the bottom. Once again, the New Zealand Strike Indicator was impressive all day. The piece I had on had no issues keeping a size 12 3mm TH jig patterns up and drifting. It lands super soft and you can really see every time your fly ticks bottom or how it reacts in the same manner when you snag the bottom compared to when a fish is on. If you haven't tried this indicator, you're missing out. I just keep using the same couple pieces of wool every time.
My son took the majority of the pictures...I think he's got his mom's photo eye.
It was a little chilly before dawn, but we had no reason to try and beat anyone to the water. Since they stocked Thursday, I wasn't worried about the fish or how many I could catch. We were on the water by 8:30 and Jack was off to exploring the islands. Most of our time was spent near the sand bar and a little down stream. He wound up catching a 12" catfish with his bait cast rod, a bobber, some weight, 5X tippet, and this fly. He lost interest so I got back in the water.
I wound up keeping three of the 10 or so fish I caught. I started out fishing with a size 16 jighead gold Copper John with a small baetis pattern in trail, but this was hanging up way too much and I eventually lost the rig. I decided to fish with a single fly and see what happens. The largest fish of the day was caught on a size 16 pink Frenchy. Others were brought in on a size 14 orange belly Psycho Prince nymph, and others on tan and green variants of size 12-14 of the jig pattern posted above. I saw some egg laying caddis hitting the water as well as midges. Matching the hatch seemed less important that just getting any fly down to the bottom. Once again, the New Zealand Strike Indicator was impressive all day. The piece I had on had no issues keeping a size 12 3mm TH jig patterns up and drifting. It lands super soft and you can really see every time your fly ticks bottom or how it reacts in the same manner when you snag the bottom compared to when a fish is on. If you haven't tried this indicator, you're missing out. I just keep using the same couple pieces of wool every time.
My son took the majority of the pictures...I think he's got his mom's photo eye.
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