Started out a little slow by the marina so I scooted and caught fish on a black bugger (my first big fish on a fly rod) and pearl tubes outside of Mud Creek. I got tired of the silky threads of spiders being wrapped all around me so I went across from the marina, more spiders. However, it was so calm that I could site fish the cutts picking off the spiders. Cast towards the 'rings' and fish on. They were very shallow and over lots of moss so I threw out a white Daiwa jerkbait that ran about 18" under the water. My first cast I hooked a bruiser, he was in roughly 1 foot of water right next to the shore. 23 1/2"-dinner [
]. I caught two more smaller ones and a breeze picked up and the bite stopped on the jerkbait, back to the tube. All but one fish was in the slot. I think I only caught 5 or 6 on the initial hook set, the rest would just keep coming back until they got hooked.
Took a drive into the narrows to see if the water had a better clarity but it was worse, at least where I was at. Caught a couple in the narrows and called it a day.
Edit: A question for you fly fishermen/women-Are you familiar with this 'spider hatch' (I don't know what else to call it) All day long there were streams of silk through the air. Some tiny dark spiders landed on me but there brown spiders about 1/2" long cruising across the surface that the trout were hitting when the water was calm. Is there a certain fly that would resemble a brown spider? Is there some sort of fly lingo for a brown spider?
[signature]
I was wondering the same thing about the spiders. I fished Chesterfield (Idaho) a couple of weeks ago with a buddy and those spiders were everywhere. Our toons were covered with webs.
[signature]
First nice fish on a fly rod???? That is always one to remember. The fight is not comparable to any other. Good to see ya go outside your comfort zone and fish those trout, careful though you might have to start emptying out your wallet if you get too serious....
I wonder if a soft hackled wet fly fished in the film without any weight might imitate those spiders.
Thanks for the report.
PM sent
[signature]
[quote 2fishon]I was wondering the same thing about the spiders. I fished Chesterfield (Idaho) a couple of weeks ago with a buddy and those spiders were everywhere. Our toons were covered with webs.[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]What? You never watched the movie "Charlotte's Web? Or just don't wanna admit it?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In the fall and in the spring when baby spiders are hatching they go to a high spot and shoot out a long silk thread up into the air. Breezes catch those little "kites" and float the tiny critters for long distances to new habitat. It is known as ballooning.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Sometimes larger spiders will do the same thing, especially if the pickings are slim in their neighborhood. Instinct tells them to move and that is the way they do it. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them don't find a good new home. Some end up in the water and many end up being killed by humans when they drape their bothersome strands over someone who hates spiders. Doesn't everybody?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]For what it's worth, I gathered spiders both on Yuba (Monday) and even up on Huntington (Wednesday). I would have thought it too cold but the desperate arachnids were on the move.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]For those who fish flies and want to match the hatch, you don't need an exact 8 legged duplicate of the critters on the water. A small high floating fly in almost any shade of grey or tan will get the job done. For extra enticement try stripping it to make it skate on the surface.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
I was thinking Charlotte's Web at the time also. It was pretty cool at first, then it became a pain in the butt. We had spiders crawling all over us. They were tiny. If they would have been any bigger I might have had an "arachnaphobia" moment.
[signature]
Next to the woolly buggers and san juan worm, a spider is one of the easiest fly patterns to tie. I bet even a wiener dog could...lol
Yes a soft hackle wet fly would be a perfect fly also check these out:
http://www.breambugs.com/images/uploads/...nt_001.JPG
Just hook shank wrapped with chenille and rubber legs at the eye.
Report if you hook something on a spider fly!
[signature]
Sounds like a nice day of fishing and great job on the fly rod! But I have to say from your avatar picture, you look a lot different than the last time I saw you [laugh]! We need to get together and go again sometime.
[signature]
The weather looks awesome for the next few days and I'm on vacation so I'll be headed back up soon. Shoot me a pm and we'll figure something out. The avatar is my playful lab, she just wouldn't leave that crawdad alone. How it got on her collar is beyond me but it was definitely a kodak moment.
[signature]