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Last year I picked up a tube and loved fishing at Strawberry. Now that I have a little experience under me in the tube I would like to start fly fishing from the tube. I have a Temple fork rod and floating 6 weight line. Any suggestions on flies and set up to fish Strawberry would be great. Also how to fish the flies as I am a novice with my rod having not fished much with it yet. When the best times to try would be helpfull too. Nothing worse then fishing for something that isn't around at that time of the season. Thanks.
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Strawberry will fish very well at ice off and will be good for a couple weeks until turn over, once the water has stabalized it will fish good all summer. Use a sinking fly line with only 4' of 3x or 2x Tippet tied to it.
Flys to try: White or chartreuse Bugger front with 18" to a trailer fly of: Chub pattern,black Bugger,Halloween bugger,mohair leach etc.
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HFT is the man. Right on all the flies, I also like the Midnight Fire (captain america). You will want to get an Intermediate, a Type II or III and a Type V, VI or I prefer depth charge for warm summer days. For a 6wt I would recommend 250 grain. Not too much top water action in the summer but, it still can happen. Been there, done that.
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[cool][#0000ff]I second the suggestion for ice out fly flingin'. I will add a couple of things. First, think shallow. The big ol' bigguns often cruise in skinny water both just after ice out and often during the rest of the year right at daybreak. Position your tube offshore and cast inshore, working the fly back out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In such situations you can sometimes see the wakes pushed up by the cruising fish. Gets the heart pumping. Be sure to cast far enough in front of them that you don't spook them. Floating or sink tip lines are best, with longer leaders, when fishing shallow.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also, think crawdad patterns. Recent DWR gill netting studies have shown that even the minnow-eating cutts are including more invertebrates in their diets, and that a high percentage of those bugs are crawdads. It was also observed that the majority of the 'dads consumed were under 3".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]More and more of the non-fly guys are using plastic tube jigs, and one of the best colors is something close to crawdad...greens, browns, motoroil, etc. I also throw a lot of marabou jigs in those colors.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]For many years, one of my most productive fly patterns, year-round, is a green and brown wooly bugger...olive body, ginger hackle, brown marabou tail. I add a few strands of orange Krystal Flash to the tail on some, just for grins. Big rainbows eat it well too.[/#0000ff]
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I guess I am different. I catch my fish at the Berry deep. Went up last year at ice off, the wind was blowing hard and hard to move. Was catching nothing fishing shallow. Stayed in one spot (29ft deep) and was talking to my husband and let my line sink. Started to strip it back and BAM! I catch most my big ones at 30' to 50' all year round (specially in October) and the crayfish pattern is killer, but, they are on the bottom. Have caught one once on an Elk hair. It was so cool cause I could see the dimples and rings in the water so I cast out an Elk Hair and I watched the rings move closer and closer to my fly, then Bam.
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Last year I started carrying both a fly rod and a spinning rod at Strawberry. Using my fish finder I will find how deep the fish are and if they are deeper than 20',I will use my spinning rod and a tube jig. I do agree that you will want to have two different sink rate fly lines. A type 2 and a type 5 work very well for me. If the fish are in less than 10' of water I use the type 2 and between 10' and 20' I use the type 5 line. Over 20' and out comes the spinning rod. I have increased my hook ups 10 fold using this method. I also like to use smelly jelly in crawfish scent on everything I use at Strawberry.
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I understand most of what has been shared except for 'depth charge'. What is a depth charge and do they come in grains other than 250? Is that heavy or light or in the middle?[crazy] If your fishing on the bottom like that do you cast and retrieve or could you just put your line out wait to sink and then kick around in your tube? I have drug a white tube jig around behind me in my tube and haven't done too bad last year. Wondered if you fish the fly that way or do you stay in one place and just cast and retrieve most of the time?
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Thanks, depth charge is 30' of lead core (similar to trolling lead core, but coated with rubberie coating instead of cloth) and then there is 60' of intermediate. Most sinking lines will give you a belly and when you pull the line the fly will rise and drop. With depth charge, your line sinks like a brick and that 30' will run a straight line, which means it works real well with un weighted flies and length of leader to put it maybe a foot to five feet off the bottom. You can use weightd flies like crayfish or leeches. The only down side to this line is very weedy places. It does come in different grains. 250 is good for 6 wt, 150-200 for fives and so on. I have to say that it cast easier than say a type V, for some reason, I think it is the belly of the line is different.
I will through it out and kick out in the lake (or slow motor) to where I want to go and usually pick up several fish on the way. If I run into a spot with several hits, I will stop and retrieve by hand. Great trolling line though to find the fish.
Lat note: I did hate the line when I first bought it, tried experimenting and wow! it is my go to line now. You can always adjust how deep you want to go (top to bottom) but this lets you do it in reverse (bottom to top) with the length of leader and a non weighted fly. It's cool.
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