Lower Illinois River for Trout and Striped Bass! #coaffiedlteam

-

Made the run to Oklahoma to the Lower Ilinois River for Rainbow Trout and Striped Bass. Fished the spillway area initially but then moved downriver when they started generating power.

While at the spillay, caught small striped bass, gaspergou, and our fishing buddy caught a nice size Buffalo but did not get video. Put up a nice fight on the Ugly Stik Rod Combo, he picked up the day before at Bass Pro Shops. Also, able to catch one Striped Bass and a Rainbow Trout that we kept for a catch and cook video… do stay tuned for it!

Casted a few jig and fluke rigs at the Spillway for Striped Bass once the current was flowing nicely from the turbines… no strikes, so moved further downriver and fished a couple of spots – caught another Rainbow Trout for the catch and cook video, lost a Rainbow Trout that threwt the fishing fly, and sight casted to Carp that ignored our fishing fly.

Fishing fly used was the Olive Near Deere and we continue to use our favorite fly fishing combo – the OPST Commando Head on the Redingotn 5wt Fly Rod and Echo on Fly Reel!

Water was cold but not enough to prevent a “plastic hatch”; fun times “toobing ” on a river!

Comments

Post a Comment

Enter a keyword to search for archived posts.

Popular posts from this blog

Stripers below PK

-
More development on PK, hope it's good news! spacemonkey: Re: Stripers below PK Tpwd was called yesterday by a friend of mine. They told him it was unlikely algae because the water temps are still cool enough, but they were supposed to send out a biologist yesterday to see. They said it could be due to fertilizer runoff as well. Retrieved from http://texasfishingforum.com/forums
Read more

Texas Rainbow Trout Fishing | Found a Pattern, Limited Out

-
Image
After several quick trips in the late afternoon/evening fishing for Texas Rainbow Trout that were stocked at Bethany Lakes last Wednesday, finally limited out on a cold Saturday morning. Trout were actively feeding on something. Even chased but turned away from lures we casted. Trout were picky with one caught on a Rubber Legged Near Deere fished motionless under a Bubble Fly Rig, and then another caught on a Griffith’s Gnat using the same rig. As luck had it, my reel broke… the bail spring. Switched to other rods before settling on the fly rod, fishing the Near Deere with a “twitchy twitch” retrieve. For some reason, the trout wanted movement! After limiting out, did some catch and release to see if the pattern held. By mid-morning, they wanted the Generic Black Midge Dry Fly in size 16… fished dry as well as wet and changing from a no retrieve to a short pull retrieve. Later, stopped by in the evening… no lure, no fishing flies, trout were wanting corn. LOL! Did see ...
Read more

Evening Round at Bethany

-
Image
Made a round at Bethany this evening. Caught Bass, Bluegill, and Sunfish. Started fishing with a Clouser Minnow variant… Purple Marabou instead of Deer Hair. Worked well until we lost it to a tree. Switch to a Blue/White Clouser and caught one Bass, then to a Foam Grasshopper and caught another Bass. Then, finished things with an Elk Hair Caddis and a Y2K to catch Bluegill!
Read more

Latest Update from OZ! #flyfishing

-
Image
Lots of rain recently has us indoors for the time being. Luckily, others are able to get a round or two fishing in their areas. Of note, is the latest update from our friend Steven in Australia! Looks like the fish are biting. Always great to hear from Steven and how the bite is going in OZ! “Our weather is all over the place at the moment–hot, cold but not a lot of rain. It’s pretty windy outside so we might make sure nothing is in risk of blowing away. Most of the local creeks and streams are pretty low and clear. The trout are there but very skittish. I’ve fished the Badger Creek nearby and caught and released a few nice brown trout recently. I used my 8 foot tenkara rod and a Royal Humpy with a nymph on a dropper. I fished the Stevenson River at Marysville a few days ago. Again, very low and clear but I hooked and lost a few trout, a couple that were probably well over the pound mark as they pulled really hard on the 12 foot tenkara rod. Used a Black Woolly Worm–my favourite wet fl...
Read more

Quick Update from the Team. Lots of Happenings... #coaffieldteam

-
Image
Been out of pocket lately but have been able to wet a line or two and post about it as well as post a video on our YiuTube Channel on pond hopping with the OPST Commando Head on our mojo rod – the 9′-5wt Fly Rod. Followed up with a second video to demo the Over the Shoulder Cast and how we do so using the same rod and shooting head. Also, made it out several time to the local lake for kayak fishing. Action has not been as good in year’s past but no worries… always good to get some exercise in even when the fish are not biting. We are still working on the Bottom Bouncing Jig video to show how we use this method when kayak fishing. Do stay tuned; will keep editing and preparing it for release… hopefully sooner than later! Here are some quick updates on “happenings” from the Team… After many years of great service, had to retire the old Columbia sandals we like to use for kayaking. Luckily, we had a backup pair at the ready… which was n...
Read more

Celebration Park East Pond...

-
Image
Fished Celebration Park East Pond yesterday using bread for bait and the Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rod and Penn Squall 15 Reel. Made a change in how we normally fish bread; instead of forming a bread ball around a J Hook, wrapped the bread in cheese cloth and then secured it to a Circle Hook. Had a number of strikes but no hook ups until we removed the weight we were using and free-lined the bait. Good thing the surf casting rod/reel combo had no issues casting a weightless baited hook! Soon after started getting strikes and hook ups. Unfortunately, it was well past dark, so we were unable to get a video of the action and the cell phone battery was low so no pictures either. One Catfish was a Bruiser; the other Catfish went about 17″ in length. Decided to go back tonight and see if we could get another Catfish before it got too dark for filming. As it turned out, the fish were picky this time… we managed to catch only one. It went about 28″ in length but was smaller t...
Read more

Revenge of the Urbanites

-
Good read for those interested… Lovfldx: Revenge of the Urbanites Got off work a little early today, so naturally, took off to Bachman. fished the airport side, only caught one dink, but 3 decent hookups with respectable bass. Took off to the Lower Bachman Creek, and immediately got into some spotted bass, and one misplaced crappie. Got about 10 decent spots. Moved to WRC, upper end, looking for spawning sandies, it is apparently over there. Saw one bass in 5 lb range on a bed, and more carp than i care to talk about. water crystal clear. One huge orange koi cruising with the carp. Back to Bachman, Denton Drive levee. As I was pulling into rec ctr pkg lot, my old crappie fishing buddy, Bobby pulled up. He has been tearing up largemouths all over the lake on big flukes. We walked to Levee together. He sets up in one spot, I move maybe 20 yds down from him. FIRST CAST, BOOM A Massive monster female bass, easily 7-8 lbs, maybe more, annihilates my Rainbow Trout color...
Read more

Why We Like One-Handed Spey Casting... #opstcommandohead #speycasting

-
Image
Video that shows the fly rod/reels we used, and what led us to using a Switch Rod and a Trout Rod for most of our fly fishing trips now. We learned about spey lines and Switch Rods after injuring a shoulder. Normal overhead and side casts was painful. We were doomed to waiting for the shoulder to heal. Then, we tried a Switch Rod and discovered several casting techniques that allowed the rod hand to stay below the shoulder and felt no pain when casting. Later, we saw a video of a fly fisherman using the OPST Commando Head with only 1/2 of a 9′ 5wt Fly Rod. In the video, he was getting incredible casts with only a “four and a half” foot rod! With that we decided to try the OPST Commando Head on our favorite fly rod… a 9′ 5wt Redington Classic Trout fly rod. This combination provided the same benefits as the Switch Rod but in a more compact package! Subsequently, we primarily use the 6wt Switch Rod and the 5wt Fly Rod for our fly fishing trips. Do check out t...
Read more

FW: Watched Forum: Fly Fishing : Re: Over lining?

-
Lots of discussion on this concept on the boards!     RexW: Re: Over lining? Originally Posted By: Jim Ford But I have seen posts claiming that the author overlines all fly rods. Beware of that guy's advice............. I agree with this comment. The person giving that advice may not be fishing the same way you are. There is no "one size fits all" for up lining or down lining a rod. Personal preference, equipment, wind, fishing conditions, casting skill, and fly size can all play a part in the decision of what line size to use with what rod. Here's an example, when the bass are holding close to the bank and fishing from boat, a 20 to 30 foot cast may be all that is needed. Well, a 9 ft rod + 8 ft leader and a 30 foot cast means that only 13 feet of fly line is outside the rod tip. Up lining a size or two to a heavier fly line can help load the rod and make casting large, wind res...
Read more

Quick Trip to Village Trails with the 4 Weight! #flyfishing

-
Image
Fighting a cold this past week but finally got to wet a line this morning. Decided to bring the Redington 4 Weight Rod with the Ross Flystart #2 Reel this time. A fun rod we like to use in local ponds during the trout stocking season. For the pond, we went to the Village Trails Pond in Fairview. Last time we fished it was several years ago; mainly little Bluegill and Sunfish. This round it was Bluegill and one little Bass but did see several larger Bass in the 2-3lbs range lurking in the pond. Water was clear and like the last time we were here, the bank was clobbered with brush. No worries though… still a fun time! PS: Fishing flies used were a Size 10 Purple Damsel Fly, a Size 10 and Size 12 Foam Grasshopper, Size 12 Guadalupana, and a Size 10 Near Deere.    
Read more