Another one for the 4 wt. "giant killer"...

As a dyed-in-the-wool blue collar fisherman who tries to fish Monday to Friday, I generally leave the weekend waters to those who help to keep the economy running. Today I got that unbearable itch again and just had to throw the 4 wt in the trunk and head off to fish my home waters. This generally means fishing one of a half dozen drainages that flow into the Assiniboine between Headingley and St. Eustache, at least until dropping water levels allow me to fly fish the main channel.

16.25" goldeye

Today I was after goldeye and the fish did not disappoint me. I only fished a few hours but managed a number of them; biggest was a really nice goldeye just over 16 inches.

Of course with a 4 wt. larger carp were out of the question and although I saw the odd one I deliberately avoided them. That is until I saw THE GIANT. A carp I estimated to be around 34 to 36 inches long cruised to within reach of my fly and before I could mentally process this picture instinct prevailed and a short cast plopped the spider down a few inches from it's nose. The take was instantaneous, but a wild head shake coupled with a wilder hook set left the carp to swim away and ponder what was hanging from his nose. If only I had been fishing my 8 wt.

27 inch carp on a 4 wt. fly rod

The next carp that swam by got the same treatment except this time I was prepared. A lighter hook set and a patient fight that lasted the better part of 15 minutes resulted in a nice 27 inch carp coming to net. So now this diminutive but powerful 4 wt. has not only a 32" channel cat to it's credit but also a 27" carp. Not bad for a pipsqueak! Not what I would necessarily recommend as the proper rod to land carp but hey, might as well go with what works. I also landed a few small pike and a nicely coloured shorthead red horse sucker.

No new species but a few big fish...

A 24" drum caught two weeks ago

If I keep to my title and intro I suspect that future posts will diminish and slowly dwindle to nothing. I enjoy writing about my fishing so in future I think I'll be more expansive and perhaps include my more note worthy fly fishing adventures. Perhaps I'll even mention (gulp) fish not caught on a fly but I'll leave that decision to a later date.

Last year I was really bitten by the Master Angler bug and have now seriously started to try to advance up the MA list. For those not familiar with the program, The Manitoba Master Angler Program, apparently the oldest of its kind in existence, documents relevant information on all fish over a certain length for various designated species that are caught and registered in Manitoba. This makes it an ideal tool to compare how you're doing compared to other anglers who register fish. I know many people have no interest in registering fish but this is a great tool for those of us who want to engage in more "competitive" fishing. In my mind at least, this is a far better method of retaining those great memories than hanging a dead fish on a rec room wall. The vast majority of fish caught in the spirit of the MA hunt are returned unharmed to the water. If you want to explore the site a bit further you can head over to:

https://anglers.travelmanitoba.com/

So what is the purpose of all this "no new species to report" discussion? Well, I fished three days out of the last week and feel like I've been kissed by the fish fairy each and every one of those days.

Last Wednesday found me on the Whitemud River in my fishing Kayak looking for some freshwater drum to work towards my specialist award for that species. First fish landed that day was a 30" walleye and as it turned out it was my fifth MA in that specie so I now had my walleye specialist.

 Next fish was a drum just over 31" which made it the 17th biggest ever caught in the province. Another three drum the same day rounded out my requirements for specialist award for freshwater drum.

Thursday saw me standing on the banks of Willow Creek wondering why I kept coming here. Several folks fishing there had caught nothing and other options were being discussed when a couple of conservation officers came along to check licenses.  These folks are usually quite friendly and understandably know where the fish are. So off we went to Boundary Creek where I managed to catch six MA white bass; the biggest of which was a chunky 16 1/2" long. Another species specialist award.

Friday (yesterday) wasn't quite as spectacular but I still managed a MA carp; a muscular 30 3/4" long.

These last 7 MA fish were all caught on a fly rod...I can't remember how the first five were caught. Oh yeah, I caught them all right in the corner of the  mouth. :)

First fish on a tenkara rod

My first pike on a tenkara rod

Opening day of the 2014 fishing season found me trying to unravel the intricasies of tenkara fishing on one of my local, temporary flows into the Assiniboine River. I had opted to carry only two types of flies, as recommended by TenkaraBum; killer bugs in various sizes and an elk hair caddis. After about 2 hours of flogging the water using various techniques I came up empty. Despite seeing many pike and a few perch in the water not one could be coaxed into sampling my offerings. I had hoped to perhaps add to my fly caught life list but it was not to be. An unhappy walk back to the car, I returned with my 5 wt and a healthy supply of streamers and commenced to catch 42 pike (yeah, I actually did count them) up to about 14". Some folks would call fish this size "bait" but opening day and this close to home allows me to use the appelation "pike".

A facsimile of the fly used...the actual fly fell victim to a tree

Next day, suitably armed with properly sized streamers for the tenkara rod found me back at the same spot. The first cast brought only a swirl, and the second allowed me to land my first tenkara caught fish... a 14" pike. I fished for an hour or so longer and managed 9 more; the biggest an 18" fish that lent credence to the term "snake". A pencil has a more robust figure than this fish but it was an honest 18" and was caught on my tenkara rod and it did manage to put quite a bend into the rod. I must say that this fish increased my confidence in the rod by a significant amount. It settled into a nice bow as the base of the rod provided the beef to stop the fishes several runs.

All in all, the jury is still out on this tenkara rod. On suitable water it would be a great tool but unfortunately those types of flow are generally to the east or west of this province. On the other hand, it's a lot of fun and doesn't take up much room so can easily come along on any trip where it might just be the key.

Float tube fish finder

Still too much snow and shadow

Dozens of juncos are visible from my windows as they search the snow-pack for edible morsels. What they find is beyond me but they keep pecking away at the white stuff and seem energetic so their efforts are bearing fruit...or perhaps seeds. Ice fishing season is losing ground as snow cover on the lakes softens or melts into puddles; at least in the southern regions of Manitoba.

So what is the antsy fly-fisher, float-tuber and kayak fisher to do? I could cry about the coming cold front and its effect on spring but what would that get me? Tie some flies to augment the thousands I already have? I've already tied a few dozen in the last few days and the thought of more flies right now seems a bit like ordering fries after polishing off a 16 oz steak.

Ice fishing setup

Ahhh, I have it. I'd purchased a conversion kit last fall that would allow me to mount my Humminbird 385ci onto my float tube. I'd also bought an extra transducer and power cable and all the disparate parts rested in a couple of basement boxes. As it turns out, there was really very little to do to assemble the rig...just drill a few holes, thread the mounting box and transducer on a buckled strap and charge the battery. The included battery is only a 2.9 Amp/hr so it may not last a full day since my 7.2 Amp/hr battery won't work for two full days on the ice but I'll see about that later this spring. A couple of rants. Humminbird doesn't make cables for these applications ( at least I haven't seen any) and the standard transducer cables have to be coiled into many loops and hung onto the box...a messy solution. Secondly, when purchasing the attachment kit, the postage charged was significantly higher than the postage paid to ship it to me. Come on guys, why be so sneaky in trying to pick up some extra bucks for an already expensive proposition? End of rant.

My 385ci on the end of my Fish Cat 4

So now I can interchange my fish finder between fishing kayak, ice fishing bag and float tube. How well it works, how it may affect portability and whether the whole exercise was worth it will have to wait for another day. At least I'll be able to spot some huge fish under my float tube, if only in my day-dreams for now.

3 feet of snow and dreams of spring...

I've been back from Texas for a couple of weeks now and while the snowbanks are still high my mind has been drifting to thoughts of spring, flowing water and fish. I've been ice fishing a few times, twice for tullibee and three times for perch. Caught some nice tullibee, up to 19 inches but bombed out on the perch. But since this is a fly fishing blog lets leave the ice to the cocktail glasses and start on the plans for the upcoming season.

Rod, soft case and hard case

First up, I finally bit the bullet and purchased a tenkara rod along with some of the associated accessories, which I'm delighted to say are few in number. The rod itself is a Shimano LLS36 NB purchased from TankaraBum, the fly-line comes from a hi-viz 15lb test flourocarbon spool and tippets will be 5X, 6X and 7X.

Spool of "fly lines"

various tippet sizes

The theory is that tippets of 5X and under will break before the rod does on a larger than expected fish. I also bought some micro hooks to start dabbling in micro-fishing; hopefully with a fly.

Micro-fishing hooks and bobbers

#26 nymphs

But if that doesn't pan out, false pride will not prevent me from sacrificing the odd worm in the interests of ichthyological research.