Fly Fishing Forum banner

My friend Al's biggest bass

2K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  Striper 
#1 ·
Got out to the reef yesterday with my longtime fishing buddy Al. Been trying to get him out to the big fish for a couple of weeks now. We launched at 5:00 am. and got some shad for bait. The tide was ebbing and I was not too confident but we went out to the spot anyway. We drifted for awhile and the fishing was much slower than it had been the past couple of weeks. I attribute this to the tide and the increased boat traffic. But we managed to hook some fish during the ebb. 1- 37.5 " fish and 1- 40 " fish. Went back in to get bait during the slack. Came back out to a nice flood tide and started to drift. The fishing was definitely off today and I was not marking the numbers of fish I had been marking on previous trips out to the reef. We managed to boat 6-8 fish all were very fat and relatively large. We had to move around alot to find the holding fish and there was alot of boats anchored up in my normal drifts. We had to work around the boats and we did manage to find some schools of fish. My friend Al and I finally got into a double and as I was landing my 21 lb. fish he says "can you help me please I got a huge fish" . I quickly put my rod down and go to help him, when I get over to him he has a very big fish right at the boat. I was ecstatic to see he finally got into a big fish as I really wanted him to hookup with a fish like I have been seeing for the last several weeks. I got the fish on the boga which barely fit on it's jaw. Got the fish in the boat and quickly pulled the hook out. Measured and weighed her, then took a couple of quick pics and then back in the water she went. She didn't take long to power out of my grasp and off she went. Not a bad day of fishing, the action was off a bit from the past trips but the fish were there. I tried for a long while casting the flyrod on the 650 gr. and tossing a HUGE fly that a friend had tied. My buddy Al called it the MOP cause it was almost as big as a mop. Very nice action in the water and I really tried hard to hookup with it, the fly has to be at least 16-17 " long. Very realistic looking in the water. I am going to try it again next trip and later in the fall because I know this fly is going to get me that 40 lb. fish on the fly.

Tightlines,
Mike Mayo

 
See less See more
1
#4 ·
Mike,
I still think you are going to have a very hard time hooking up on fly in the midst of people fishing bait. Is there ever a time when there aren't a bunch of other boats fishing that spot with you? Sounds like that MOP fly you have is going to be the one. Any chance we could get a look at it and see how it is tied? Every time I try to tie really long flies all i get is junk that fouls on every cast...
 
#7 ·
Will do

Will do Mike....... my Buddy Bob's B'day is the 21st....... playin hooky and coming up to Saybrook. Still dont have that damn blue chart working though.... will try by then, if not... I got the chart, full tank o gas. Dont have any HUGE flies but perhaps I could entice them with some nice Peanut Bunker / Butterfish immy's along with a 550grn.

If that doesnt work... I gotz da lead too:devil:
 
#8 ·
Mike,
The Gulls have been producing according to my sources and I would think that the back side of Fishers is jamming as well. There is a ton of bait in the region and I think if you poke around all of the usual places you will definitely be into fish. I am not sure yet if I will be available to fish on the 21st but I will know better in a day or two.

Tightlines,
Mike Mayo
 
#9 ·
Mike, I read your report and see you tried the big fly with no luck. As you already know, it's not easy. You have a great opportunity at a 40 plus pounder on the fly and I wish you luck on your next outing. Your persistence will pay off as long as there are no albies around!! Getting the itch, I must say. May shoot over in search of bonito tomorrow. This morning was a beautiful day to be on the water. Talk to you soon. kevin

Gordon: As for tying the fly, the materials are as follows: 12 inch slinky hair in three different colors. Off white, yellow, olive yellow pre mix and Natural peacock herl. As for flash: standard thin pearl flashabou, polar ice angel hair and peacock color angel hair. The fly is basically a high tie low tie style. Each slinky and flashabou tie is tapered before applying to the hook. The amount of slinky to use is a little thicker than a pencil. For the big flies, the hook to use could be any in a 5 or 6/0. Preferably a trey combs big game, varivas, Gamagatsu Octopus, owner etc...

Steps:
1) Tie 12" (off white) tapered slinky hair off back of the hook.

2)tie tapered clump of pearl flashabou around the first tie. Spread it out over the material before tying it in.

3)High tie (off white) tapered slinky hair on the top of hook 4 inches shorter then the first tie.

4)tie tapered clump of pearl flashabou around the first high tie. Spread it out over the material before tying it in.

5)As for the first low tie, duplicate first high tie excluding the flash. No flash for any bottom ties.

6) 2nd high tie: Yellow tapered slinky hair 2 inches shorter than first high tie.

7)tie tapered clump polar ice angel hair around the second high tie. Spread it out over the material before tying it in.

8)As for the second low tie, duplicate second high tie excluding the flash.

7)3nd high tie: Yellow/olive tapered slinky hair 2 inches shorter than second high tie.

8)tie tapered clump of polar ice angel hair around the third high tie. Spread it out over the material before tying it in.

9)As for the third low tie, duplicate third high tie excluding the flash. make sure that this tie is close to the eye.

10)4th high tie: tie in clump of natural peacock herl 1/2 inch shorter than the third high tie.

11)5th high tie: sparsly tie in peacock color angel hair over natural peacock herl. Gives it a really nice sheen.

If you want a trailor hook, tie in a 1.5 inch wire loop off the back of the hook before you start. Then loop to loop a trailor hook extention.

This fly takes me around 1/2 an hour to tie. I tie this fly in all different sizes. 7 inches and under, I primarily use angel hair as flash instead of combining flashabou and angel hair. Make sure you extend the flash one to two inches beyond the first tie. If you want to do this for the larger flies, you need longer flash in order to achieve this result. That's very important!! Good luck, kevin
 
#11 ·
Awesome!

slunker,
that is awesome! I must ask you one thing however, humor me here...pretend you live in a place where there is only one flyshop within 100 miles of you (and that is a pretty limited one to boot) and it is rare to ever see another person with a flyrod in the air besides yourself. Somebody mentions a new flytying product (anything that is not bucktail is new around here). What are "Slinky Hair" and "Angel hair" and what would a person do to get his hands on some? Thanks for the incredibly detailed tying instructions. I can't wait to put one out there for stripers or bluefins this winter...
 
#12 ·
Gordon, Slinky hair is a synthetic, slightly wavy material that is the best long hair material I've ever used. Mixed with a variation of flash you can create really beautiful flies. I believe you can mail order the slinky hair, angel hair and flashabou from down n trout outfitters in new jersey. Their number is (723)295-7335. Their closed on mondays. The material used to be called kinky hair.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top