Bye Week Blues

By chance do you do any fly fishing?  That is a real passion I have.  I tie my own flies - LOL, they are pretty rough compared with the pictures in those beautiful fly tying books, but they do catch fish.  I'm going to try to get out this weekend.  The weather here in our part of Illinois is pretty good right now.  

We have a decent Muskie lake near here but I've never fished for them... LOL, not yet.  I was with my brother one time early in the year fishing for Crappie and it was crazy, a Muskie hit his minnow.  We were in my boat at the time in a cove with a number of boats around the cove fishing Crappie also.  I about crapped because we had ultra-light rigs.  But my brother was (he passed away a few years ago) the best fisherman I've ever been around.  He landed that Musky (I netted it for him) after what must have been a half hour.  By the time we got him netted EVERYONE in those boats around us had quit fishing and some were even taking photos.  It was a big Musky too.  We measured him and threw him back for another day 

My brother was my fishing buddy all my life.  I miss the guy a lot.

We do not fly fish. However we do fish for everything from Crappie to Muskie. Largemouth Bass being the big thing. Muskie season is typically right after the thaw and then again when summer ends and we get that first 20 temperature drop. We fish with suckers in both bottom rigs and slip bobber.

Our line is 65 pound braid with a black steel leader. The Muskie will bite through anything else.

I would trust 65 pound test moss green Power Pro braid stretched between two cinder blocks more than Nate Davis.

I used to catch some pretty nice sized Northern Pike with steel leaders and heavy mono.  But that was 50 years ago or so.  I've used braided way back in the day with my dad fishing for catfish.  But about 15 or so years ago learned how to fly fish and that's my only way of fishing now.  I've caught just about everything around here, and on fishing trips I've caught trout.  LOL, I use 3 to 5x tippet (mostly 5x tippet).  


This is a Rainbow Trout I caught last year in the Blue Ridge Mountains. A few months ago my brother-in-law and I caught 40 Brook & Rainbows out west on the headwaters of the Williamson River.  Here in Illinois though, it's mostly bass and panfish.  

Catching fish on light flyfishing equipment is pretty fun.  And if I can learn to tie fishing flies, then anyone can.  It is really satisfying to catch fish on something you've tied yourself from fur, feathers and thread.  The old ladies at the local sewing shop get a kick out of me when I'm shopping for thread - for fly tying instead of sewing.