jhammer 0 Report post Posted July 14, 2011 Quillbacks are nothing but trouble. Plain and simple. I went down to the Independence Dam on the Maumee River for yet another round of warmwater fly fishing. I had a lot of strikes, but I just couldn't make many connections. I assume most of the strikes were from gar because they were everywhere around me. I saw many of them surfacing. I wish I had some rope flies with me today because I would have caught tons of gar. I did manage to connect with a nice freshwater drum. I lost another fish I never seen, and I lost another quillback. The quillback from the Maumee are very talented when it comes to jumping off of the hook. But this quillback ruined my fly line. It had some size to it and as I was fighting it, it ran my line across a sharp rock and cut into it. The core of the line is still intact and I should still be able to get some use out of it until I can pick up a new line. I wrapped some fly tying thread around it to help fill in the cut, and then I covered it with a little bit of zap-a-gap. I used a black bead-head woolly bugger and a dubbin' craw. The drum took the bugger, but the unknown fish and the quillback took the dubbin' craw. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JSzymczyk 0 Report post Posted July 15, 2011 hey, at least you're getting out and catching some fish. I remember one time 20-some years ago encountering a huge school of Quillbacks in the Allegheny river, and catching several on a small brown woolly worm. As I recall, they fought valiantly and were the only ones I've ever caught. I think catching fish like those, which are not commonly caught, are pretty great. It stinks that your line got cut, but it happens. (that's another reason why I think $70 for a fly line is insane.) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MowestFlyfisher 0 Report post Posted July 15, 2011 Hey man at least your catching fish, and yeah it sucks to get your line cut but hey at least it was a biggin, And the most i have paid for a fly line is about 30 bucks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jhammer 0 Report post Posted July 15, 2011 I'm gonna pick up some Cabela's Prestige line or some Cortland 333 to slap on on there. I definitely agree that they are strong. Pound for pound, they've fought harder than any carp I've caught. Granted, carp fight like mad, but these river quillbacks are like carp on steroids. Even the small one I had on had me into my backing! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JSzymczyk 0 Report post Posted July 15, 2011 pick up a Cabela's Prestige Plus line when they go on sale for $30. It's a $70 line for $30. Take pics of the Quillbacks when you catch them, they're pretty neat fish. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
