RyanRuttan

Thanks everyone, come on up to Williams Lake here in BC and we'll get out there!

I brought the camera out just in time. You can see the strike indicator wiggle and then I slowly lifted the rod... Fish was 2.8 pounds, caught in 35 feet of water at 20 feet down from my strike indicator with a brown balanced micro leech. 5 weight rod and 4lb test leader.

Any time Bryon! I'm in a little town called Williams Lake. It's becoming a retirement capitol hahaha the housing is cheap and we have more lakes than you can fish in a lifetime. Forest Lake is 25 minutes from here and has trout in the 15 to 18 pound range. There are about 15 lakes within a half hour drive that are stocked every spring. If you have any questions just shoot me a pm.

These guys have a lot of shrimp in the water and can feed almost constantly. Tons of fun.

Both the flies and the photography are stunning, great job!

Great job on the scuds, I love tying them with some metal wrapped around the hook under the materials to give them more weight. Fishing them in the shallows under an indicator is a lot of fun.

Never fished for them before, but when I'm trying something new I always start at google images for pattern ideas. From what I'm seeing, some of my red or white intruder patterns would do well. If I had to tie new ones I'd go with a red shrimp imitation. Also look into bonefish style patterns that make the hook land with the point on the top side for when the fly is sitting on the bottom. Not saying that bone fish patterns will work but the design will certainly help.

I always use fine wire for ribbing on dry flies but also incorporate some foam into the fly to balance it out. I love the shapes that foam allows for and it's ability to float all day is unmatched.

Actually it's not that bad, just have to get a handle on how much pressure to keep on the fish, keep the rod tip up and let them run when they want to go. I like having the thin 4lb test because I feel like I'll get more bites compared to having a thicker more visible line. It also allows the flies that I use to sink faster without putting splitshots on the line.

Thanks! yeah it was a ton of fun, 5 weight rod and 4 pound test leader. Forgot to breathe until the fish was in the net.

Another awesome day, Caught these guys on a black and silver chironomid in six feet of water with the hook at about 3.5 feet down under a strike indicator. With out a doubt it was a great day other than some bad winds. The big one is just under 5 pounds and a squeeeeek under 22 inches. The fish that come out of this lake are like little footballs. TONS of shrimp in the lake and all of them had full stomachs. For some reason they will still take a chironomid.

Chironomids and balanced leeches under an indicator.

Almost forgot, I used 20 feet of 4lb test line from the indicator to the fly. There's enough weight on the fly that I didn't have to use any split shots to get it down there. Fishing in 30 feet of water and the fish were holding around 20 feet. It wasn't possible for me to cast this setup because of the length of the leader but throwing the whole thing overboard and then paddling off slightly worked very well. There wasn't any wind so this method was easy to maintain but in wind I would anchor up, throw the fly as far as possible and then use the rod to get the indicator over top of where the fly landed. I had no problem getting fish on with the indicator only 15 feet away from my anchored pontoon boat.

Oops, spelling mistake in the title and I can't edit it. The fly is called muddy bloody leech haha. Hi Everyone, just wanted to share my favorite fly from this summer and it's still doing very well in just about any lake. I'm calling it the muddy bloody leech because of the brown and red colors. It's a leech pattern that hangs under an indicator. The first picture shows the balanced fly at the top and the trolling version below it. Size 10 long curve hook by Mustad - The hook has to be bent at the eye of the hook in order to be attached to the line (more info below) Brown feather fibers for the tail. Brown Llamma dubbing for the body. Copper bead size 1/8. Red small wire for the body wrap. Black thread. For the balanced fly, bend the eye of the hook so that it shoots straight down, you can just see the eye of the hook where the point of the hook is pointing. I bend the eye of the hook right where the eye starts. It doesn't need to drop down very far at all. The head of the hook is extended by heavy red wire and tied onto the hook first. Then dub around the extension. you can see the perfect balance in the second image. Two main reasons why I love balanced flies is that: 1. The hook lays flat in the water, and not hanging vertically. A vertical bug in the water usually means it's dead. 2. The hook is point up, in the picture where the fly is hanging balance you can see how the fly will almost always catch the fish in the roof of the mouth. I really think that this helps for getting better hook sets that are harder for the fish to escape from. Caught these two guys at Dugan Lake 4.1 lbs and 4.4 lbs Both fish are over 21 inches.

I'll never go back to kayaks. 1. Paddling is much easier on the pontoon because in a kayak the paddle needs a spot to sit when a fish bites. My kayak paddle was always an issue where as pontoon paddles you can just drop and they stay attached. 2. Pontoons to me have a much better balance 3. I find that pontoon are easier to get in and out of as well as in and out of the water. I can pack everything I need onto my pontoon and pick the whole thing up and go to the water from my parking spot. I found that with a kayak I was making more than one trip from the truck to the waters edge. 4. I would never anchor a kayak again... bad idea. Is a little more speed in a kayak really worth it? My advice is go ahead and try it out... you can always sell it if you don't like it.