dafack01

If Bluegill got that big, I doubt there would BE any Bass anglers.

Thanks, Graham! 3 pictures were taken with the hopes that one would turn out halfway decent (which this one did). In the last picture she jumped free of my grip so we caught her in mid-air en route to the boat floor! I've never had a Brown jump until this fish (mostly they just bulldog it). She cleared 2 feet 4 times! You've caught some mighty fine fish yourself, BTW!

Had to do some bragging myself. Disposable cameras don't do this fish justice at ALL. She was caught in very early January, but still had her fall colors. Another Cumberland River fish. This fish WAS caught by me, BTW.

I've caught my biggest fly rod Largemouth on a giant Olive Woolly Bugger in a creek behind my aunt and uncle's house. It was every bit of 3 pounds, which isn't a truly big bass, but would YOU complain with a 3 pound largemouth? It was big for a creek at least. I tied it on a #2 TMC300 hook (which is 6x long). With a tail about as long as the hook, the fly is about 4" long. I LOVE fishing tube jigs when I spin fish, and I kinda consider the Woolly Bugger to be the fly rod equivalent of a tube jig. A few rubber legs on the thing couldn't hurt either. Bow to the bugger! For what it's worth, around Louisville there are 2 lakes that are absolutely POUNDED by anglers and pleasure boaters. It's INSANE how much pressure they get. I have MUCH better luck (both quantity AND quality- my biggest at one lake being 4lb 11oz, which is a GIANT at this lake- it sucks that bad) fishing little stuff like rooster tails. Tying a Woolly Bugger with a spinner on it (and a barrel swivel on your leader to prevent twisting) would do a killer roostertail. You can buy the spinners for inline spinners online. Moral of the story, it isn't always the big stuff that catches the big fish.

I've got a TFO Jim Teeny rod in a 6wt and its a KILLER rod. GREAT for fishing nymphs and streamers (makes sense since that's what Jim Teeny fishes with primarily). The 8wt was actually one of Fly Rod and Reel magazine's best bass bug rods. You certainly won't find better rods south of the $600 price point than TFO. Not saying St. Croix rods aren't good. I've never casted a St. Croix fly rod (like their spinning and casting rods though), but I have no reason to assume they're not in the same league.

This is neither me nor anyone I know, but it is a 17 pound brown caught on an olive Woolly Bugger several weeks ago on Cumberland River. Check out the bright orange belly.

Your name's Dustin too? We've got the battle of the Dustins going on for Louisville-West Virginia! I know nothing about Salmon fishing, so I can't help you there.

If you enjoy Smallmouth Bass, never fish Dale Hollow. It sucks. :hyst:

Ok so Miami's offense is having an off year. But Miami's defense is still playing Miami Defense. They took it to us until we made some adjustments, and it was off to the races from there. We DOMINATED Miami on BOTH sides of the ball. Our secondary needs work, but our run defense and pass rush is proving to be damn good. And you know you're legit if you loose 2 Heisman Candidates and you STILL destroy Miami. Michael Bush is out for the year and might not be back. Brian Brohm left the Miami game with 10:00 to go in the 3rd with a torn ligament in his thumb and will miss 3-6 weeks. The score was 17-7 when Brohm went out. With our BACKUP QUARTERBACK (Hunter Cantwell), we made it 31-7. Anyone doubt wether U of L is legit now? GO CARDS!!!!! :headbang: That West Virginia game'll be a GREAT game. Brohm should be back, but the way Cantwell played against Miami, we should be OK if he's not ready. I don't think W. Va has as good a defense as Miami, but their Offense certainly is better. I can't WAIT for Nov. 2! Who'dve thought that the Louisville-West Virginia game could decide who plays in Pasadena? If the winner of that game goes undefeated and has a little help that is.

Thanks JJD and luvinbluegills! I've got a 200 grain Teeny sink tip (the shooting head kind), and that's what I casted that 7" fly with. Casted like it's nothing.

Can you prove this? Seems to me that a scientist who specializes in epidemiology or microbiology wouldn't be doing much research regarding the environment and global warming. BTW, just because something is a virus doesn't mean it has the same properties as other viruses. So one virus can live eons without a live host and can survive a nuclear armageddon. That doesn't necesarily mean that other viruses can do the same. What you're saying is similar to saying that the only way to kill an animal is by using a sidewinder missle, which obviously isn't true. You hit a Robin with a BB gun and you're going to kill it. You don't need a missle. Your logic and facts don't make much sense. Bottom line is that the feather merchants wouldn't put out unsafe products out of fear that someone will get sick and sue them for all they're worth. They wouldn't put out unsafe products.

Cumberland gets really fast too. Since it's such a big river, it doesn't take much to get the current going at a pretty good clip for the wading angler. I just fish out of a boat about 99% of the time, so my speed in the boat, relative to the current speed is still normal, unless I hit an eddy or some other current oddity.

Well, looks like I'll be hitting Cumberland before I go Muskie fishing after all! I just ordered some of that Flash Blend to tie up some trout Streamers. 20 incher, here I come!!!! I'm GONNA get me a freaking Muskie this year, too!!! :wallbash:

Thanks for the flies and tips! I know that muskie flies should push water, I'm just not sure how big I can go on an 8 weight. I'm hoping that with a spun deer-hair head, about as big as a bass bug or something, and with a long EP fiber tail, about 8-10 inches, will be castable on an 8wt. I took a couple guided trips on the Cave, and both times the guides used lures with a lot of orange. The Dahlberg Diver actually reminds me of one of the top Muskie lures on Cave Run- the Bulldawg. Picture a 14" long twistertail grub and you're close enough. I REALLY want to go to Cumberland again next month, but the Trout bite all year. Once the fall Muskie bite's over (October's best), that's it for the toothy critters until Spring.

I'm going Muskie fishing in October, and I'd like to bring the longrod to try my hand if I can. My problem is that my biggest rod is an 8wt, so any fly will need to be cast on that. I'm assuming with synthetic fibers I can tie some pretty big flies and still cast it with big enough hooks. Any thoughts?

I had some Neer hair at home (EP fiber type stuff) and tied a 7" streamer EP style on a 2/0 short-shank, heavy wire saltwater hook. I took it out back to see if I could cast it with my 9' 8wt Scott A2, a 200 grain Teeny line, and a short, stiff leader (2' of 30 lb Maxima, 2' of 15lb Maxima), and I chucked out to about 70' like it wasn't even on the end of my line! Which leads me to my question, exactly how big a fly CAN you cast with an 8wt? I ask because our next fishing trip will be in October to Cave Run Lake for some Muskie. I'm wondering if a traditional-styled pike/muskie fly (the ones with a palmered rabbit strip head and a long tail) tied 10" with EP fibers and big hooks (4/0-6/0) would work? I'd make a dubbing brush with EP fibers and palmer it like the rabbit fur for a head and tie in a sparse tail like you see on EP fiber flies, cut to a point. I'm thinking that a fly tied like that will push a bit more water than a regular EP fly, but I could tie up a few of those too if my 8wt can cast it well enough. I'd need a good bite-tippet too, which I'm assuming isn't exactly limp.

True. It might just be mental. I saw those EP Silky Fibers on J. Stockard's website, which are advertised as having more of a marabou-like action. I might try those out. When I fish Cumberland, it's out of a boat, so I prefer something with a marabou-like action, or close to. I have noticed behind the Falls of the Ohio, bucktail suddenly comes to life and has KILLER action. The current is RAGING there, which helps the bucktail out. At Cumberland, though, I never wade (well I might have waded a total of 45 minutes in the 8 years I've been fishing there).

That's what I'm assuming. SD tied this one pretty full, and it didn't have much action at all. The fibers seem to move a lot when you stroke a few out though, so I was kinda guessing what you confirmed. I'm going to have to order some.

I'm curious about EP Fibers. I used Steeldrifter's EP Fiber Rainbow from the Streamer swap a bit at Cumberland until a nice trout hit and knocked one of the eyes off, causing it to ride wierd. The idea of tying a streamer and it not taking 20 minutes or more to tie up like Dave Whitlock's Sheep Shad is really appealing to me. A couple things I noticed about it though. The fibers didn't move much when stripped. One of the things about the Sheep Shad is that it has action like marabou. Just incredible. SD's EP Rainbow didn't have much action at all. It stayed pretty stiff, but I'm wondering if that's because it was tied pretty full. If it's tied more sparse would it move better? Has anyone mixed it with Angel Hair? That seems like it would be a cool tweak.

The streamers I tied for a test didn't stay upright as much as I wanted them to, so the experimentation failed. I guess Dave's way is best. For the swap, though, I'm gonna tie up some #4 Pearl Sparkleminnows.

I bet it'd pass as a small stonefly. I myself lost a Rainbow at the net on Cumberland River last year that would've gone about 19", and it hit a #10 Copper John.

Nice flies, Big Todd and FC! I test-casted one of my "prototypes" on my 6wt (TFO Jim Teeny rod- badarse rod, BTW) and an SA Mastery Uniform Sink+, class 5, with a 2ft 20lb maxima leader and a 2ft. 10lb P-Line Flourocarbon tippet and it casted like a charm. I wanted to make sure, because they're pretty big flies for a 6wt (both length and width), and on some flies, sheep hair has the aerodynamics of a Peterbilt. Part I of test? A

WOOLLY BUGGERS!!! If it eats, it'll eat a woolly bugger. Might want to tie a short tail, though. Bluegill are nibblers. Or maybe try Arctic fox fur for a tail? That might be a bit more durable. Try tying a big white nymph or scud pattern with a cream head, too, in the #10-#12 range. I had incredible luck on bluegills with Wax Worms as a kid. I'd bet a fly like that would be a KILLER immiatation of a wax worm, therefore being an INCREDIBLE fly to fish with. Just add a bobber (I refuse to call 'em "Strike Indicators"; They were originally called bobbers, and I ain't skeered to call 'em what they are) and have some fun! And make fun of 'em all you want about being stupid, there ain't a fish in fresh water that'll fight harder than a bluegill pound for pound! :flex: Trout, smallmouth, striper, whatever. I'd put a bluegill up against 'em all pound for pound.

How much time do you spend fishing streamers vs. dries and nymphs? Do you find yourself still fishing streamers at times when dries and nymphs will typically be more productive? How did you come up with the jerk-strip, or what inspired you? The jerk-strip reminds me a lot of fishing jerkbaits with spinning gear. I jerk-stripped before I read the Modern Streamers book to immitate a jerkbait more closely, but your tips on full sinkers makes it more productive and easier to fish than with floaters. When wading, do you find teeny lines and sink-tips with 5'-10' of sinking tip, or even a floating line and a long leader, to be an equally productive and more versatile alternative (allowing you to swing streamers and nymphs better), or do you recommend using a full sinker and a stripping basket?

Russ Blessing tied the original Woolly Bugger to immitate a Hellgrammite. He tied it with olive chenille, black marabou, and black hackle. I think any earthy-toned buggy lookin' thing will be mistaken for a Hellgrammite, honestly.