First bass at Duck Lake

Well it seems that the season to be outside and get burnt has come again. Not until yesterday did I realize it was possible to get a sun burn in the middle of April. Turns out when its sunny out and you’re in a boat on the water all day you can get a sun burn, who would have thought. Though sunburns hurt, the fun of going out with a buddy and fishing for a day overcomes any pain. This past Saturday April 21, 2012 my friend from school and I went fishing at Duck Lake near Creston B.C.

It is about a two hour drive to Duck Lake from our houses so we headed out fairly early to get there in time to get loads of fishing in. We ended up getting delayed on a mountain pass, but fortunately it was only for five minutes and our excitement to get there and fish overwhelmed the sucky-ness of having to sit in the vehicle and waste time. We got to the lake and got to work. We had to pump up the boat (a zodiac type 8ft inflatable), get all our gear in the boat then we were ready to head off. With two different paddles we rowed away. Having two different paddles, of course, made rowing this boat an interesting  task. Though rowing was somewhat more difficult than usual we didn’t care - we wanted to get out and find some weed beds as this is where the bass hide to find their prey.

We paddled the boat around and something odd was happening. This lake which I had visited a year prior and was nothing but weeds now had no weeds. Our one plan for catching bass had been somewhat foiled. We searched hard to find weeds to no avail. At this point we were pretty well willing to do anything just to find somewhere to stop paddling and fish. We were taking turns rowing but it was still a hard task. After about an hour of rowing we figured we needed to ditch the plan to find weeds and figure some other way of catching the bass that had to go somewhere when the weeds died off from the lack of oxygen in winter. We saw boats on the other side of the lake and figured that was the place to go.

We paddled for a long time trying to get to the other side of the lake where the other, hopefully more knowledgeable, fishermen were. We paddled for a long time and it felt like we had gotten nowhere. It was at about the point it finally looked like we’d gotten closer to the fishermen when sunken logs started to appear. As any fisherman knows, sunken logs mean bass gold! We fished for a while at the first log we had found to no avail, so we paddled on. Shortly after we found log after log after log! So we set to fishing. The only bad part was that when we weren’t fishing we were drifting and this meant losing the logs (we both forgot to bring an anchor). We drifted and fished for some time until WAM! There was a bass. I had it on my new bait caster and I was excited to break in the new rod. It wasn’t a long fight but it sure was a fun one. I reeled in and it bulled somewhat but never took too much line. That was until it saw the boat and started to peel line off my reel (I did have my drag set quite loose to make it a little more challenging for the fish seeing as I use 15lb braid). After a bit longer of a fight I had the fish in and my buddy and I were stoked (though it was only a 1 pounder) we’d hit the jackpot so we paddled back.

Me and the bass

After I caught one little perch by the logs we sadly lost track of where they had been and spent an hour trying to find them again with little luck. It was at this point we had to make a decision. Spend more time finding the logs, or seeing if the other fishermen had a better spot. The decision was made and we went towards where the other fishermen were fishing. At this point we were on the complete opposite side of the lake and had to figure out a way to get back to the jeep so I could drive it around to pick up our stuff at the other side of the lake. We saw a nice fisherman leaving that we had talked to a short time earlier and figured this was our best chance to get a ride around the lake so I wouldn’t have to walk the whole way around. After a short conversation and a small amount of time helping the guy put his boat on his truck and tie it down I was on my way back around to the jeep. Not too much happened after this point in the trip. Next time we go we will be sure to go at a later date, and a time when the fishing will be a wee bit better. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to get outside!

Spinning elk hair in anticipation for the ice to melt

Well it seems to be time for a real post on this blog. This will be somewhat of a tutorial (though this is my first time spinning deer hair) and somewhat a following of what flies I tie, which ones work and which ones just flop (if you want to skip to the tutorial skip to the first picture). I liked tying this fly, although it definitely isn’t as good as it is supposed to look but I do think it will still work (fingers crossed). This particular fly called a bass bug or a popper uses something I’d never done before which is spinning hair (elk in my case).  For the most part I fish in small creeks, small lakes, and at the edges of lakes for small fish (I generally catch from about 6” to 12” fish but only keep from 9” up). These fish are generally trout of the rainbow variety but I do have my places for cutthroat, bull trout, kokanee (landlocked salmon) and dolly varden.  

            This year however I have some new fish in mind. I'm lucky to live in a place where I can fish for just about anything I please. Though sometimes getting to these fish takes a bit of a drive, it’s not nearly as bad as if I lived in a city. This year my goals for catching fish are to get a walleye (which is something I’ve never caught before), catch some perch for a fish fry, and most of all catch a whole bunch more BASS!

            Last year I caught my first bass ever and have been hooked ever since. The first bass I caught was a 2lb largemouth and about two weeks later I caught a little smallmouth bass. During the last winter I have been buying and learning how to use all kinds of bass lures such as stick baits, crank baits, tube baits, soft baits and all kinds of other things. The one thing I really want to do this year though, is not only catch bass on my new bait caster rod but to catch one on my fly rod. This is what takes us to the fly I tied last night in anticipation for the upcoming bass season. It is called (or I know it to be called) a bass bug and the tutorial starts here!

 

So that’s the bass bug I tied has got green up front and a green and yellow tail to somewhat look like the perch that are in pretty well every lake around where I live that has bass in it.

Pick a good heavy thread as u will break a light one with ease spinning the hair. Put the thread on a good heavy gauged hook so you won’t lose that bass when u set the hook.

Next pick what you want to use for your tail. you can use pretty much anything u would normally use for tails. I chose to use two colors of bucktail for a slightly more perchy look.

Now tie the tail on just as you would any other tail and trim to your desired length and shape. I personally tied on the yellow first.

Then I proceeded to tie on the green (in hindsight I would recommend tying the tail on further up the shank of the hook.)

This is where the fun begins. This is where you chose the elk or deer body/ belly hair you would like to use for the spun part of the fly. I would have used multiple colors but I only have the couple, though I plan on buying more colors next time I get the chance. I chose the bright green I have.

Cut off about a pinch of the hair. Make sure u have enough so the hair looks thick after spinning.

Then you want to lay it on the shank of the hook and lay two light wraps of your thread over the hair of the hook. 

Then pull tight and watch the magic of spinning hair.

Pull the hair back and repeat the last step.

Continue until you have just enough room to finish and tie off. At this point it looks like quite the crazy hairdo.

Next tie off the thread and cut it off. Then trim this crazy “hairdo” to your desired shape.

Always finish a fly with clear fly lacquer to keep it from falling apart after a long time of use.

My preferred method of applying the lacquer is to use a small piece of wood such as the small pieces that break off of kindling. Dip the small piece of wood into the lacquer.

Apply the lacquer to the fly where you tied it off and you’re finished.

Well there’s my tutorial on how to tie a bass bug. Good luck, have fun, thanks for reading and don’t forget to get outside!

PreBlog

Start to my blog

This is my first blog post to tell u why I really started a blog. I started this blog for all the moments I can’t capture on video for my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/backwoodboysbc) or the times not exciting enough on camera to post on YouTube. So I decide to start a blog because I love to teach (will have fly tying/equipment use how to posts), and to share with other people like me (hunting fishing enthusiasts) and to read about their adventures. My next post will be a fly that I got started on just before I decided to start this blog ( I have got a hook with thread hanging off it sitting in my vice as I’m writing).

Things to come and to expect:

This will be my first summer of freedom from my parents, though I still have to work to pay for hobbies. So I have plans on camping and/or fishing every weekend so I’ll have posts up here as often as possible (and videos up on my YouTube account as often as possible) to try to keep anyone reading satisfied.

                This year I bought a 14’ aluminum boat and a 9.5hp Johnson seahorse for scooting around lakes when fishing and possibly hunting. The boat and motor both need some work (the boats a little beat up and the motor mount on the motor is broken slightly but does run - my equipment sounds a little rough I know but hey I spent 70$ combined on the boat and motor so what else should you expect?).  I live in the Kootenay’s in British Colombia so I have tons of different fishing I will be doing this summer and hopefully I will be doing quite a bit of bass fishing.

                Also this year I bought a new recurve bow for hunting. The start of turkey season is on April 15 so I will start after turkeys as soon as I can get out. Bear season has already started but for the most part the bears are still sleeping. Once they start coming out I will be hunting them with my bow as well. This summer I’m going to practice as much as I can for this fall, as I would like to take an elk with my recurve.

In a nutshell I will be hunting and fishing when I’m not at work or back to school this fall. I will be doing as many tutorials and other such updates as possible to help everyone who isn’t as fortunate as I am to have mentors to teach everything you need to know. For the most part I will be hunting with my dad, uncle, brother in law and girlfriend. I’m not too sure as to who I’ll be fishing with as I have many a friend who may or may not come on our convoy of fishers. So I hope you like my blog and if you have anything you would like to see I am always open to suggestions.  Thanks for reading and don’t forget to get outside!