the fly fishing hunger day 3

OUT ON THE BIG LAKE

S0 having been broken into bass fishing gently the day before (yea right ken) it was time to split out onto the big lake the mighty lake Champlain I've seen some pretty big waters in my time but this place was just massive here's some facts its length is 110 miles its widest part is 12 miles it has 80 islands borders 2 countries the USA and Canada and 2 u.s states new york and Vermont the lake has a fascinating history and even has a monster like loch ness to find out more about this monster lake click the link below

lake Champlain

that's Canada on the horizon

the border is halfway across the bay

our launch point

crazy as it may seem naming places which is unheard of in the UK Champlain is so big it would take you years to find a spot from a photo just by looking for a house or something on the shoreline , and the map shows just one small part of Champlain but you do need local knowledge to get you on fish or you going to have a very long day

THE BOIL

arriving at first light at the launch point we were treated to bucket loads of what we thought were small bait fish feeding of thousands of sand fly things that were piled up against the shore and slowly drifting out into the bay to be hovered up by the waiting bait fish we decided that next time we came down we would rig up a couple of 5 wgts and throw some bugger type flies to see if we could 1- find out what the fish are and 2 - have a bit of pre launch fun a note was taken and plan was made

INTO LARGE MOUTH COUNTRY

bucketmouths there is a reason they are called that , theres a reason if you throw a frog into a bucketmouth water the frog does a front crawl as fast as it can to get the feck out of the water seriously its like the frog version of jaws the bass like to lie in the thick stuff and when you hook em the first thing they do is try to take you round every grass root and tree stump in the place but armed with the right gear you can stop em doing that and I'm delighted to say the pikesaber proved its muscle yet again by hauling the buggers out and stopping them in there tracks I'm hoping to get a couple of 7/8 weight sabers made for my trip next year for the bass and for carp in this country i think these guys are sitting on a rod range here to rival all others.....

THE PIKESABER ARMED AND READY ON CHAMPLAIN

the mysterious vanishing pike and muskie

so i had planned this trip with pike and muskie in mind but it didn't happen the temps were up in the 90s and the fish were very hard to find and when we did find areas the fish were just not on it , normally that would be a real pisser on any venue in the UK but in the us the you have the option of the largemouth when the sun gets hot they get hungry go on the prowl and hit top water flies fast and furious the sport i had this day with the temps getting up to 96 degrees has turned me into a complete top water addict fish bum the hotter the better for these fish incredible top water action I'm well and truly hooked so much so that I'm already tying top water stuff for next year

MMMM I KNOW A SPOT
I've got to hand it to him ken knew the pike were off the menu and he said OK i know a spot for some bucketmouths he fired up the engine and 10 Min's we where at the spot i think ken has been fly fishing so long i swear the guy can smell fish within a couple of casts he was into a largmouth bass from impossible cover and it took to the air like a good one

ken bagged the first largemouth of the trip

INTO THE THICK OF IT

well i said these things liked the jungle check the picture below to see what we where fishing enough to make a grown man cry us we just stuck on some gurglers and foam heads and fished it those anglers who dare win

IST STRIKE

well it had to go down in the champlain hood the first largmouth to the mcfluff feck me do these things go there like a train with no brakes and when you do get them to the side of the boat the feckers swim round in circles , luckily i picked up the bass thumb technique quite fast the day before on carmine so i had it in fast

THERE NOT CALLED BUCKET MOUTHS FOR NOTHING

even the small fish fought like stink and with fly fishing its not all about size even on my pikesaber these fish but up a right bloody fight hey i was happy

so by lunch time the temps had pretty much got to unbearable levels and being on the water obviously made things worse sunburn wise despite using factor 50 so it was time to get back in get some lunch and get some flies tied for an early start on carmine in the morning but this wasn't to be my only encounter with the fish of Champlain

mmmm maple syrup waffle or a pastrami and Swiss sandwich the hand made capsey sandwich won hands down

nothing better at the end of a hard days fishing than to throw yerself into a rednecks hammock and grab 40 although your redneck may be a bit upset you stole his favorite spot

so that's another day gone and although with the high temps i still managed to bag 6 largemouths all on topwater not to bad but the best fun was the 30 or 40 fish that hit the flies and missed that is what has made me a top water addict

the buzz is in the hit

c ya tomorrow fellow addicts

mcfluffchucker