Subbuggin 36 not out
a battered and
tattered 2 season subbug finally lost an eye after a particularly savage attack
from esox over the past couple of years
(yup designed to last these baby's) so I decided that rather than put it into
retirement (the body was still sort of OK) id just spruce it up a bit and stick
a couple of new eyes on
So after gently
cutting behind the eye the tattered remains are put to one side and a small
amount of five min epoxy is mixed up and placed were the old eyes used to be,
then is just a case of putting the new ones on and holding in place until the
epoxy cures
And there you have it, as good as new (well sort
off)
I actually added a
little more epoxy at the front of the eye as a bit of an experiment weight wise
and to see if it would make any difference in the action when fished (but more
on that later)
Talking of subbugs I
had a large order of subbugs to do so I hunkered down in the cave with some
planet rock radio and got stuck in , each bug takes approximately 45 mins to
make as I never rush them and I make each turn of the thread bombproof and I
mean lets face facts if you buy a spun deer hair fly from an African tying
house they will not last more than a few fish I know ive seen one fall apart
after 2 fish , esox really go to town on subbugs so you need to really know to
protect the tie on every single step of making them which is why they take so
bloody long but it is a labor of love if the truth be told and the winning
color this season , well ill let you guess from the picture above J
BUGGIN OUT
I had a friend down
passing through the neighborhood and I owed him a day on my local as the last
time he was on it was bloody cold and miserable and the wind was really not
being very nice at all , so we planned a day and hit the water , I have also
decided that im going to be using subbugs for pretty much until October at
least as I have a lot of new ideas for them so I only grabbed my top water box
(yes there’s a couple of poppers in there but they have now been taken out the
box) and because quite frankly they are a devastating pattern .
This is ideal bug
water getting them in about the weed where the predators lurk and when the hits
come they really do come hard usually with a massive splash of a vicious take
you really have to witness these things hitting bugs on the surface quite
incredible heart stopping action .
Paul my friend was
obviously pleased that only 2 casts in this one hit the subbug on the surface,
this was one of 7 or 8 fish he he caught and at least ten throwing or missing
the fly on the surface, I think altogether we had around 36 fish hitting the
subbugs it was quite manic heart stopping sport and fantastic fun you just cant
beat it
SUBBUGS RULE
I used only 4 subbugs
that day in the colors you see above, and yes there’s 2 black ones as one has
a stinger hook (I was trying to convert some of those short strikes into fish
in the boat) the small articulated fly was in the box and I had it on at the
start of the day but I find it hard to fish anything else when I have subbugs
with me, so it only got wet for around 10 mins
Subbug pike crack ,
they just couldn't get enough of that crunchy esox crack great seeing a pike
clear the water after one of these …..
DRY FLY FISHING FOR ESOX
Not as far fetched as
it sounds to be honest , the pike were striking sticklebacks on the surface and
I had just pulled my line in ready for another cast when I decided to take the
picture above , my target was actually behind the ring where there were
sticklebacks on the surface but as I took the picture a pike stuck its nose out
of the water and took a gulp of bait now in a flash my mind went back to my
last days fishing with brother ken on lake Champlain when a largemouth bass had
struck a shoal of small baitfish behind the boat .
That time id been in
mid cast with a crease fly and id let the fly drop right on the ring on the
back cast and hooked the fish so I thought this aint no different if I can get
a fly on it while its still there ive got a great chance of actually hooking
it, so in a split second id dumped the camera and cast a subbug right on top of
it first pull and bang it was on in a flurry of spray, teeth grinding, and
general bad attitude.
Being hooked so close
to the boat it took off like a rocket. But the trusty pikesaber did the job yet
again. And funnily enough on the repaired subbug I spoke of at the start , now
Paul had more fish than me today but he was using a method id not even thought
about for subbugs before so im going to play with his idea next week and with
his permission ill write about it in the next blog , but if he dosnt want it
shared then that’s cool but it’s a really interesting concept ……..and it works
In the boat after a
short fight and released to fight another day a stunningly marked Scottish
predator that fought like an Atlantic salmon just gotta love em
*for my American readers who may not be aware
of what pork scratching are heres a link
BEACH BUMS
Poor destroyer was in
despair at two doubles coming to the boat when hes so tantalizingly close to
getting his first double figure pike (this week pal) so to make up for it I
decided to take him after another species on his hit list saltwater bass , now
cracking the saltwater isn't the easiest thing so to get him hooked up I
decided to take his to a local spot where there was a pretty good chance of
getting a schoolie bass and getting a point on the leader board .
As the tide started
to rise I was very confident , the water was lovely and warm and clear , I
could actually see the odd flash of silver baitfish now and again as the tide
rose I was electrified and so bloody focused on what I was doing I really was
in that very special place that we fly anglers go when we are in the zone and
you just know that your fly is working perfectly in fact so well you can almost
sense the fish behind it , trying to decide to take it or not you can just
sense it ……
Strike one a nice
little school bass to start and we were off and running, even as I was casting
the chap with the lure rod next to me said he could see fish chasing my fly,
the destroyer was just about 15 feet above me and I was sure he would be next
but then something very strange happened .
We should have been
absolutely smoking fish out over the next hour but it died a death big time
even the lure chucker’s weren't catching and if they aint catching on the
rubber sand-eels then nobody is going to catch, we fished the tide right up and
the only thing we saw being caught was mullet on bread (and I didn't have bread
flies with me) , I really cant put a finger on why it died a death did sharks
move in , did they see the destroyers legs , the wind changed halfway through
was it that or was it that way out to see we could sea gannets diving on
something was this sand-eels or small bait-fish , or maybe there were seals
around (didn't sea any though) I really don’t know but no other bass were
caught that day .
Mabey somebody who
fly fishes for bass a lot more often than me could mail me if they have any
idea as I only dabble in saltwater fly fishing and don’t claim to be and expert
but id be interested to know what would cause this sudden turn off
Massive cool well
done to brother ken in the states who did a 52 inch musky at the weekend
awesome fish bro and taken on a pikesaber, who says it’s a rubbish rod …
Till next time fellow
loonies
Mcfluffchucker
(a cave in Scotland)
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1 comment:
I sure like that black streamer.
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