The Outdoor Line Forum

Down here for couple days on the Ol' Noocheeolla... Boy these rivers in this region have received a ton of pressure lately. Yesterday I did the upper float and had my Dad and my cousin Brad with me. It was about 25 degrees at daylight, so we had about a 10:00 am start and fished hard till dark. Beautiful day on the water even with no fish.... First and hopefully the last skunk of the winter season.
Got back on the water today with my buddy SuperFly. Joe couldn't go until later in the morning, which actually worked out great. It was every bit as cold this morning and with about ten boats putting in before us, batting clean-up again was fine with us.
So, we finally got on the water at 11:00 and with full sun up on the water, it didn't take long. As in maybe 5 or 10 minutes.
The first good corner drift we get to, SuperFly throws in there and "Wham" breaks off on a snag... I look at the water and know there is a fish in there, so I send my float sailing.... "Wham" fish on.... Oh, the Ol' Float Doggin with the stick lead strikes again..


By the way, I did have Joe fish the stick leads all day, on his "Fly Doggin Rod" and his side drifting rod. Let's just say, I've been successful in converting yet another seasoned veteran.

Here is an example of the rig of the day. Water conditions are perfect, getting a little low, but none the less the bait is still getting it done.


Here is a photo of Fly showing a guy who landed this very nice size buck, how to hold a fish for photo's to get the most "bang for your buck", so to speak...

This guy and his partner landed this dandy buck, the biggest the guy has ever caught and needless to say, they were pretty jacked up about it...
Glad Fly could help him enjoy the moment.

Great day on the water, we hooked a few more but as Steelheading goes, they of course came unbuttoned. We stayed on the move, covered water and were off the river in about 4 1/2 hours.
The way I look at it; late start, 4 hours on the water, 4 hooked, one dandy on the box... all in all a good afternoon.
The little bit of rain coming will help. There are some fish around, you just have to work for'em...

Good job man looks like a beauty

Yesterday morning was freezing ass cold (FAC). I forgot what it was like to race around in the sled in the FAC like that. Jeeebuz!

Your move to start late was a smart one my friend. Nice to see you and the Fly Dogger got into some nice fish today. That fish is a BLINGER

Now...about the stick lead. You guys side drifted with the stick lead and it worked great Tell me more

Side drifting with the stick lead...
Last year I was on the Bogie with three buddies form work in my boat. The conditions where low and clear and the fishing was tough. Due to the low conditions, my standard Float Doggin wasn't working to well in the long slow stretches. With the lack of current, this is to be expected I grabbed the side drifting rods and told the guys, we were going to side drift. I put stick weights on all three rods and off we went. My thought was, I originally used the stick leads with Herzog drift fishing the boulder riddled Bogie, so why would they not work on the same river, side drifting...
Well it worked great. The first three long drifts we pulled through, we hooked and landed three hatchery brats.. We got through all the big slow moving boulder water, without a hang-up…
Those dang things work great for side drifting as well. If guys would use them, they would find out that replacing only leaders throughout the day vs. lead and swivels and the hole-shebang, makes for a nice day of fishing…

Is that blue tape on your thumb?! Don't say you did it again?

I side drifted and float dog'ed yesterday on multiple rivers in lots of different areas, from the shore, with the awesome "stick weight" and did not break off any, and only a few leaders. Did not snag up or loose a setup due to the weight. Pretty sweet, love the system!

Nice feesh and sounds like a good time brotha! Rain should bring in some more.

Good to know the weights are workin for ya Nick. The side drifting application with them is unreal... guys need to give it a try.
The blue tape is to keep the nail down and covered, while fishing, so I don't catch it and tear the rest of it off my nailbed...OUCH....