01-14-2003, 03:49 AM
[cool] Welcome to the site, FB2. I heard Santa got you into the float tube game. Hope you don't jump the gun and get yourself frozen into a big ice cake up there on one of those lakes. I got pushed off Starvation by a big sheet of wind-blown ice late one February. I got out just ahead of it, as it pushed a long ways up the face of the dam. Probably wouldn't have done me or my tube much good if I had stayed to play in the ice.
Early season flyrodding is going to be one of two things. If you fish right at ice out, you can sometimes find rainbows and browns cruising shallow, right along the edge of the receding ice. That's what I was doing at Starvation, and I have also taken some big early browns on Deer Creek that way too. This year there might not be enough ice to play that game.
The other approach is to either cast a sinking line and let it settle deep, before bringing it back up through the water column. This usually works best over the flats, where the water might be anywhere from 6 to 20 feet deep. If you have a good high density full sinking line, you don't need to make long casts if you have a float tube. Just work out a comfortable cast, and then kick backward slowly as you feed out more line...enough to get it down near the bottom. That's known as the float tubers distance cast.
The variables will be in the speed of your slow backward troll...with some occasional stops...or twitches on the line to stimulate a strike. And, there is also the matter of what size and color flies to use. Early in the year, anything black is a good place to start. Black with some white or chartreuse is also good. If the water is colored up much, you will have to fish even slower and you should tie on something with bright colors...like red or chartreuse. Small to medium sized flies work better right at ice out, but after the ice has been off the water a few days the fish often become more active in the newly oxygenated water. Then you can break out the big streamers and wooly buggers. That green one you like should work fine. One of my best wooly buggers on Strawberry is a dark green body with a brown tail, and brown hackle. If you don't have any of those, let me know and I'll whip you up a few before you are ready to launch up there again.
If you have any specific questions, pop in anytime. Or, if you have a special concern, you know how to reach me. Always glad to contribute to your delinquincy. You're danged near as bad as I was at your age...but you are probably a better fisherman, cause your dad is a great teacher.
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Early season flyrodding is going to be one of two things. If you fish right at ice out, you can sometimes find rainbows and browns cruising shallow, right along the edge of the receding ice. That's what I was doing at Starvation, and I have also taken some big early browns on Deer Creek that way too. This year there might not be enough ice to play that game.
The other approach is to either cast a sinking line and let it settle deep, before bringing it back up through the water column. This usually works best over the flats, where the water might be anywhere from 6 to 20 feet deep. If you have a good high density full sinking line, you don't need to make long casts if you have a float tube. Just work out a comfortable cast, and then kick backward slowly as you feed out more line...enough to get it down near the bottom. That's known as the float tubers distance cast.
The variables will be in the speed of your slow backward troll...with some occasional stops...or twitches on the line to stimulate a strike. And, there is also the matter of what size and color flies to use. Early in the year, anything black is a good place to start. Black with some white or chartreuse is also good. If the water is colored up much, you will have to fish even slower and you should tie on something with bright colors...like red or chartreuse. Small to medium sized flies work better right at ice out, but after the ice has been off the water a few days the fish often become more active in the newly oxygenated water. Then you can break out the big streamers and wooly buggers. That green one you like should work fine. One of my best wooly buggers on Strawberry is a dark green body with a brown tail, and brown hackle. If you don't have any of those, let me know and I'll whip you up a few before you are ready to launch up there again.
If you have any specific questions, pop in anytime. Or, if you have a special concern, you know how to reach me. Always glad to contribute to your delinquincy. You're danged near as bad as I was at your age...but you are probably a better fisherman, cause your dad is a great teacher.
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