Iowa Stocker Trout - Fall 2009

I fished Lake Petoka on "stocking day" yesterday. Great weather! It was 48 degrees...light rain. Wind wasn't bad.
I didn't get there until almost 2 hours after the fish were stocked, and apparently I missed the big FRENZY! Most folks had already caught their 5-fish limits quickly on spinners and small spoons. The action had pretty much died by the time I arrived. I probably saw a half-dozen caught during the 2 hours I was there.
I was hoping to catch some on fly gear. I tried Clousers, a Rabbit Fly, Boa Yarn Leeches...I had looks and follows, but no takes on any of them.
I tried spinning gear, and caught 2 rainbow trout on Reef Runner Cicada blade baits. Had a lot of follows on those. However, the water where I was fishing was rather shallow, so I had to move these lures faster than I really wanted to in order to keep them above the bottom.

Some flies I've been tying lately...

I've been tying more flies lately, so I thought I'd share some of the patterns that are working for me...or that I HOPE will work for me.

This is an "Epoxy and Mink Baitfish" pattern, but I used neither epoxy nor mink. The fur strip is Pine Squirrel.

These are excellent bluegill topwater flies tied using sheet foam...called "Gurglers":

Below is a Clouser Deep Minnow...this is a small version tied on a #10 hook and using Craft Fur instead of bucktail. I think the craft fur is a better choice on Clousers this small. I've been doing VERY well with these lately on bluegills and hybrid sunfish:

Below is a Stayner Ducktail pattern. The mallard flank feather is tied flat on the back...which is supposed to give it great action as is slowly sinks, and when it is retrieved. I haven't fished this pattern yet, but it looks pretty good:

This is called a Rabbit Fly. Rabbit fur tail and wing/thorax, dubbed body, and peacock herl head.

This is basically a Pine Squirrel Cheater, although I added some soft hackle near the eye of the hook.

Some EP-style baitfish

A crayfish pattern:

A zonker (rabbit strip) minnow pattern tied with a heavy conehead:

Some examples of the Boa Yarn Leech patterns that have caught a BUNCH of fish for me this year:

Night Fly-Fishing 11-13-09

We had an unseasonably nice evening on Friday night, so after supper and a bit of time with the family, I headed to a local pond to do some fly-fishing.
It was slow, as it has been for several weeks now. But, I did manage to catch a few fish. I stuck with the #8 yellow boa yarn leech pattern, and landed 3 crappies, 3 bluegills, and this 19" channel catfish. The catfish was a nice surprise this late in the year, and put up an excellent fight on my 5wt fly gear.

Night Fly-Fishing 11-01-2009

I fly-fished last night after dark. Once again it was slow?but I found a few fish scattered in the shallows. Ended up with 12 crappies, 5 bluegills. BEAUTIFUL night to be out! It was calm... comfortable @ 52 degrees?I did get sprinkled on a couple times, but it never lasted very long before clearing up again. The almost-full moon kept popping in and out of the clouds, which was pretty cool.You can see the yellow boa yarn leech I used in the picture below: