Went to a new spot... it was nearly dry. Only some small fish of some sort were seen. Went back to where I fished the previous weekend. Water remains super-muddy. I used scent on the fly again. I think it helps in this situation for Bowfin.
I started out with the Erny's Full Metal Jacket fly I caught a couple bowfin on last trip. I had 2 BIG bowfin on, and both shook free. Disappointed, I switched to a black marabou-tailed sculpin-type fly pattern with a trimmed deer hair collar behind the conehead weight. It was a fly I purchased, so I'm not sure of the name (possibly a Conehead Bow River Bugger?)... appears to be a #2 or #4 3xl streamer hook. (picture of the fly is included below the bowfin pics).
I ended up catching all 7 of the next Bowfin strikes!
I used that same fly to drop down to a common carp that was working shallow water near shore. Getting the hook out of the fish, the shank broke. Time to switch flies again.
The next fly worked just as well for carp. It was a black-and-chartreuse microjig about 6" beneath an indicator.
Seeing some activity in the shallow water on the other side of a shallow "bowl", I thought maybe it was bowfin. I put on a Double Barrel bass popper to see if I could get on to eat on top. Whatever it was struck repeatedly, missing about 1/2 dozen times. It finally caught the popper. Shortnose Gar! Nice fat one.... 26.5".
Saw lots of turtles and grass/leopard frogs again. And quite a few snakes. This one practically crawled across my shoes.
The Fishing Spider showed up. Good-sized.
I believe this is a baby Alligator Snapping Turtle (?). Its shell seemed bumpier than a Common Snapping Turtle, but I could be mistaken.
The snake below...I couldn't see the entire snake, just what you see here, and down to the tip of its tail. Very large body, though. What you see here was about the diameter of my forearm!
Wow! This is an amazing result - and you make it sound so easy, but after all the the hours of frustration I've put in and miles up and down the river... and the lost bowfin, I know they do not give themselves up easily. Look at the ragged and bloodied condition of each of those fish, they must have fought furiously. And yes, I know well what it feels like when those big ones shake free. Do you have American lotus in the backwater areas there? I really want to get over to the Mississippi and try this scent technique now, it must be helping, but it would be a literal jungle of lotus in most of my spots right now. What size hook did your sculpin fly have? does it swim hook point up or down? and did you notice whether you were hooking the upper or lower jaw? What is the scent you are using? Were you using wire or just 20# flouro again?
ReplyDeleteMark, I was using 20 lb Fluoro again. Lasted through all 7 bowfin, the gar, bullhead, and one of the carp. Pretty tough stuff. Had a few scuffs by the end, but nothing major. The fly was a store- or online-purchase. So, I'm not sure what its called, or size. I tried to match up some hooks I have, and it appears to be either a #2 or #4 3xl streamer hook. # 2 matched up perfect for length, but the #4 matched the hook size/gap/wire better. So....could be either one. I will try to add a picture of the fly to the post above. Its about 2.75" long. Woolly bugger tail and body, deer hair trimmed collar behind the conehead weight. Rides hook-down.
DeleteI'm not exactly sure where it was hooking the most. The fly was inside the mouth, but after I netted them and carried them up the bank to get pictures, the fly usually fell out into the net. I think I've only actually had to unhook maybe 2 out of 10! There does appear to be American Lotus in some areas. The water is low, so most of it is above the current water level.
The scent I'm using is Pro-Cure gizzard shad.
Thanks for the info, I finally sealed the deal this weekend thanks to your example. I used a big landing net this time and the hook fell out as the bowfin was thrashing around in the net, but I think it was in the upper jaw, I lost 2 other bowfin strikes. Probably could have done better with a hook point down type of fly, but in that case I wouldn't have been able to work the blowdowns and as it turned out that's where all the fish were because there was no lotus at all between Port Louisa and lake Odessa.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, Mark! Glad it worked for you, and you figured out where to target those bowfin in that situation! How was the water clarity there? The bowfin usually throw my fly once in the net, too. I'm fine with that! :)
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