Fishing Blog

double bunny streamer

hook- streamer style to match target species
thread- any, I like the hot spot read makes on these colors
head- cone
body- two strips magnum cut rabbit strip, a few added pieces of flash added to the top

A versatile fly made from the joining of two separate strips of magnum cut rabbit. What I am liking most of all is the infinite color and size combinations, the possibilities are really endless. I tied my fly on a size 6 streamer hook but its an easy pattern to up or down-size. I'm making them in all different sizes for steelhead, trout, and bass...

The top strip of rabbit is fastened at the tail and the same single piece is then pulled forward to be tied off inside the cone. The bottom strip is pierced by the hook and run up the shank of the hook to the top where it should be set to marry with the top piece, tie it also off at the cone on the underside.

ice fishing report for the fox chain of lakes

The ice depth on our southern lakes are quickly approaching five inches. Snowmobiles and atv's are out in full force right now so foot travel in most places is relatively safe. Taking advantage of some of the firmer ice we made a long trek on a hunch to an area we believed might be an off the beaten path wintering hole.

footsteps on the fox chain of lakes

It didn't take long to realize that the pressure here was 100% local. This was one of those spots where everyone knew everyone but us, and we stuck out like a sore thumb. Not to say they weren't nice to us, in fact they were down right cordial. Small talk and a few anecdotes aside, the fishing was down right decent. We came from far and wide searching for papermouths and with a good bit of sorting we took a respectable bag.

a fox chain of lakes papermouth pile

Warm weather and some rain looms in the near future and is predicted for mid-week stretching into the weekend. It's supposed to drop down to sub-arctic temps right after the warm front so I would imagine it wont make much of a dent in the ice, we shall see.

ice fishing pistakee lake

A short report from new years day. We fished Pistakee Bay working our way from the south end up. It actually worked out well catching bluegill in the shallows progressively working are way to deeper water for crappies as it got later.

In the shallows it took many holes to get on a single fish but once I found that first good hole, it was really good. Some of the best bluegills so far this winter came to hand.

Pistakee lake bluegills

As we worked into the deeper water a few more crappies were caught along with a few nice whites (not pictured) and plenty of sheephead.

small crappie from Pistakee lake

Those not familiar with the chain or Pistakee lake in specific should note that Pistakee Bay is one of the few deep spots on the south end of our chain. The depth here provides a huge wintering pool for multiple species and the phrase "community hole" hits the nail right on the head. I don't think its such a bad phrase because at least people fish here for a reason. The reason is because there are fish here, Duh...

Knowing that brilliant revelation, now you just have to be smarter going about catching the fish. I've had some of my best success fishing plastics here. Showing the fish something different and once they are interested, take it away with reckless regard. Ice depth was over 4 inches and growing like crazy while we were there.

big things come in small packages

“Currents” has long been one of my favorite fishing blogs. It’s somewhat local, yet far enough to feel unfamiliar. But, it focuses on those things that I love most about fishing; trout, smallies, fly fishing, the driftless, and tying. I've been following along post by post for almost a year now. Recently, I had made a comment on one of the fly patterns on their site called the “dirty mop”, a great looking bugger pattern that looks dynamite for some small stream trouts. Low and behold, a tiny package arrived at my door just in time for Christmas. Its contents, a handful of “dirty mops” that I promise to put to good use on the trout streams next spring.

John, thanks so much for the time you put into making my Christmas that much more merry. For the rest of you, be sure to check out their site.

dirty mops (photo borrowed from Currents)

Off to a Cold and Dead Start

Yes, I did get out on New Year's Day to fish for carp. It was cold, windy, the place I was fishing was half covered in ice. I caught nothing. I was fishing in the "First Fishing Folly (FFF)" a fun tournament sponsored by the Carp Anglers Group. Carp fishermen from all over the US and Canada get out on Jan. 1 and try to catch a carp. Last year I also fished the FFF on New Year's Day. It was warm and the carp were hitting as I landed my first one of the year on Jan. 1, 2012. What a difference a year makes.

As I write this, just about all the ponds and lakes in RI are locked in ice. Even slow moving water is freezing over. Hey, it's winter and I suppose that is what's supposed to happen. Last year, we were treated to an unusually warm winter. I fished most of January and February in open water in RI and caught carp all winter long. There were occasional periods of thin ice, but it rarely stuck around for more than a few days. I have a feeling we are looking at a more traditional winter this year. On those cold winters in the past I usually got my first ones in late February or early March unless I found them in fast moving river currents.

However, there are those who do know where to catch them in the winter with good success. I have a friend in MA who was also fishing the FFF in MA waters north of here. He started out at midnight and fished into the next day. He came away with 8 carp on New Year's Day, quite an astounding feat for Jan. 1. So, they do hit in the cold if you know the places to fish.

2012: Year of the Mirror Carp

I hit a number of milestones in 2012 in my carp fishing exploits. They all all center around mirror carp. I got my first 40 lber. in the spring, a beast of a fish that was the largest mirror caught in in the CAG national Big 4 contest and one of the biggest mirrors landed in the US this year. That fish weighed 40 lbs., 8 oz. and was a recapture of a fish I had caught four years ago in MA waters when it weighed over 36 lbs. I also landed the first and only 30 lb. mirror carp ever officially recorded in RI. That beast tipped the scales at 31 lbs., 8 oz. It is the currect CAG state record for mirror carp. In addition, the numbers were there for me. It is the only year in which I have been able to land well over 500 mirror carp. Compare that figure with only about 200 common carp that I landed in 2012.

For those who don't know what a mirror carp is, let me explain. When most people think of carp, they think of common carp, those fish that have small scales in a predictable pattern and look like a large goldfish. Most of these commons look the same. Mirror carp are really the same fish biologically (Cyprinus Carpio), however they are different both genetically and visually. The name originates from their large shiny scales on smooth bodies that have some resemblance to a mirror although some mirrors are fully scaled with random scaling. Many mirrors have irregular and patchy scaling making them unique in their looks and easy to identify leading many fishermen, especially in the UK, to give large specimens nicknames. I know of some fishermen in New England who take side photos of their mirror carp and keep these pictures in photo books hoping to use these photos to identify recaptures.

Here in RI we have a unique mirror carp fishery and quite possibly the very best mirror fishery in the entire USA. Way back at the turn of the century the Blackstone River system that runs from Worcester, MA to Pawtucket, RI was stocked heavily with mirror carp. To this day they have thrived and populated the Blackstone as well as any body of water that runs off it. They have also turned up in just about every pond and lake that has carp in RI, though they are rare in many places other than the Blackstone River system.

I've caught some big ones this year and big numbers of mirrors mainly because I target them. In my mind they are the most unique fish in RI's freshwater, and that's why I pursue them.

home is where the... crappie are?

I lived here going on a decade and with the abundance of waters surrounding my home there is always somewhere new to pioneer. This is Lake County Illinois after all, and home to the Fox Chain of Lakes. It makes it sometimes so easy to bypass some of those small waters right outside your front door.

My neighborhood, just like many others, is speckled with many flood bearing retention ponds. Most of them are tiny but a couple have both the size and depth to support some healthy populations of fish. I've always known that some of the local kids and adults alike have had success with some pretty nice largemouth here. What I never knew that there was such a robust population of crappies. Even more surprising is that those ponds I thought to have no more then a maximum depth of 5 feet were actually closer to 10. Hmm?

This morning I snuck out for 30 mins to test the waters. Two holes were drilled in the basin area of this little pond. The reality is I couldn't get the bait down half way before a flash mob of fish were rising up after it. Half a dozen crappies and nearly a dozen gills came through the ice before deciding to call it quits. Not bad for a short morning. Since there is a solid 3 inches and growing, I plan on taking my son back out here in the next day or so. It will be good to get him on some fish and give some of these larger bodies of water a little extra time to solidify.

ice fishing my subdivision ponds

Sometimes its easy to overlook somethings so obvious.