Monday, April 27, 2015

Bassin

Saturday turned out to be colder and windier than forecast but still fish able. We're still finding fish in shallow water which is great on the fly rodWe ended up catching a hickory shad too which I've never caught in the main part of the bay

Trout fishing

Friday we hit a local stocked stream to fish for trout. I do very little freshwater fishing and even less trout fishing so it was a fun experience. Having this five minutes from the house is great

 
We went back on Sunday and found one more


Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Finally!!



The last two weeks have seen some much warmer weather and the bay has gotten to a decent temp for some good fishing. The kill season opened on Saturday but with the new regulations I'm hoping a lot fewer breeding fish were killed than in years past. Saturday was very slow for us. We didn't catch the first fish for a few hours until Bleier got this nice one:


We decided to fish for a while after that and I tied into this nice fish:


The fish was about 36" and wicked fat and heavy indicating she had not spawned out yet. All fish were obviously released. 

Very excited to see some fish around!!


Thursday, April 16, 2015

Slow start to the season

The season has been off to a slow start. They bass have been appearing sporadically in the mid bay probably as a result of the cold early spring slowing down the warm up of the bay. Mr Bleier's Facebook reminder showed a picture of a 28" bass we caught two years ago today which tells me we need to get out in shallow water again soon!

Last weekend we fished hard all day Sunday in the mid bay and there was very little life. I even resorted to wire lining for a little while with only one knockdown that didn't hook up to show for it. Beautiful day and this Saturday will be another one. 


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Calamari flies

Despite the God awful weather this weekend I'm tying up some flies for the May and June squid run on the cape. The poppers are tied using an articulated shank designed for steelhead flies. I've used these to make the red can squid variations longer as well. The other fly is like Dave Skok's red can squid but I used a 6/0 pike hook. This moves the eye further down the "mantle" of the squid to make it look a little more proportional to the actual Atlantic long fin squid that I'm trying to imitate. I don't know how the pike hook will do in saltwater but hopefully the fly will be so mangled by the end of the first day that it won't matter. 

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Squid Tying

I love tying flies for the late spring and early summer squid run on the cape. There aren't that many different squid flies out there so there is a ton of room for interpretation and experimentation with your squid patterns. Squid also change color from almost clear to tan to pink to purple when they're scared and being pursued. This gives a lot of poetic license to the coloration of squid patterns. They also have spots on them and when they're not scared they are almost clear which makes their internal organs visible. There are so many ways to skin this squid (or tie it as it were). Here are some of my favorites. The two are based on the Skok red can squid (named for the number of bud diesels consumed when he tied them) and the other is a jointed squid popper

February

There are only 24 days left in February, in my book that means 24 days until I can realistically start targeting bass again.  The first decent striper fishing in the Chesapeake is generally once we've had a sustained period of weather over 50 degrees and some sun that will warm up the water.  In late February and March the sun will warm up the water considerably more than the air temperature.  On a sunny in shallow areas with dark bottom you can actually see higher water temps than air.  These are the places I target first.  This is also a good time for kayak and shorebound anglers to explore some local spots that don't get much boat boat pressure.  In my experience the same philosophy will apply up and down the east coast for bass.  On the cape the shallowest parts of the harbors and bays will warm up to the point bass can be caught there by late April as long as we get a normal spring weather pattern.

Monday, February 2, 2015

winter fly fishing trials and tribulations

In the middle of miserable winter like this one there isn't too much to do involving fishing.  I've tied up about 1000 clousers of varying length, color and sparseness (wicked spahse is my favorite most of the time).  The boat has had every bit of maintenance done to her as have my reels.  At this point in the in the winter I strongly suggest watching the immortal boating classic "Captain Ron".  As my friend Captain Brett says: "Every boat should have a copy".

"If anything's gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there!"


Welcome Aboard Swabs!

Hello and welcome to Madness Fly Fishing!  I'm Captain Mike and I set up this blog to share some tips, experience and why I love fly fishing and all of the accoutrements that surround it so much.  Boats, motors,  trucks to tow boats. rods, reels, flies, fishing clothes, flip flops and the list goes on.  I primarily fish the east coast for bass, blues and tuna in the Chesapeake and on Cape Cod.  I take a few trips a year to the keys to fish for tarpon as well as some freshwater fishing.  

I've been fishing pretty much my entire life and I can't remember a time when it wasn't my passion.