Bait Review: Berkley Havoc Devil Spear

This is the reason I don't buy Havoc like I used to. I thought these were the best baits ever but I had never seen anyone catch a fish on them. Supposedly they imitate baitfish. I will admit these are not the worst baits ever, but I fished them non-stop and didn't get a single bite and the baits tore pretty easy when I was bringing them through weeds. These are okay but I wouldn't suggest them.

Bait Review: Berkley Power Tubes

These tubes are the baits you need for Smallmouth. I like the pumpkin-seed color, because tube are meant to look like craws and you want a craw color, but the camo and smoke colors are also good. The other colors they come in are white, pumpkin/chartreuse Green Pumpkin. They are three inches long and come with a crawfish type scent. These are very good for smallmouth and largemouth but also work for trout.

Bait review series overview

I'm going to start a series of posts that are going to review baits. I'm going to review everything form Powerbait to Rapala. Its going to tell if there good or bad, the best colors and all the other specs.

Tips, tricks and Secrets: Fly fishing for bass

For this addition Of the tips tricks and secrets, I'll be " Starting your motor" on your journey into fly fishing for bass. The two types of bass you are probably going to catch are Smallmouth and Largemouth. Smallmouth love cray fish but will feed on frogs, baitfish and bugs. Largemouth love crayfish, baitfish, and frogs but will also eat snakes and lizards. As far as I know, they have yet to make a fly that looks like a snake or lizard, but large Woolly Buggers Clouser Minnows, And the clouser swimming nymph are good. Woolly buggers in a rusty or black color imitate craws and baitfish, and the Clouser minnow is self explanatory. There are many other patterns that imitate crayfish and an infinite number of bait fish patterns, but the tricky one is frogs. What imitates frogs? To answer your question, a popper. A popper is much like a frog in many ways. The disturbance on the water, and after you pop it it kind of does a little nod like a frog does when it kicks. You want to fish poppers on very calm days, because on windy days the surface disturbance will be hard to detect. Poppers are tied weedless, usually, and fishing them through reeds is good. They can also be fished on lilly pads and other typical bass cover.

For Rods you will want a six, seven, or eight weight, not because the size of the fish, but the size of the flies you will be casting. 

After this, I can't tell you much more, and I suggest you seek information from your local fly shop, take a class, or go with a guide service.

Smallmouth fishing on the Snake River

Let me get this clear. The only thing you ever need for smallmouth is a pumpkin-seed power-tube. It doesn't matter how you rig it, tube jig, or on a plain hook as long as the only thing that pokes through the plastic is the eye. You can use a straight shank or EWG if you poke the eye through the head of the tube or you can traditionally rig it on a tube or round jig-head. I used a canoe to get where I needed, then docked and fished from shore. I caught fish near undercut rock banks and weed flats. Here are some pics.

My top 10 states for trout fly fishing

I'll tell you now, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming don't have redfish like Louisiana, so don't feel bad if I don't mention your state. Also, remember, this is the states I've been to, and each state is known for something different that the other.
In any random order, Idaho ( Big Wood River, Silver Creek, South and Henrys fork of the Snake, Various forks of the Boise, Clearwater, and Salmon rivers, Kelly Creek, and last but not least, Lochsa River), Montana ( Rock Creek, various Yellowstone creeks and rivers, Madison, Boulder and Jefferson rivers, and many other out-of-the-way creeks and rivers in the middle of the mountains), Wyoming ( Wind river range, Tenton wilderness creeks, the Green River, Platte, Firehole, and Gibson rivers and many high-mountain streams and lakes), New York for its great native brook trout on many small streams and larger rivers like the Delware, Colorado  for its many high elevation freestone streams and rivers like the Eagle, Blue and Upper Colorado rivers, and many other mountain lakes and streams that you can pull of the side of the road and fish. and the other five that I'm to lazy to mention are Oregen, California, Alaska, Utah, and Northern Nevada.

Fly Fishing at Niagara Springs State Park

This is by far in my top 3 places for fly fishing in southern Idaho, behind Clear Lake and ahead of Billingsley Creek. The species in the creek include rainbow trout, various species of invasive carp, and I even saw a small white sturgeon that swam upstream from the river. I was using the streamer pattern "Slumpbuster" which is commonly used for bass and panfish, but because there were sculpin and dace in the stream, and there was not apparent hatch, I thought a streamer of some type would be good. Because of the construction on the western bank a float tube or waders is best, but if the water levels are low enough and you're willing to get wet then you can hop from rock to rock to get to the best angle for casting. I often find fish on the western side hiding under the shadow of a large tree. I didn't think I would need a pair of waders, but I recommend you bring them if you can. I caught a small rainbow on the Slumpbuster, and I suspect a Woolly Bugger would work too. 
Like I said, Its a good place to go, even for the spin fisherman, and there is also a lake in the area (remember, it costs to get to the lake).