Lost River outfitters Ketchum, Idaho (review)

This is by far the best fly shop I've ever been to. There was lots of clothing and other apparel, flies, tying materials, fishing tools and best of all the fishing report was up-to-date and the lady there was very helpful. When I asked her what was hatching down on the Big Wood, she told me the drakes hatching at night and that brown-orange foam hoppers were good if the drakes weren't hatching. I bought some detached bodied mayflies, some brown-orange hoppers, a fly that I forgot the name to ( it had pheasant tail feathers and a shuck for a tail, a coppery type chenille and a copper wire rib for a body, at the front it had peacock herl and a bit of deer hair facing the opposite way it would on an elk hair cassis, and a green hackle at the front) and an iridescent parachute adams.   Like I said before, this is the best fly shop I've been to and if you're going through Ketchum then I suggest stopping there.

Tips, Tricks and Secrets: Largemouth bass

Largemouth Bass


Largemouth bass are probably considered the most sought-after game fish along with crappie. Back 50 or so years spoons were probably used widley because they were heavy enough to cast a long ways and back the when fishing wasn't connected to science they thought it was a good imitation of a minnow. They would also use crank baits (lipped diving plugs) but these have one action usually, wiggle like a swimming minnow. They are very effective when bounced of structure. Then came along the line of plastic worms. These things were killer in every water no matter what. They also created other soft plastics like swimbaits, craws, finesse worms and all kinds of other things. These were pretty cheap and effective. With swimbaits, the size of the bait means the size of the fish. Small swimbaits can catch large and small bass. In clear, colder waters people might use a HUGE rainbow trout imitation. Bluegill and panfish swimbaits are good in clear water when bass are not feeding but are chasing. If you drop it right out there and then make it come right up next to the fish they will get annoyed and chase the panfish away. Lizard and other creatures are good even if the imitate something that doesent swim. Other minnow imitations include flukes. 
There are hard plastic lures called jerk baits. These work for pike and muskie, bass, and even brown and bull trout. They imitate a struggling minnow and the action is often created by the fisherman who is twitching his rod. There are lipless crankbaits, top waters which have a propeller blade that creates bubbles and looks like a dying minnow. Back into the soft plastics there are tubes, which if vertically jigged work for crappie, and with bigger tubes, they imitate crawfish and usually have a raw jig embedded in the tube. There are wiggle snakes which are long worm type bait that are usually retrieved slowly.  
This concludes largemouth bass fishing part 1. Thanks for reading and a part two is on the way!

Tips, Tricks and secrets: Smallmouth Bass

Smallmouth Bass

Considered the best fight for their size, smallmouth fishing is becoming popular in the west. Although, largemouth bass are probably going to remain popular because of the bass masters,  Smallmouth is probably the favored fish of the north-western states with colder waters such as Idaho and Utah, although there are many good smallmouth lakes in southern Utah, New Mexico, And even southern Colorado.  

Although a boat is good for huge reservoirs like Salmon Creek Falls, Flaming Gorge and other big lakes along rivers like the Snake, Green and Colorado rivers, I have caught many smallmouth on shore. 

Smallmouth are known for hiding near rocks and spawning in gravel or under rocks. A rocky shore and a muddy bottom often baffles shore fisherman because they have no way of telling where the structure is. Most Smallmouth will be in lakes with clear water, so this isn't usually a problem, but if it isn't clear enough and you cant see what I call " rock bars" than it may be best to walk along the bottom. Speaking of clear water, smallmouth have good daytime vision and hearing so they are often found in the center of a rocky bay. 

Smallmouth love crayfish because they live in the same area, rocks. Smallmouth will like bait fish imitations such as crank baits, But the best is usually a soft plastic crawfish rigged Texas and dragged across the bottom. Jigs with curly tail grubs are good, live minnows are also good. Bass poppers are popular among fly fisherman. 

This pretty much concludes our smallmouth part 1. and once I learn some more I'll share the secrets.

Tips, Tricks and Secrets: Trout

TROUT

Trout are fun to catch on flies, and I believe that fly fishing was created for catching trout and other species that eat bugs, and then later developed into a sport where a wide variety of species could be taken. I will later to a part on just fly fishing/tying but for this post we'll be talking about bait/lure fishing.    

Trout in lakes like power-bait but in streams, its a different ball-game. In streams, spinners a popular, but streams are best for fly-fishing. Spinners such as rooster tails, and panther-martins are widley used. Trout eat other trout minnows and other species of minnows so that is a good choice where there will be bait-fish. Simple 2-way eagle claw spinners that have a hook with four colored beads and a small spinner blade work great for clear and semi-clear water. Worms are classical, but catch everything in the lake/stream. I was fishing in a small pond and fished with out a bobber because I didn't know at what depth the fish would be at but I still caught three rainbows.

I will have another fly fishing section just for trout.

Review of Mitchell Epic 2100 Spinning combo

I recently bought a Mitchell spinning combo, the Epic 2100. Its a spinning combo that I got at Sportsman's Warehouse. The rod is 6 feet long and made of IM-8 graphite. It is medium action. The reel is cast aluminum and holds 6-12 pound line. I found that it works best if you spool it with eight pound mono. You can turn the handle so that the line comes off instead of on but it creates something that is kind of like backlash on a bait caster. It has a screw and above it a collar grip to tighten the reel to the rod. Over all on a scale of 1 to Abu-Garcia ( just kidding, 1-10) its probably an 8.
Sadly, yesterday while I was on a canoeing trip the tips of the rod broke right off. I was pushing the canoe and it hit a reed and snap it was gone. The thing is, the reel alone would've cost forty dollars so the rod was basically free.

Review of Cabelas Wind River Fly combo

This is gonna be my first review. I recently received on of these fly rods. It came with no dents or other problems. The one I ordered was a 905-4 which means 9 foot, 5 weight, 4 piece. It also had backing, WF (weight forward) line, leader, and tippet. I don't know how to test the quality of the backing because the fish I've caught aren't very big. The line rates to be 7 out of 10 because, well, it comes in the combo. The tippet is probably a 4 out of 10 but I'm not the greatest caster.  The reel is cast-aluminum and its good quality and the rod is good also. I've caught small ( I mean like 10 inch small) rainbows on it and it held up well, of course that's not much of a fight.Overall I was satisfied.

A Question for you guys

Ok so I recently came across some birthday money and I'm looking into a bait caster. The most I want to pay is around $110.00 but I'm willing to pay a little more. I've looked at Cabelas and Bass Pro and living in Idaho, I could go to the bass pro in Salt Lake or the Cabelas in Boise. I want a rod/reel combo and I've liked Abu-Garcia and the combo's that Bass Pro makes themselves. I have never owned a bait caster but I've used a friends before. Like I said I have no idea so tell me in the comments what you think is good or email me at salmon_marlinfish@yahoo.com.