A Day on the Water

  Many fly reels will reel in your shooting line while you are false casting, casting and retrieving.  This is more of a problem with heavier tackle making long cast and retrieving energetically.  As you cast and rotate the rod, the friction free, one way bearing, will allow the reel to turn both as you accelerate the back cast and stop the forward cast. With this simple reel restraint, you can false cast, cast and retrieve all day and your reel will not take in an inch of shooting line.  You can quickly lifted it off the reel handle when...

Bead Paint Polish resupplied and some new colors added.  Now 18 Colors Fly Reel Handle Leash, make your own from face mask elastic.  See preceding Fishing Report and How To blog post.   KoreaSun Barbless   $5.00 per 50pack  now stocked in new larger sizes        

 Last November I had a good day casting Great Lakes Jiggys and Top Water Marabou Bangers.  I finally got back out on Point Mouilllee State Game Area to try for Bass and Pike.  Two boats were ahead of me fishing nearby Cattail Labyrinths.  I wound up paddling east in the lee of the Long Dyke. At a good spot, first cast to open water with a 1/0 White-Chartreuse Great Lakes Jiggy got a better than average Pike.  The next cast hooked and lost some small fish.  Further down the dyke I started getting small Pike. Then in open water I...

Light fishing pressure.  In the fast and difficult upstream water, half a dozen center pin guys fishing Beads under floats were catching and releasing a lot of Coho, big Steelhead and Brown Trout running10 to 17 inches.  Using beads under floats, just below them in easier water, I got a Steelhead and two Cohos.    Late in the day, downstream in the slow water tailout, a big spent King hen took a #6 Nuke Minnow Jig.  The Steelhead took an 8 mm Big Hole UV Orange Bead. The big Coho came on a 10mm Pink Candy Corn painted Glow Bead.  The...

October 29.  A cold snap and normal muddyish water in the Clinton Spillway Channel and surrounding Lake St. Clair.  First pass down the rip rap shore of the Spillway mouth brought a musky rush to the 5/0 topwater White Dive Danger.  I didn't see the fish itself, just the big splash as it turned away from its attack as the lure came to my rod tip.  After working the rip rap edges of the next bay, I returned back up the the rip rap edge of the Spillway mouth.  A musky, made a fly by, its large body coming out...