report with pics 5/4/08

[DEADhead]

The rivers are running pretty turbid due to the recent snow melt. I put the flies away today and got out the bait.

Plenty of shorthead and silver redhorse today. Caught a nice sized bigmouth buffalo but the fish was so feisty that the lens on my camera got splashed, so the photo didn't turn out well. A also caught a bunch of carp and some channels. Caught my first bluegill and smallie of the season. The water must finally be warming up.

Rigging for the day was a size 4 gamakatsu octopus hook with two split shot, tipped with a 1/2 or 1/3 crawler, depending on its size.

There were some nice tubercles on this silver

[Tippman]

Nice fish and variety Deadhead.

Murphys law I forgot my camera with someone yesterday and spent half a day carp fishing today. Well my average size was 16 lbs! That's my best ever. Biggest was 19lb 2oz. Just couldn't break that 20 mark, even though I'm pretty sure I had one or two on over that which got off. The average size of these fish was amazing, my wrists were actually very sore. And I had a scale, not BSing about the weight!

[DEADhead]

yeah, that buffalo doesn't look that big in the picture, but it measured from the butt end of my rod to the first guide, which is just over 32". I wish I would've gotten a girth estimate.

[goblueM]

32 inches is a pig! Nice fish. You're inspiring me to get out and do a lot more fishing for rough fish this year, particularly with the fly rod

[DEADhead]

 Originally Posted By: goblueM

You're inspiring me to get out and do a lot more fishing for rough fish this year, particularly with the fly rod

I gave it a go for the first time last season, of course now I'm hooked, and is pretty much all I do. It's nice not having to fight for spots on a river, like you do on many trout streams. The nice thing is, if you have a lot of trout nymphs, they will work for roughfish too, though I typically add a little more weight to keep them down. If you tie, just make sure you use a 2X or heavier hook, and maybe a little extra weight.