Tag Archives: bobbercator

balanced leech victim

I managed to seduce a few of the unwary

It’s an excuse to fiddle mostly … the discovery of something new that you’ve never tried  stimulates both optimism and creativity. The normal guardrails that exist when being shown something vanish when it’s a chance encounter; something read, something seen, or something accidentally observed.

This week I was fiddling with “balanced leeches”, and after viewing several videos, numerous fly patterns and articles describing the style and theory behind the practice – it sounded like great fun. A large Bobber-cator suspends a leech pattern in the water – with beads tied forward of the eye to “balance” the fly in a horizontal attitude, versus hanging from the indicator perpendicularly.

In theory, the wave and wind action would then make the fly dance fetchingly on the end of its tether, compelling even the most wary fish to scarf it down.

While it was fun staring at the strike indicator waiting for it to disappear, the theory and the practice proved much different. I hooked and landed three fish but each ate the leech after I moved the indicator with a short strip. I tried diligently but the wave action induced dance failed to yield a fish strike – but mitigating circumstances might have altered the result.

I was fishing the deep end of the lake – which is less conducive to flies fished close to the surface. I opted to fish the fly about 3.5 feet from the indicator to give it some sinking ability – but I was attending a local club’s Berryessa outing and launched where the club intended, versus launching where shoreline and depth aided this style. While the club promptly roared away towards parts unseen (likely shallower), I was left in the “knife cut” portion of the lake where the canyon near the dam makes the depth drop away abruptly.

I  moved out of the creek arm and into the open portion of the lake where waves and gusty wind made the action on the fly much more vigorous. I focused on the points and drop-offs that were visible close to shore and managed a few grabs as well as a brace of spotted bass.

Spotted700

Water temperature was about 62 degrees, which is on the chill side but not excessively so,  and might have made fish less willing to chase or swim up from the depths below.

I encountered a few fish chasing minnows in an after bay and managed to land one of them. These fish had proven (in earlier trips) difficult to catch as they move about with great speed chasing the bait swarm. With the balanced leech technique you can leave the fly stationary until the feeding fish return to where it was cast, then give it a twitch to induce a take.

In simple sight testing the fly, observing wave action on the suspended bait, the sparser dressed flies were much more animated and “swam” better. Large clumps of marabou do not respond to the gentle motion of wave and wind and tend to simply “bob” up and down. Traditional leech flies, with the wing (tail) tied sparsely – swam quite nicely when the indicator was disturbed.

I used enough marabou to give good silhouette but not enough to make the fly opaque. The overall flue length was chosen to position the hook in the center of the fly, offering ample movement of the tail and palmered hackle, but not so long as to induce the short strike, where the fish misses the hook entirely. The double bead offers a chance for a “rattle” when yanked – and is something I am fiddling with to add sound to my bass flies.

As the weather warms I’ll move to the shallower sections of the lake to fish over the emergent weed beds. Numerous weed “shoals” exist on the east side of the lake that harbor a lot of fish during summer months. I’m thinking this method will give me the opportunity to fish within the clumps – as well as suspend a fly above the weeds indefinitely .. offering a couple options I’ve not had before.

I did manage to bend a few of the dressmaker pins used to support the beads. They will deform on the occasional snag – as well as yanked through wooden snags or similar underwater obstacles. I simply bent the pins back into their original shape with finger pressure. I could see some flies having more issue with pin deformity – but only if fly components were attached directly to the pin instead of the shank. As my flies were simplistic in design, akin to Wooly Bugger flies, I had no issue with the pins and fly construction.

The Skunk BEING Off the Boat

It’s something we share with baseball players; the Obvious Funk, the hitless streak – where reading all the books, and tying all the flies, and all them hours afield and all that practice results in repeated blankage … no hits, runs, nothing left on …

Unfamiliar turf to be sure. I found myself starting with forlorn, moving to melancholy, which quickly became resentment as the streak continued.  As my lower lip began to resemble Pinocchio’s nose and my suffering intensified, I realized that “getting bit” was akin to Popeye’s Spinach, how without the ability to torture things smaller than me, I was a caricature of my former self.

I’d love to blame Southern California voters, or Republicans, or some faceless nemesis  in human form, but my adversary has been so much bigger than me that I can’t envision a standup fight, so much as a duck and weave – and hope I can outrun the SOB. As mentioned ad nauseum,  weather and its after affects have shuttered most of the fishing in my area. Drought extincted the small water – or warmed it enough to kill everything  in it. Drought emptied the reservoirs, and their subsequent filling has left them unstable and unproductive.

I’d hoped my annual shift to Shad fishing would buy me a precious few months of solace, but after each trip I returned despondent and empty handed – which after a few hours always became a source of mirth. Us alpha predators being  gifted with an overly active optimistic vein – which converts sulking and self pity into  new flies, new resolve for exploration, and the adrenalin to get up at 5AM and submit to additional piscatorial ridicule.

Like last year exploring Lake Berryessa, this year I’ve been moving through all the access points into the American River as it moves through Sacramento and the outlying burbs. Not being a native, yet working in Sacramento, my coworkers are assisting in pointing out which access lead to the nudist beaches, which are the most prone to car hijackings, which have the beer parties and all the underage talent, and how the northern accesses are the affluent neighborhoods and the southern accesses less so …

shadface500

My adoration for shad has me fishing alone, as the few fishermen I know in the area simply don’t care for them much.  This makes exploration of a new stretch of the river extremely slow, but it is beneficial in soothing my wounded ego.

I use a “10 and 10” style for covering water. Ten casts and then ten steps, which is a slow but surefire way to find the deep holes the fish inhabit in between egg laying.

Most of my fishless outings end with me living vicariously through the long lines of spin fishermen catching them with floats and flies. I find watching others catch fish is akin to  Methadone for opiate addiction, not the same … but takes the edge off.

AmerShad600

This morning I tried a new spot and as I surveyed the mile or so of water visible to me – all those books and false casts whispered, “if I were a fish I’d live right … here.”

… no one was more surprised than I was when I set the hook.