So it's been a long time since my previous posting in here. It has also been rather quiet on the fishing front on my behalf.
To be perfectly honest, I'm slowly waking up from the hibernation. I started experimenting with some EP fiber-like material and it seems to be excellent for tying smallish baitfish patterns. The fibers are very inexpensive (as a cheapskate I am), they shed water so the flies remain very lightweight and easy to cast. I will tell more about these patterns when I have some pictures taken.
I'm also waiting for some new tackle to arrive. I bought myself a one more reel and a spare spool for the pike adventures and a new saltwater rod. I will make a review for the rod as soon I have it in my hands. So the tackle madness has begun, just three and a half months to go...
I also have a few more things to try this season. While checking my fly boxes, I realized I've been chucking only very bright colored flies. White body with shocking fluorescent contrasts, full fluorescent bodies with black stripes etc.. I don't know why I haven't used the darker colors, as I used to do back in the days, when I fished with lures. This season I will use a lot of brown and olive colors, as well as black. One more thing to test is the smaller baitfish patterns. Every autumn I love spotting the big mamas hitting schools of small baitfish on the nearby river. It seems that they don't always prefer bigger prey, as those baitfish are only in the 70-120 mm range.
Last autumn I tried an 80 mm pattern after I couldn't get any strikes with bigger flies (120-200 mm is my usual size). I managed to hook a few small jacks and had a chance to hold a 5-6kg fish for a while. Luckily it got off the hook before my fluorocarbon leader had a chance to get snapped. One bite from a bigger pike is enough to destroy a thick mono or fluorocarbon, even if it seems to work ok with smaller jacks. Never use fluorocarbon or mono leaders for bigger fish!!
