Touch of Fall

[Rex Robinson]

Launched my kayak at dawn this morning and noticed the cooler temps in the air and water as I waded out to settle in for a little paddle to my favorite spot.tested the top water bite with a popper and caught a few of these.  Not much size but they were hitting it aggressively, so I continued to fish the popper.  Always hard to change to another fly if your getting hits even if they are small.Changed to a sub-surface fly and managed to catch a few in this size range.These were the flies that produced today minus the pink bed eyed dragon that was sacrificed to the tree gods.Got to test out a spoon fly that I tied this past winter and had approval from a few gills.  Was hoping to pick up a larger gill on it as it has a very good swimming motion and hugs the bottom.  May have to get me a sinking line and fish this more often.  No takes from Mr. Whiskers or any bass that sometimes take my offerings and never connected with a big gill but all in all a good day as I had the lake all to myself and heard nothing but the water dripping off my paddle and my popper chugging.  Hoping to try my other nearby lake soon while the leaves are falling. 

[Jen Nayfly]

Sounds like a successful trip and a beautiful morning!

[Rex Robinson]

Vince, the black striped gold fly in the top of the picture is my spoon fly.  It's made with 5 minute epoxy with gold glitter mixed in.  I use silly putty as a mold. I make an impression with an lead egg sinker into the putty to make the spoon shape, set my pre-dressed hook into the mold and drip in the epoxy into the mold covering the hook shank.  Let it set for about 10 minutes then remove from the mold.  You can paint them up with nail polish to your liking, put on eyes and seal with clear nail polish.  They have a wicked wobble when pulled through the water and on the fall like spoons do.  There are some videos on the web showing how to do this.  I've got glitter in all different colors so I'm probably going to make some more experimenting with maybe some slender shapes.

[Vince Fusco]

Sounds like a good day to me. That lake has some pretty colored gills in it. Is that yellow with black striped one on the top your spoon fly? Got a recipe for it?