Thursday, May 28, 2009

Name That Fish!


OK, what is it and can you actually catch one on a fly? The fish is a bowfin, also called mudfish, dogfish, brindle, and a host of other unprintable names. And, yes, they can be caught on flies. Dog friend, Karl Wiexlmann, catches them regularly in the spring in Lake Erie's Presque Isle Bay. Bowfin have a wide distribution east of the Mississippi river from Central Ontario down to southern Florida. During spawning season, males get a lime-green coloration on the edges of their fins.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Fish Inspector


The Fish Dog at work doing an inspection of yellow perch in Capt. B's livewell. Afterwards the perch were released into hot peanut oil.

His Lucky Day


This white bass had an unwanted hitch-hiker in the form of a sea lamprey, one of many unwanted invasive species in the Great Lakes. The lamprey is able to attach to the outer skin of the host and eat through it, then slowy feed on the fishes' internal body fluids- pretty creepy. This lamprey was removed giving the fish another lease on life.

Bass on the Bite


Backpacker's Shop owner and long-time dog friend, Reece Fabbro, shows a chunky Detroit River largemouth bass caught while on the Detroit River with Scott Fly Rod Pro Capt. Brian Mezaros. Despite strong east winds, Capt. B, was able to steer the guys to plenty of action in a number of back bays and channels.

Big Water on the Fly!


Dog friend, Tommy Fabbro of the Backpacker's Shop had his first big-water fly fishing experience with Capt. Brian Mezaros on the Detroit River. Here is one of dozens of big white bass that were caught. Tommy completed a mega-slam by adding largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, rock bass, perch, and crappie the same day.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Guide's Day Off



Dog friend and Scott Rod Pro Staffer, Karl Wiexelmann took a day off from guiding recently to have a little fun. Here he shows a lake-run bass that hit a sculpin pattern. Karl is based in the Erie, PA, area and is one of the few Lake Erie guides to transition to warm water after the steelhead wind down for the season. Karl specializes in walk & wade trips on Presque Isle Bay for a host of species. He is an expert on tracking down over-sized smallmouth.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

From Silver to Bronze..........


Steelhead have pretty much finished their movement into Lake Erie tributaries, but another species is now on the move. There are significant numbers of smallmouth bass that are making the trip into the lower portions of most North Coast rivers right now. This phenomenon is not well known or understood, but it has been documented by biologists that there are migratory spawning populations of smallmouth in Lake Erie. Whether this is a distinct population of fish or just river-born bass that got washed into the lake during high water is not known. Regardless, it provides a brief window for river anglers to catch mega-sized smallies.