What a blustery day.  It was 65 degrees alright, but the wind was blowing 25-35 mph, and a drizzle didn’t help. 

I decided to take a client out on the river anyway, as he was a beginner, wanted some flycasting instruction.  I knew could find an area protected from the wind, get in some good instruction, and maybe catch a fish or two.

 While working on his flycast, he did manage several casts at some good cover, and had a reasonable retrieve with the deadly “boomshocker” tiny minnow imitation  I thought should have gained some interest.  Nothing. 

Smallmouth were shut down for the evening, and I sort of verified this when I was retrieving a snag.  Two or three smallmouth took off from under a logjam we were just working, and they had not given the boomshocker even a follow.

It started raining pretty good at that point, and I wondered what the heck I was going to do to pull a rabbit out of my hat this time.  My client had forgotten a hat, and his head was getting wet, so I gave him my Tilley and put my hood up.

I decided we should get out of the river and go to a huge tree that had fallen in the river, gathered up leaves, and became a hotel for bluegills.  I was thinking bluegills are less weather sensitive, they’d let him get alot closer to cast, and there would be less wind there, too.

Using a #10 sparrow nymph, my client caught somewhere between 20 and 30 bluegills from what looked like the same 5′x5′ spot.  Man they must have been packed in there!

Anyway, he got alot of practice casting, retrieving, hooking and landing fish.  Bluegills are excellent for this experience, anyway.  I got a sense my client still wanted to catch alot of big bass on his first flyfishing outing, but this never happens, and I think we ended up with an almost perfect outing given his experience and the weather.

What I took away from this experience is this.  On those weather change days when fish seemed to shut down, it helps to think about all the species you have access to, and which ones are sensitive to weather, which are not.  Don’t be afraid to make a drastic change to your method or location when what you are doing isn’t working.

What a day.  While most anglers have put up their fishing gear and are focusing on football games, etc., October for me has been something I look forward to all year.  It has been said that “September is hot, and November is sullen, but October is like a fine wine”.  I couldn’t agree more.

 On this particular October day I had decided to kayak float fish my favorite stretch of the Huron River, and simplify things a bit by cutting over to my ultralight spinning tackle, a handfull of circle hooks, and some soft plastic “tube” lures which imitated crayfish.

 The morning was slow, and even though I could see fish and casted to them, they were uninterested. 

A few hours later everything changed.  Things warmed up, and I felt like I was in a different world.  There was life everywhere; squirrels, deer, insects, birds, and yes, fish.  I heard slurping and splashing along the banks…obviously the feed was on.

It was fish after fish, anywhere from 8″ to 18″.  Smallmouth, rockbass, largemouth, bluegills, and a warmouth.  Grand slam plus.   They were mostly concentrated near the bank, so the cast had to be a good one.  In fact, the most productive cast was one that actually hit the bank, then was dragged off. 

The best action for any crayfish lure or fly is what I call a “twitch, twitch, twitch - drift” retrieve.  Remember when you were a kid and were catching crayfish?  Remember how they would scoot when you chased them?  That’s what you are trying to imitate.

It was a terrific fall fishing day.  For those anglers that put everything away when the weather turns a bit cooler, I’ve got just one thing to say:  get your stuff back out, and go fishing.