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Do you catch more fish on a fly rod, or spinning rod?
I catch more spinning 5%  5%  [ 1 ]
I catch more on the fly 74%  74%  [ 14 ]
I catch just as much on both. 21%  21%  [ 4 ]
Total votes : 19
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 9:22 pm • # 1 
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Hey guys, I'm a long time lurker who finally decided to make a post here.
I nearly exclusively flyfish, but recently I decided to get into the UL spinning scene, thanks to these forums. Got a BPS Microlite with a tennessee handle and have been fishing with it for the past week and noticed that I'm a lot less productive on the spinning rod than I am on the fly.

For some context, I'm throwing 1/16 jigs, rebel crickhoppers and various other small crankbaits.
I'm considering changing the sizes of the treble hooks just to land more strikes as often times, they will hit the lure, but leave unhooked. Anyone have any tips in hooking in more fish? I'm probably catching 3-4 times more fish on my fly rod than my spinning rod right now, and I'm curious to as whether anyone else finds that to be the case.


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 11:59 pm • # 2 
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Stay with fly fishing, more fun. Welcome to the forum. Pictures tell the story and are to be believed. Enjoy the fly.


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 7:23 am • # 3 
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That's a very difficult question to answer.
And I'm not sure your survey will provide you much of an answer to your question. You've posted on a fly fishing forum, and an ultralite one, at that, so you've got a pretty dedicated population here to start with. We will almost all catch more on a fly because we almost all fish more WITH a fly.
I'm guessing you want to know, hour for hour, cast for cast, which do we consider more effective?
To be honest, I think the answer to that question for me is 'both', depending on the species and the circumstances. I do very little spin fishing anymore, but I do some every summer, and I still enjoy it. I started out with a spinning rod as a youngster, but have been fly fishing for the last 35 years and over that time, doing less and less spin fishing. I think for me, the challenge of late has been to try to catch with flies, fish that are more easily or commonly caught on hardware. Yellow perch is an example.

But I will offer this: Where fish have been constantly exposed to hardware or where fish are in a very easily spooked situation (such as low or clear water), the fly angler with a subtle presentation can often dramatically outfish his bait- and hardware-flanging colleagues. I've had this experience on heavily fished bass waters - almost nobody here fishes bass with flies.

The clue, I think, is in your statement that you just took up UL spinning and you are currently finding it unproductive - very much the way many spin anglers feel when they first take up fly fishing. While some of the skills and techniques are transferable, many are not.
Hang in there. If you are generally enjoying the spinning, then you now have an opportunity to learn and discover a whole different way to fish, and what could be bad about that?
Oh, and on the treble modification: You might also try clipping two of the three hooks off. It allows a smaller mouth to surround the business end, and makes releases a lot more enjoyable for both parties.
brent


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:42 am • # 4 
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Fly rods 0-3wt, by far my most productive. I do own a ul spinning rod, but I don’t use it very often. Fly rod 99.5 percent of the time. Like mentioned above, posting the question on a ul fly fishing forum is not going to give you true results. With that being said we do have a ul spinning section on here as well as Tenkara.


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:12 pm • # 5 
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wheezeburnt wrote:
That's a very difficult question to answer.
And I'm not sure your survey will provide you much of an answer to your question. You've posted on a fly fishing forum, and an ultralite one, at that, so you've got a pretty dedicated population here to start with. We will almost all catch more on a fly because we almost all fish more WITH a fly.
I'm guessing you want to know, hour for hour, cast for cast, which do we consider more effective?
To be honest, I think the answer to that question for me is 'both', depending on the species and the circumstances. I do very little spin fishing anymore, but I do some every summer, and I still enjoy it. I started out with a spinning rod as a youngster, but have been fly fishing for the last 35 years and over that time, doing less and less spin fishing. I think for me, the challenge of late has been to try to catch with flies, fish that are more easily or commonly caught on hardware. Yellow perch is an example.

But I will offer this: Where fish have been constantly exposed to hardware or where fish are in a very easily spooked situation (such as low or clear water), the fly angler with a subtle presentation can often dramatically outfish his bait- and hardware-flanging colleagues. I've had this experience on heavily fished bass waters - almost nobody here fishes bass with flies.

The clue, I think, is in your statement that you just took up UL spinning and you are currently finding it unproductive - very much the way many spin anglers feel when they first take up fly fishing. While some of the skills and techniques are transferable, many are not.
Hang in there. If you are generally enjoying the spinning, then you now have an opportunity to learn and discover a whole different way to fish, and what could be bad about that?
Oh, and on the treble modification: You might also try clipping two of the three hooks off. It allows a smaller mouth to surround the business end, and makes releases a lot more enjoyable for both parties.
brent



Yeah, I could imagine fish being very wary of gear around these parts as it's incredibly pressured- the stretch of river I fish sees at least 4-6 fishermen everyday. Maybe I'll give the less aggressive presentations a rest and try out some more finesse tactics.

It's interesting that you say perch is easier to catch on gear as opposed to a fly as I find it to be quite the contrary. However, seeing as they're my favorite coarse fish right next to pumpkinseeds, I've taken copious amounts of time to learn where they school and what flies work for them.

As for the trebles, I think I'm just going to take them off an replace them with single hooks. I'm just sick of worrying about getting hooked while releasing a fish.

@linecaster
Fly fishing is king in my book, but why I'm so interested in UL spinning is how one can incorporate elements of fly fishing into their UL spinning. Owning a 1wt and a 3wt, I seldom tie big baitfish patterns, but with this rod, I've taken a liking to tying "flures" in the 1.5-2.5gram range. Taking this rod along with my fly rod has also opened up a lot of water where I normally wouldn't be able to fish as well, which makes it all the better of a companion rod to my fly rod.

@mbarker
I do suppose bringing this up in the UL spinning forum would be a better idea, but I had just assumed that some of you would have done some spinning from time to time.


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:38 pm • # 6 
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Coelaecanth:
Ah. You've peaked my interest! I'd love to hear what you find most productive for yellow perch. My go-to is the MMMinnnow, but I bet you've got some real insight to offer!
brent


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 11:04 pm • # 7 
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wheezeburnt wrote:
Coelaecanth:
Ah. You've peaked my interest! I'd love to hear what you find most productive for yellow perch. My go-to is the MMMinnnow, but I bet you've got some real insight to offer!
brent



Right now I have this white minnow fly consisting of a marabou tail 2/3rds the length of the shank, diamond pearl braid wraps, and some black crystal flash secured onto the body for a lateral stripe. Usually I'll have some with lead wraps and some without depending on whether their deep or not.
Right now there's a lot of baby bass fry, and I've found that this type of pattern really catches them.

My second favorite pattern for them is brian chan's marabou wiggler; I'll usually let that sink deeper, and slowing strip it in. Between these two flies, I've more or less covered the perch situation in my area. However, there have been times where it's been super rough and I've had to resort to smaller midges and nymph type patterns... the rainbow warrior is especially productive in these cloudier waters.


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 6:47 am • # 8 
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Coelaecanth:
On that first fly, is there any 'body' or 'wing' material other than the pearl flash and black flash?
And thanks! I'll try these.
brent


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 11:55 am • # 9 
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wheezeburnt wrote:
Coelaecanth:
On that first fly, is there any 'body' or 'wing' material other than the pearl flash and black flash?
And thanks! I'll try these.
brent



Nope! The krystal flash that acts as a lateral line also extends to the marabou, similar to a wooly bugger. When I'm fishing super clear water, I'll use a light olive diamond braid with a live olive marabou, and that works pretty well in the clearer waters.

If you have juvenile 1.5-2.5" bass in your area, this pattern does some serious damage. So simple to tie, and there are so many variations you can do with it to match whatever baitfish are around your area. All you have to do is change the diamond braid and marabou!

Enjoy!


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 12:19 pm • # 10 
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Thanks so much! yes, our perch water also holds plenty of juvenile smallmouth, but also shiners and creek chub , so I"m guessing this fly will be a hit. The yellow perch have all left my home stream for the season, but I'll tie some up over the winter to be ready for the spawning run.


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 12:07 pm • # 11 
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wheezeburnt wrote:
Thanks so much! yes, our perch water also holds plenty of juvenile smallmouth, but also shiners and creek chub , so I"m guessing this fly will be a hit. [color=#800000]The yellow perch have all left my home stream for the season,[/color] but I'll tie some up over the winter to be ready for the spawning run.


I guess the ones that left knew that you would catch them if they stayed around. :)


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2018 4:54 pm • # 12 
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Cliff: :lol :lol
More likely they were laughing so hard at my feeble efforts that they forgot to swim, and all floated downstream.
I did catch one earlier this year that I released, and he swam back to me, poked his head out and said "You're pretty good, but you're no Hilbert".
brent


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 3:44 pm • # 13 
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I'm a big fan of Chan's marabou wiggler as well. I don't know that it really works any better than a small woolly bugger (it has effectively the same silhouette) but it's simpler to tie. In my waters once you find the school of perch they will take any small dark fly with good movement. They're very schooled up though -- you might catch one on every cast one one spot and nothing 10 yards down the shore.


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 8:40 pm • # 14 
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lka wrote:
I'm a big fan of Chan's marabou wiggler as well. I don't know that it really works any better than a small woolly bugger (it has effectively the same silhouette) but it's simpler to tie. In my waters once you find the school of perch they will take any small dark fly with good movement. They're very schooled up though -- you might catch one on every cast one one spot and nothing 10 yards down the shore.



For targeting coarse fish, I find it's better as their mouths are usually smaller. You're right though, it effectively is a tiny wooly bugger. I also enjoy tying these in ostrich herl- it makes a super simple tie even easier and less messy!


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2018 9:28 pm • # 15 
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coelaecanth wrote:
lka wrote:
I'm a big fan of Chan's marabou wiggler as well. I don't know that it really works any better than a small woolly bugger (it has effectively the same silhouette) but it's simpler to tie. In my waters once you find the school of perch they will take any small dark fly with good movement. They're very schooled up though -- you might catch one on every cast one one spot and nothing 10 yards down the shore.



For targeting coarse fish, I find it's better as their mouths are usually smaller. You're right though, it effectively is a tiny wooly bugger. I also enjoy tying these in ostrich herl- it makes a super simple tie even easier and less messy!


Definitely going to try that. I bought an ostrich feather a while back planning to use it for some must-have pattern and then promptly forgot about it before I got around to tying any. How many herls do you use typically?


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:27 pm • # 16 
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lka wrote:
coelaecanth wrote:
lka wrote:
I'm a big fan of Chan's marabou wiggler as well. I don't know that it really works any better than a small woolly bugger (it has effectively the same silhouette) but it's simpler to tie. In my waters once you find the school of perch they will take any small dark fly with good movement. They're very schooled up though -- you might catch one on every cast one one spot and nothing 10 yards down the shore.



For targeting coarse fish, I find it's better as their mouths are usually smaller. You're right though, it effectively is a tiny wooly bugger. I also enjoy tying these in ostrich herl- it makes a super simple tie even easier and less messy!


Definitely going to try that. I bought an ostrich feather a while back planning to use it for some must-have pattern and then promptly forgot about it before I got around to tying any. How many herls do you use typically?



The amount really depends on what part of the herl I use, but I'd say around 3-5 herls depending on how bushy they are. I bought a ton of herls for small intruders to tie, and now that I'm onto other things, I still have a good amount left unused, so I try to think of ways to use them. I like to use them for baitfish patterns as well as substitutes for chenille- they give a similar body all while retaining little to no water, unlike your traditional chenille.


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:59 pm • # 17 
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It all depends.....if conditions allow ,I catch more on the ul fly rod..but...around here weeds,giant salvania,moss and especially too much wind will only allow for spinning (forgot to mention fishing cypress lake ,swamp). But when conditions are right I can hammer the bream and bass using the same small fly patterns...catch 4" long bluegill ..next cast a 2lb bass. Don't let Chris Stewart know it but I have caught several good sized bass on my shimano soare I picked up from him for bluegill fishing.
Word to the wise....if you try a JDM outfit from him you just might get addicted....super sweet rig. The next time I hit a trout stream I'm gonna try both methods and I will update on this thread if thats cool.


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:00 am • # 18 
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joe the plumber wrote:
It all depends.....if conditions allow ,I catch more on the ul fly rod..but...around here weeds,giant salvania,moss and especially too much wind will only allow for spinning (forgot to mention fishing cypress lake ,swamp). But when conditions are right I can hammer the bream and bass using the same small fly patterns...catch 4" long bluegill ..next cast a 2lb bass. Don't let Chris Stewart know it but I have caught several good sized bass on my shimano soare I picked up from him for bluegill fishing.
Word to the wise....if you try a JDM outfit from him you just might get addicted....super sweet rig. The next time I hit a trout stream I'm gonna try both methods and I will update on this thread if thats cool.


True BFS gear is out of my reach, but I recently got ahold of a tsurinoya xf-50 as well as a kuying teton UL. Baitcasting is a little tricker, especially with the lighter lures, but that'll get better with more time on the water. Updates are always welcome!


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 9:21 am • # 19 
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coelaecanth wrote:
The amount really depends on what part of the herl I use, but I'd say around 3-5 herls depending on how bushy they are. I bought a ton of herls for small intruders to tie, and now that I'm onto other things, I still have a good amount left unused, so I try to think of ways to use them. I like to use them for baitfish patterns as well as substitutes for chenille- they give a similar body all while retaining little to no water, unlike your traditional chenille.


Thanks! I'll be trying some of those.


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 14, 2018 4:32 am • # 20 
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I mostly fish with fly, but UL-Spinn is fun sometimes as a change, then I like to fish for Perch and Pike.


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