Technically this is not a UL report. Over the winter I have had zero success at our local trout stream, so I have looking forward to some warm water fishing. I have been reading with envy the reports coming in from Texas, 150-400 miles south of where I live, just waiting for our local waters to warm up enough for fishing. I had been out 2 or 3 times in the last couple of weeks, and only once did I even see any fish. At least that gave me some hope. Thursday I went with a friend to his deer hunting lease. He was going to harvest some sticks for making walking staffs, and I was going to try out the pond on his lease. I wanted to use my Redington Butter Stick 2 weight, but the wind was blowing at 20-25 mph, so I used my Diamondglass 4 weight with a WF5 line, and even then the wind made casting somewhat difficult at times. I started off with a bead chain bluegill bug, a rather gaudy little fly tied on a #10 hook. My first bluegill was a little smaller than my hand, 2 or 3 were a little bigger than my hand, and the largest extended from my finger tips to about 1/4 of the way up my forearm. I caught six overall. I then moved to the other side of the pond, where the wind was pushing waves toward the bank. Hooked and caught 4 largemouth bass, and two more managed to break off. After I lost the first fly, I switched to a Thunder Chicken on #8 hook, and caught 2 more before the last one broke me off. These bass ranged from 1-3 lbs. I took a break for a while and rested while waiting for my buddy. When he heard my tale, he had to rig up, so back to the pond we went. This time, with a bright yellow wooly bugger, I just managed 5 or 6 bluegills, none as large as before, and he caught a mix of bluegills and bass. My appetite has been whetted for sure. Went to a different pond yesterday evening, and never had a nibble. Things are finally looking up. Really looking forward to May and the Hill Country Gathering.

The Thunder Chicken was initially designed for steelhead. I saw a picture of it on Big Y Fly website and thought it might have some potential for smallmouth bass. I finally used it for the first time early last summer while visiting my oldest daughter's family. I went with my son in law and grandsons out to a couple of ponds on a nearby ranch. They started off fishing with plastic worms and seemed to hauling out bass one after another, while I was on the other side of the pond not even getting a bite. I finally decided to try the Thunder Chicken, and when we left about an hour later I had caught 15 bass. I actually caught more than they did on the worms. The previously mentioned website is the only place I have been able to find these flies, and I need to replenish my stock as I'm running low. These are medium size streamers, but not heavy and I have used them several times on a 2 weight rod without any difficulty. The ones I am using are tied on #6 hooks.

Larry

I'm not really sure why the breakoffs. I was using Rio 4X tippet with a claimed breaking strength of 7.5 lbs. Fish the size I was catching should not have been able to break the line. I held the line in my hands and tried to break it without success, so I suspect I need to start using a different terminal knot. I don't know the name of the knot I use. It is one my father in law taught me many years ago. I think at one time I found a diagram for it, called the Branson knot, but that was quite a few years ago, and I may be remembering it incorrectly. I think I need to start using a knot that features the line going through the hook eye twice. In the past I have had the line just pull loose, showing the usual pig tail curl in the line, which indicated I didn't cinch the knot down well enough. However, this time it appeared to break just above the knot. I do lubricate my knots with either saliva or water before cinching down.

Larry

Knotty, it should not break so easy, if in the past your knots held, test your tippet line. Sunlight can degrade the line very quickly I still have tippet material bought 20 years ago but having kept it inside vest pockets it has lasted well.

Larry, if your tippet's good it's gotta be the knot. I tend to use the Palomar for the lighter stuff; it retains more of the line's strength than most other knots. Try it and see if it works for you.

Yeah, I've already been looking at knots. I have used the Palomar knot occasionally but it tends to use up more of my tippet which means I need to change more often. I used to use it all the time back when I was throwing plugs to bass. As mentioned above, I have been looking at the Fish N Fool knot which is basically a Uni knot with two turns through the eye.