Hybrid Swamp Rabbit

I detect a hint of fear in those eyes.

Gar Quest Part 1

In my freshwater sojourns as of late, I haven't had as much luck with the bass, and I've been eschewing the bluegill entirely. I have, however, discovered that the place where I've been fishing has a healthy population of gar.

Just for fun, I've been casting at them with my bass popper. It's always enjoyable to target a fish, present a fly, and entice a bite, but with gar, the problem is setting the hook. It's not hard to get a gar to bite. With their armored scales and their mouthful of teeth, they don't have much to worry about (aside from the occasional hungry gator), so they don't spook too easily, and they seem to have the attitude that if something is moving, it must be food. I tried different hooksetting techniques with each gar to take the popper, ranging from a hard strip strike (teeth cut the line) to a gentle trout set (fish stayed on for a few seconds until it realized all it had to do was open its mouth).

All of this has resulted in a new determination to catch one of these fish on fly. The generally agreed-upon strategy is to use a fly that will entangle the gar's teeth. I'm sure this is frowned upon by purists, but so are gar, so I figure what the hell, I'll give it a try. I've tied up a few flies with EP fiber and a few with an old gar standby -- nylon rope. These are ugly flies, but like I said, the gar seem not to be too discerning, so they'll probably be shredded in short order.

Now all I have to do is get out there and catch one of these swamp creatures so I can get back to the salt.

To be continued...

Deer Hair

Tying with deer hair and my wife's TV preferences -- not so different.

Before:

After:

Fabulous.

Ready to Go

Favorite Flies: Gurgler

I would say that when I've gone out lately (mostly to fish for sea trout over grass flats or snook in the mangroves) the first fly I tie on is the gurgler. It's light, easy to cast, floats well, and produces great topwater strikes. Because it's really just the foam with that cupped lip that makes it a gurgler, you can tie it with an endless variety of body and tail materials. I'll often tie mine with a marabou tail, so no matter how slow I fish it or how little I move it, the fly always has that wavy, undulating motion.  I've seen some ugly gurglers out there, but also some really nice ones. I'm sure they all work fine, but I think it's more satisfying to tie and fish a good-looking fly. Some of the prettiest ones I've seen (such as the one below) are on 239flies.com.