Mercer’s Micro Mayfly
By Paul Dinice

Hook: Standard Nymph #14-24 (I prefer using dry fly hooks with a larger gap for my nymphs)

Thread: To match thorax, 8/0 Bead: Small gold, copper, or silver Butt: A ball of dubbing to match the thorax

Tail: Three fibers from the tail of a ringneck pheasant splayed slightlyAbdomen: Stripped peacock herl quill

Rib: silver, gold or copper wire

Wing Case Stripe: 1 strand of pearl flashabou or thin pearl mylar

Wing Case 2: slips of dark mottled turkey talk feather, the entire wingcase is then coated with epoxy

Thorax: Color to match natural

Legs: Pheasant tail tips (optional)

Bead: Small gold, copper, or silver

Choice of colors Forest green or Safari tan.

Can be purchased at monthly meeting

Hunting Alligator Bluefish
by Bob Gregorski

It was October 4, 2006. The air temperature was 75-80 degrees with bright sunshine and no wind. A perfect day for fishing/hunting big bluefish

The 2 inch silver/blue popper fly smacked the water about 30 feet out from the boat. A quick pull on the fly line made the fly pop out of the water. Another quick pull and another pop. On the third pull, the water exploded! A slammer bluefish nailed the popper in an effort to kill it. Instinctively I lifted the 9-weight fly rod and set the hook into its jaw. Whirrrr – whirrrr- whirrrr the drag on the reel screamed. Within seconds, all 90 feet of fly line and 50 feet of the backing were in the salty water. The slammer was headed for Long Island Sound! Not wanting to have it take all the backing and break it loose from the reel I shouted to Captain McDonald, “Better start the engine and follow him before I lose all my line.”

McDonald cranked up the 15 horse Merc and pointed the boat in the direction the slammer blue was headed. After several minutes, I had recovered all but about 30 feet of fly line and the fish had tired; at least I thought it had tired. In a sudden burst of energy, the mini-alligator blue burst out of the sparkling water shaking its head side-to-side. Then crashed into the surface. It didn’t like the popper fly stuck in its jaw.

McDonald shut off the engine and raised it out of the water just in time. The brute blue sped to the boat and dived under the portside. I worked the rod around the stern and just in time to see it thrash the water on the starboard side. It didn’t like what it saw in the boat, particularly the big, black net.

It made a few short bursts away from the boat, but it (and I ) were getting tired. After a few more minutes, Frank McDonald netted the fish. It came aboard in the net and stayed there until the popper was removed from its jaw and it was weighed. The slammer weighed about 18 pounds.

McDonald and I looked at each other with smiles and disbelief. What a fish! That was the fourth large bluefish we had landed in two hours of fishing. When he hooked a fish, I piloted the boat. It was the only way to save our fly lines. In about, three hours we landed and released nine slammer blues from 10 to 18 pounds.

Here’s how it all started. The day before, McDonald had fished an area in the lower Housatonic River with anglers catching large bluefish. McDonald said the blues had not been busting the water and there had been no birds working over the blues. Most Anglers had caught them while wading on the sand flats and a few from boats. The successful methods used were casting popper flies with a fly rod or popper plugs with spin rods.

We decided that there was more opportunity to catch them fishing from a boat since more water could be explored. It was around noon when we arrived at looked like a good place to start. There

 

Hunting Alligator Bluefish Continued

There were two fishing boats in the general area and no fish breaking. But there was an aroma of bluefish in the air. Frank shut the engine off and began casting a 2 inch silver popper fly. I decided to try and locate fish by tossing a 5 inch, blue/white Atom popper plug with my spinning outfit. The loud splashing sounds it made while being retrieved attracted the attention of feeding game fish.

Seconds after the plug hit the water I shouted, “Fish on! Fish off! Fish on! Fish off and so is my Atom blue/white popper plug.” One of the bluefish bit the line above the wire leader. “There goes $7!” I exclaimed. I had hooked and lost 3 fish on the first cast.

McDonald had more luck. He hooked and landed the first bluefish of our outing after about a ten minute battle. That fish weighed at least ten pounds. That’s when we decided our action plan had to include following the hooked fish by driving the boat toward it. I tied about 20 yards of 18 pound test spinning line to the 12 pound I had on my spinning reel and added a 12 inch, 25 pound test wire leader to it. I lost the only plug that I brought. So, I put the spin outfit aside and began using my fly rod with a silver/white 2 inch popper.

After landing 3 slammer blues on the fly rod, I began experimenting with a 5-inch ZOOM Salty Super Fluke surface lure. They are soft, top water plastics into which a 4/0 hook is inserted. There is no weight used with the lure. I added big eyes to the white pearl plastics. In a nutshell, I landed 3 mini-alligator blues with it that afternoon. It was less tiring to land a fish.

McDonald and I are experienced anglers, but this hunting for slammer blues was a new and exciting experience. I’m sure, using an electric trolling motor to explore the water slowly and quietly was one of the factors of our success. We were actually hunting for large blues that were lurking and feeding beneath the surface.

You can’t catch them, if you can’t find them. Casting popper flies and lures that disturbed the surface were ways to attract and find them. Most of the score of hits we had were surprises. That was exciting! It wasn’t like casting into a school of fish in a feeding frenzy. Side bar Fly outfit: Orvis Rocky Mountain 9’, 9-WT rod, Valentine 9/10 anti-reverse reel, Reddington line 9 WT. WF-F, leader Seaguar 18 LB. fluorocarbon spinning line 6’ long, wire leader 6” long with interlocking swivel on one end and barrel swivel on the other. The 2” popper fly blue/silver tied by Bob Carreiro was attached to the interlocking swivel.

Spinning outfit: Daiwa Procaster Tournament 6.5’ rod rated 8-20 lbs., Penn 4500SS reel, Seaguar 18 LB.fluorocarbon spinning line, 12” wire leader with interlocking swivel on one end and barrel swivel on the other and lures were an Atom popper and 5-inch ZOOM Salty Super Fluke.