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Schollmeier's Species Thread


Schollmeier

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Now I just gotta replenish some fly boxes and get the whippy sticks out and catch some fish... Gotta get myself away from work and Sturgeon fishing first though...

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  • 1 month later...

No mooskie but at least I finally got the whippy stick out. Tested an 8' 4wt that I'm in the middle of building. Still need to do some more grip work and add a little more finish but it is serviceable-ish right now.

Tacked up 3 easy ones today. Now I gotta work on getting caught up. Got some heavier switch blanks coming next week to build up for streamer fishing...

#1 Bluegill

bluegill.JPG

#8 bead chain black and white marabou clouser

#2 Largemouth Bass

lm-bass.JPG

#8 bead chain black and white marabou clouser

#3 Black Crappie

black%2520crappie.JPG

#12 bead chain black and white marabou clouser

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It's nice to see you on the board. I look forward to seeing what you catch.

Good luck!!! Like the super dark colors of the gill. A question,when I catch gill like that, it usually deep and dark colored bottom, any relevance?

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It was pretty shallow- less than 3 FOW I think?

usually (for me) deep gills are more likely to be pale. Dark bottoms could effect it. Tanin stained water tends to make fish dark (this water is definately tanin stained). Our gills seem to be on the tail end of the spawn. Water was too dark to see beds but the males all look in breeding prime. And they were whacking some big stuff (#8 clousers, large beetle spins) inspite of their smaller size, which seems to happen in spawning aggression. All seasons do lag up here along the Big Lake, including water temps.

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It was a pretty late year for the gill spawn up around my cabin as well (just south of Hayward). It appeared they had spawned out as of last weekend though. Anyway.

Nice to see ya have some luck smile Nice lookin fish there. That gill is really neat lookin.

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Headed to NW Minnesota over the weekend to help rebuild a pole shed for my Wife's aunt and uncle (the previous one burned down). Storms kept us working longer than hoped. We had a little fishing time on the way home...

Targetted Goldeyes first. Never caught one previously. Found them within a half hour drifting worms on bottom in fast, deep run. Spent the remaining half hour to try and get a fly down to the bottom of the run where they were holding - no success though. Anything remotely heavy enough couldn't be cast far enough on my 4wt. So I was either too close to shore or too high in the water column. Maybe another time.

Had to get a move on home. Had one more hour stop in mind. Armed with a 2wt I looked in the clear waters for a particular sunfish I'd never caught...

Caught several bluegills that were too agressive to avoid. Then though I saw my target tucked into a weed patch.

nope. still species #4 for the contest:

Pumpkinseed Sunfish - textbook male

pumpkinseed.JPG

Homemade 6'6" 2wt and #18 beadhead midge

kept looking, the light was fading. actually got refused by a Rock Bass (which was a weird feeling - in my usual Rock Bass spots they are super aggressive). Finally I spotted a couple small sunfish amongst the weeds that were not bluegills, greens, or pumpkinseeds...

#5 Longear (Northern) Sunfish:

longear.JPG

Same 2wt and #18 beadhead midge.

These are neat little fish and the first time I've caught this species. Several biologists have suggested that they be elevated from a sub-species of Longear to their own unique species (with the creative name of "Northern Sunfish"). They are definately a fair bit different from the Longears found through out the south. No scientific concensis yet but it seems probable that they made be split off in the near future.

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Should be noted that male Northern/Longear is an adult spawning male. 4" is about the max for this species/subspecies. The tiny-ness of some of the "adults" I saw was crazy. #18 midge flies are almost musky streamers at this point...

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I'm still stuck on the refusal by a rock bass. Wow!

Love the long ear, very unique. Love the info on these too. Hmmmmmm.......

Nice additions.

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Nice work! I like those little sunfish surprise species (well, for me they are anyway).

That approach you took is actually how I found my pumkinseed for the challenge. Walked along the shoreline until I saw a non bluegill sitting there in the weeds.

Nice descriptions too

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks guys! The rock bass refusal will stick with me, never happened before.

Got my first Longnose Gar on the fly about a week ago while visiting family, sight fished it - always fun. Unfortunately, I lost the camera shortly afterwards. I've looked everywhere but it seems to be gone... I guess I'll just have to get out and do more gar fishing...

Now if the the rivers can get straightened back out and the heat could die down...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Stopped at the Brookie Creek in the inlaws a few days back. Only had a half hour to fish before the 'Skeeters carried me away. Had three little guys roll up and smack the trusty #12 bead chain marabou clouser swung right under the surface on the 6'6" 2wt. The third made it to the hand.

#6 Brook Trout

P7140008.JPG

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Fished with the inlaws the next morning. Picked up a couple easy ones.

#7 Rock Bass (#12 bead chain marabou clouser on 6'6" 2wt)

P7160015.JPG

#8 Smallmouth Bass (#6 clouser on 10'8" 5wt switch)

P7160019.JPG

#9 HUGE Green Sunfish (#12 bead chain marabou clouser on 6'6" 2wt)

P7160021.JPG

definately needed a hero shot of that one...

P7160025.JPG

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haha, nice hero there. I really like how you're supporting the belly of that beast so as to not put too much strain on that jaw smile

Looks like a fun little outing (or two)

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Still updating a backload of pics...

got out with a buddy last week who has developed a fly for catching Smallmouth Buffalo at a particular location. I hadn't given it a serious try on the fly previously so I was excited to finally give it a real effort. I started out drifting #10 olive soft hackles - I had several takes on this fly including a SM Buff and a Carp that were snagged just outside the mouth - most likely a slow hookset on my part.

Action was definitely better on his #8 olive stonefly so I bummed one of those. Had many missed takes, had one fish (seemed like a Buff) that popped off, broke off another Buff, and eventually I timed my hooksets better and caught two fish fairly in the mouth. One Carp and one Buff. The Buff is my first on the fly

#10 Common Carp - #8 Olive Tungsten Stonefly - 8'6" 5wt

P7180037.JPG

#11 Smallmouth Buffalo - #8 Olive Tungsten Stonefly - 8'6" 5wt

P7180044.JPG

mug shot:

P7180043.JPG

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#10 Common Carp - #8 Olive Tungsten Stonefly - 8'6" 5wt

P7180037.JPG

Nice pic there, and some nice fish. I've only caught a handful of buffalo, none on the fly yet.

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Schollmeier, love the buff!!! Where can I get one???? Nice job on both species for what its worth!

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Thanks guys! SM Buffs are fun - don't pull quite as hard as Carp but the Buffs are natives so that's cool.

SM Buffs are at their northern extreme in MN/WI - generally speakingl they are restricted to the larger warm water rivers (Mississippi, St Croix, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). I've only ever caught them in deeper pools (relative to the surrounding area) in areas with moderate flow. Finding spots with numbers of SM Buffs is tough enough, and most of those spots are difficult to fly fish. Definately a species that requires some searching to find.

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#12 Mooneye - I love catching these things - rarely take them out of the water unless I want cutbait though - fragile fish. This one came on the same #8 olive tungsten stonefly nymph, didn't bother to change flies seeing as I wasn't seeing more than the occasional random rise. Drifted bottom for a while and finally dredged one up. Fun on the 8'6" 5wt.

mooneye.JPG

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