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Suckers on the fly - updated 5/17/08 w/photos


DEADhead

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Fished a section of the upper Otter Tail River and found a whole pod of white suckers stacked up. I landed a few beauts. Beadhead prince nymph was the fly du jour. I always had great luck fishing that pattern for suckers.

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do you fish the pattern with an indicator or addt weight, are you using a floating line, at what leader length?

There's a bombardment of ?'s for ya...thanks

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a couple more from today:

wts2qh4.jpg

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DeanoB, I add weight to the fly dependent on the water flows, enough to get the fly down in the current. I did have a floating line, but typically I am using a dapping technique, much like fishing with a cane pole. I fish a long leader, typically 10'-12' long, keep my rod tip up, and try and keep as much fly line out of the water as possible. I want to place my fly in specific reaches, where fish are holding. Fly line creates drag in the current and pulls my fly out of the "zone".

I don't use an indicator. Typically I use the tip of my fly line as an indicator. When I'm dapping, I'll use a knot on my knotted leader as an indicator, or I'll watch my line to see if if it suddenly goes taut or limp.

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Thanks for the info, bh prince one my fav's down here on the SE trout streams, funny I've never caught a sucker on one. gonna have to put some extra tippet on and dap away.

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here are a couple different prince nymph versions I tied up last night. I had some pearl core braid that was peacock colored. I was looking for something a little more durable than peacock herl.

bhprincenx9.jpg

I also have some cool chenille that is called glimmer chenille. It is peacock colored. I tied a real webby saddle hackle for the collar. It's almost like a wet fly. I fished this pattern this morning and caught plenty of fish on it. I tied it with wire instead of tinsel for more durability.

bhprincesofthackcy4.jpg

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drooling over the BH prince variations...the 2nd one looks like i need to submit an order for 2 dozen!

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you know, i saw some just monster suckers in several SE MN trout streams... might have to abandon the trout some day and target those suckers. I know I've seen them over 24, 25 inches down there

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Are you sight fishing these or blind fishing? Where I have tried this I've always been blind fishing and have yet to catch one. I noticed in an earlier post it apeared that you were using a worm imitation; is that another good pattern to try?

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I suppose you could fish the san juan worm. Haven't tried that yet. I typically blind nymph them along current seams or eddies. Just like fishing for trout. In the spot where I was fishing them the other day, I suppose you could sight fish them, but they were so many fish stacked up in there, it was hard to see your fly after a while.

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  • 3 weeks later...

after the rain and snow showers cleared this afternoon, I headed out to the upper Otter Tail to fight off the walleye fisherman for some suckers.

all fish were caught on a size 10 soft hackled prince nymph

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Some more photos from this afternoon to share. Fish were taken on a size 10 golden ghost, except for the last fish.

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Proof that even spawning suckers will take some meat. This fish took a size 4 clouser minnow!

wtsclouserqo4.jpg

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The wind was a little nasty for fishing, but it was a beautiful day out today. I hit one of my spots on the Upper Otter Tail and was treated to a pleasant surprise:

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shorthead redhorse!

I was surprised to see all the shortheads up here, as typically not many of them make this far upstream. It was tricky trying to get them to take a fly, as they were in the midst of spawning. Here's a male with some nicely developed tubercles.

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I love the coloration of these fish, they are beautiful.

I was fishing my 6 wt. I tried a bunch of different patterns to see if there was a hot fly, or something they were keying in to. Didn't seem to make much of a difference, as they took every fly I presented to them. Soft hackled wet flies were effective as they would take the fly on the rise. I also fished prince nymphs, as well as my buffalo soljah and san juan carp killer. I managed to hook up with some nice white suckers as well.

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tight lines!

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