DEADhead Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanoB Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEADhead Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 a couple more from today: 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanoB Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEADhead Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 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. 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanoB Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 drooling over the BH prince variations...the 2nd one looks like i need to submit an order for 2 dozen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblueM Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crickschop04 Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEADhead Posted April 24, 2008 Author Share Posted April 24, 2008 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEADhead Posted May 11, 2008 Author Share Posted May 11, 2008 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEADhead Posted May 14, 2008 Author Share Posted May 14, 2008 Some more photos from this afternoon to share. Fish were taken on a size 10 golden ghost, except for the last fish. Proof that even spawning suckers will take some meat. This fish took a size 4 clouser minnow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEADhead Posted May 17, 2008 Author Share Posted May 17, 2008 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: 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. 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. tight lines! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailratedtj Posted May 18, 2008 Share Posted May 18, 2008 nice! looks like a hellava good time!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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