after arriving at the lodge doing some unpacking and setting up equipment it's only left us a
short time to fish on the first day so after a delicious supper ted took me out on the main lake
not too far from the lodge to try some top water fishing
conditions were calm and perfect for using surface poppers when using a popper you must
cast out let the fly settle and allow the ripples to subside often this is when a bass will hit
then you impart a jerking motion on your rod tip to make the fly pop on the surface of the water
this action imitates a frog or any small animal struggling to swim to safety
when bass are eating poppers the strikes can be fierce and explosive
oh nice fish colin well done ted you know what i was there was a real slow
presentation i actually let it sit for like five seconds it came right up good stuff yeah
there we go i think we're going to need a net on this one colin yep
there we go all right good job thanks you do the honors nice thick one
that's what we're looking for and he took a green and yellow popper sure did it's fairly small isn't
it you're not using a large popper i want i want to try smaller i like to go smaller sometimes
especially if the fish are a little finicky that helps a little bit with the presentation
all right a lot of work so yours is about your flies about half the size of mine yeah a little
smaller yeah but yellow a little bit of green and something i think that's really important
is having the rubber legs on there a lot of times i like that vibrate it gives a little action
yeah yeah i think it looks like a dragonfly just something vibrating in the surface but
real important yep let's get another one buddy let's catch some more
so colin one of the mistakes that we all make actually including myself is sometimes we don't
give the fly a chance to really to work its magic especially in a really good fishery where you know
the fish are there and it's clear water you got to give it a chance to just kind of sit let the
fish assess if they're going to take the fly or not and don't work it too fast if you notice the
first 10 minutes we were fishing you know we didn't catch a bite but we were really working
it too fast but the last two fish we caught it was a nice slow presentation we let it sit
and as soon as we let it sit the bass came up and nailed it so that really lets you know that you're
fishing a little bit too fast you just need to take a step back and slow it down a little bit
so is there a methodical approach you take to working islands like this ted
well we're going to go all around and i would uh catch them shallow but there's a huge drop you'll
see it as we get closer they were killing it there earlier right on that drop so i'm assuming
the bass are going to come up a little shallower this evening and see if we can't pop one or two
there you go that was a nice slurp feels pretty good
oh yeah that'll work
need the net i think i can handle this one all right
so i switched colors and that made a difference ted yeah second cast boom yeah and a black
fly on let's switch to uh a brighter color oh and catch a release release but i switched to a
lighter color and that made a difference so up here we have a bunch of lakes most of them are
really clear though so i find because it's crystal clear uh a longer leader is going to give you a
more stealthy approach sometimes even we'll go fluoro if we have to on a really bright sunny day
so you want to give yourself a fighting chance the last thing you want to do is spook a fish
there you go it's just a little guy yep but right on that tree
yeah right in that tree just like you said and letting it sit just like you said ted
there we go um totally sitting again no totally so you gotta let it sit
they're really not super aggressive yet nope
i don't even think you're looking at your fly there no i i kind of was but i kind of wasn't
but so very true and even though we're catching some small ones got one big one
um these fish tonight are not really heavy duty aggressive yet because i've been here
with you before ted and the fly barely hits the water and they're on it and then gently
there's the talon mark right there and right there i want to take his food
so ted we've come out here this morning what can we expect what's the lake situation what's the
weather bin where are we at with the bass fishing here on hawk lake we're calling some real warm
weather the past week but this little cold front has come in and kind of gotten back to normal
june temperatures which is cooler evenings and certainly cooler morning so the water temperature
has dropped a good four or five degrees and it's cloudy today so we're gonna see if the fish are up
the warmer it gets the deeper they're gonna get so i think the good call will be to start
a little top water see where they're at and if we have to go subsurface we'll go right down after
there he goes took it so that was kind of cool
yeah you don't see them till they they're in that last foot of the take
but exactly where you said he would be ted on the dark edge you can see the line there the rocks
then go up on top of the flat do a little feeding and then come back out always coughing up minnows
a lot of places this would be a big fish and here this is a little fish look how healthy
this one is let's put that like that calm down there we go i should just pop out there it is
nice healthy fish beautiful when fishing for bass structure is key especially if the structure is
adjacent to deeper water bass like deep water as it provides important security for them from
predators structure you should pay attention to is rocky shorelines shoals fallen trees
weed beds fever lodges or anything that will provide
cover for ambushing prey hawk lake is blessed with non-stop structure of this kind
there you go what'd you say slow very slow oh i love the enthusiasm of this little guy
but they're sitting right on that drop colin the one that he noticed over the last few days
probably related to the heat is that the fish were not really super aggressive and that the
best thing for us to do throw the popper out let the rings dissipate give it a pop
let it sit and it's really hard especially when you're all juiced up like we are right now first
thing in the morning had a good breakfast caffeine and we're all pumped but it's the worst thing to
do we got to let these fish come up look at the fly and then take it especially in clear water you
can see them coming in slow motion and you just you want to set that hook but you got to slow down
wow that's a nice fish see that head come up ah that was a wonderful take
you're ready for him that time i was and you know what's interesting ted
you were just saying this that oh it's that's a bigger fish oh yeah so we've got this sheer
cliff behind us or in front of excuse me and they're basically little cuts and they're like
apartment buildings and and the bass will tuck right in against these dark crevices
and that's why you gotta cast right into them because they won't come out three feet two feet
there you go all right now we're going in the right direction nice fish buddy oh yeah what a
wonderful take just came up there and that was great but they're sitting there because things
will fall down off these cliffs grasshoppers june bugs all types of stuff that's a nice fish
well just because of deep doesn't mean all right the fish aren't there if the fish are
there and actively feeding as we've just seen the last two or three fish they're going to
come up from pretty deep water to nail whatever you're going to present them and contrary to
what a lot of people think flat calm it looks nice a little popper top water action i found
just the opposite a little light chop will hide your approach uh make it a little more stealthy
good there you go that's a good fish good job ted
oh yeah that's a monster well done let me get the net and that was a real slow take he just
came up and sipped it like a little trout let's get his head up and when you're ready i'm ready
got him all righty give me five my man that was great well done oh what a fun take the cool thing
is you called your shot like ted there's a fish over there okay this must be i i had a
fish swirl underneath mine oh sweet look at that oh look at the belly feeding well feeding well
yeah there we go there we go
beautiful oh how about that just a little mail
oh nice take
wow i just put the fly out just made the cast i hadn't even had a chance to pop it and the
water's so clear here on the main lake hawk lake oh yeah that you can see down eight feet
no problem so i'm trying to spot the fish but that was excellent excellent
yeah i want to break the tip it here got uh eight pound tip it usually i use a little heavier
using 10 up to 12 but water's so clear i just don't want to spook these fish oh it's a nice one
nice heavy there we go a little bit of a mark
and you can see how the belly let me just get this hook out just cut the corner of the
mouth there we go comes out easily you see how the belly flat has already spawned out
wow
well it's that sad time and all great fishing trips have to come to an end and i'll tell you
i had a wonderful time here at hawk lake lodge i want to thank ted in virginia putnam for having us
here they're great hosts and we love coming here that's why we keep coming back again and again
hi i'm tom rosenbauer hope you enjoyed this video
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