Vise_Angling

A morning of small river fishing for bass and panfish. Ultralight rods are so much fun for these small creeks and rivers. For panfish, I like to fish small nymphs tied on jig hooks under a float. For the bass I used Z-mann crawfish.

I love fishing rivers, especially small rivers. Ultralight gear is one of my favorite ways. I can fish small lures or flies on an ultralight rod. On this day I was fishing trout magnets under a float. Those little lures are really great. They catch a lot of different fish.

Some pink salmon fly fishing from Washington state. These little guys are so fun to catch, especially on a 7wt! I was swinging soft hackles with a floating line and a 7ft extra fast sink poly leader. Enjoy!

A real nice Guadalupe bass from central Texas. The water was a little high and still very stained, but a dark colored crawfish pattern did the trick.

Wooly bugger tied on a jig head. I used a standard jig head like you would with a small soft plastic. I tied this jig with bass in mind. So I gave it legs to resemble a crawfish. You can drift fish it, hop it on the bottom, drag it on the bottom, swing it in the current or fish it under a float on an ultralight rod.

This is a soft hackle nymph I can up with a couple years ago. Its like other patterns, I just substituted materials to get the look I wanted. Its unweighted, and I have fished it on a floating line with and 8ft-9ft leader. I think it would do great on a nymph rig or on a sink tip swung. I had really good success with it on high mountain lakes in Washington state. Lately I have been using it for panfish with great success. Hook: Size 12-16 nymph hook (short shank) Thread: Black thread Tail: Black saddle hackle fibers Rib: Medium gun metal blue ultra wire Body: Black halo tinsel Thorax: Black with red and blue fleck ice dub Collar: Black saddle hackle

This is a jig/fly I came up with a couple years ago. I have tweaked it a bit off and on by using different materials, sometimes I don't add front legs but the main pattern remains the same. I came up with the idea for this pattern with inspiration from two different fly patterns. I was aiming to target bass and panfish in rivers. Bass seem to really like it, but catfish love it! I have caught a lot of catfish on this pattern. Panfish like it as well. It can be fished on a fly rod under an indicator, stripped, crawled across the bottom or swung. It really shines on an ultralight rod under a float. You can change up the color combos to your heats content. I imagine the fish think its an insect or possibly a baby crawfish, I don't know I just know it works. Hook: Short shank jig hook Bead: I like a heavier bead (4.5mm or larger) but smaller beads work too Thread: A color that goes with your color scheme, or one that stands out to create a hot spot. Tail: Silly Legs (or rubber legs of any kind) Rib: Small or medium Ultra wire (color is your choice) Body: Halo tinsel (any flat tinsel type material that will create flash) Collar: Rabbit zonker strip spun in dubbing loop Legs: Silly legs (or rubber legs of any kind)

This is a variation of the standard twitching jig found in stores. But unlike the commercially available jigs, I tie mine in a way that the center or middle of the jig has a translucent look to it. Baitfish fly patterns that are tied sparse and have a translucent look to them always seem to perform better than fuller tied ones. Plus when you look at a baitfish under the water, they give off a translucent look to them. I have had great success with this jig for rainbow trout, brown trout, bull trout, salmon and bass. You can tie them in endless color combinations and weights to match a specific forage. And you can also fish it differently to imitate different forage. For example, I fish an all olive jig more like a sculpin on the bottom. Where as with a white jig I would swim it more or jig it more. I even tie one in crawfish orange and fish it like a crawfish moving along the bottom. Hook: 1/16oz Thread: Brown Tail: Barred tan rabbit zonker strip Rib: Medium ultra wire Body: Silver halo tinsel Thorax: Olive brown sparkle chenille Flash: Copper sparkle brush Hackle: Tan grizzly saddle hackle Legs: Brown silly legs.

This is a wooly bugger tied on a ned rig jig head. It's great for creek and rivers. The jig head will make the tail stand up off the bottom. Or you can swim it and drift it as well. Works great on an ultralight or lite action rod. The overall length is 3"-4", which entice some larger fish. I add rubber legs to the tail and in the middle of the jig. For bass I really like having rubber legs in my patterns. Color combo's are endless. You can make the jig look and act like a minnow, blue gill, crawfish, hellgrammite and so on. Even the standard wooly bugger looks like a lot of different things and not just one thing. Although I believe it was invented to imitate a hellgrammite. Hook: 1/16oz Ned Rig jig head Tail: Barred olive brown marabou Hackle: Chartreuse grizzly neck hackle Body: Olive brown shimmer chenille Legs: Olive and black fleck silly legs Collar: Light Olive saddle hackle At 1/16oz, this jig could be used on an ultralight, lite, or medium rod. And I could even throw it on my 7wt or 8wt fly rod as well.

This is a variation of the alaskabou fly for salmon and steelhead. I have changed out the colors and added rubber legs. Its kind of like the fly rod version of the marabou jig. Hook: Long shank of your choice (I used a salmon hook on this fly) Thread: Olive Tail: Chartreuse silly legs Body: Barred olive brown marabou Collar: Black marabou

This is a version of a hares ear that works well in my home waters. You can fish it under an indicator, strip it, or swing it. It also fishes well on an ultralight under a float. Hook: Jig Hook (your choice for size) Bead: Slotted tungsten (size to match the hook) Thread: brown Tail: Pheasant tail fibers Rib: Extra small ultra wire, copper Body: Tan/grey hares ear sparkle dub Thorax: Pheasant tail colored ice dub Collar/Soft Hackle: Rabbit (golden) spun in dubbing loop