# Perch on the Fly!



## WPM (Jun 9, 2006)

Hit Lake Erie today to try for smallies and to see if we could get perch to take flies. We got 4 nice jumbos on crayfish patterns and Clousers. One of them, no doubt inspired by the fly tackle, actually jumped! (I'm not kidding.)
Along with the perch, we got a mixed bag of lake fish, including a beautiful SMB and a cat that I thought I'd never land on my 7wt.
(We also lost a ton of flies on the mussel-strewn bottom). 
I fished for a bit with a single-action reel and I'm now more convinced than ever that a multiplier is the way to go for this kind of fishing.


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## jhammer (Jun 13, 2011)

Nice looking fish! Lake Erie has to be one of the most fun places to fly fish! You never know what you might end up with. :B


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## Patricio (Feb 2, 2007)

nice, sounds like fun. martin reel, eh? never understood why multipliers never took off. instead people opted for super duper large arbors.

I love top water flies on erie.


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## pipes530 (Apr 17, 2009)

WOW! THOSE are BEAUTIES!


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## dsoy28 (Apr 30, 2010)

very nice! im a few years into fly fishing, NEVER fly fished the lake, always wanted to. jw what kind of line (im assuming sinking tip) do you use? what kind of leader? lotta weight needed to get the fly down?


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## WPM (Jun 9, 2006)

dsoy28 said:


> very nice! im a few years into fly fishing, NEVER fly fished the lake, always wanted to. jw what kind of line (im assuming sinking tip) do you use? what kind of leader? lotta weight needed to get the fly down?


We use Rio Deep 7, a full sink/uniform sink line and flies tied with dumbbell eyes that add weight. The Deep 7 isn't great casting line, but you don't really have to cast all that far. My other buddy and I got a couple smallies off Cranberry Creek on Sunday by just letting out line on the drift until the fly was just ticking the bottom.
For leaders, I use about 4 ft of the heaviest mono I can get away with - the mussels really tear them up. When I saw the nicks and cuts in my leader after we landed the catfish, I couldn't believe that it didn't break off - probably would have on a normal spinning or casting rod.


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## tjc7t7 (Aug 16, 2009)

great report thanks! how deep of water were you fishing and can you expect to effectively fish with that line? I had bought some sinking line last year but have not used it yet much.


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## WPM (Jun 9, 2006)

tjc7t7 said:


> great report thanks! how deep of water were you fishing and can you expect to effectively fish with that line? I had bought some sinking line last year but have not used it yet much.


We were in 12 - 20 FOW. We have fished 30 FOW and have been able to get to the bottom if the drift speed was moderate. Deep 7 is about the fastest sinking line you can get.


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## Wormser (Dec 16, 2009)

You gotta love using your fly rod out on Lake Erie. I use my 4 wt w/ orvis sink tip system, add a leader, and catch smallies all day. I usually bounce whatever I'm using off the bottom. Great fun.


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## Andrew S (Jul 7, 2011)

Multiplier reels aren't as popular as single-action reels because efficiency isn't what most of us are looking for when we fly fish!


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## TheCream (Mar 19, 2009)

That channel cat looks like a TOAD!


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## sbreech (Jun 6, 2010)

TheCream said:


> That channel cat looks like a TOAD!


Nope, I'm sure it's a fish.


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