# Fishing the Larry, Curly, and Moe



## Sonder (May 9, 2020)

I set out today to swing fly's on three Lake Erie tributary's. I would like to point out that here in Ohio at least some of the Lake Erie streams are out of calibration. Some of the gauges are reading high and or low. I am pointing this out cause its a safety situation that we all need to pay attention to!

The first river had a lot of volume and was challenging to say the least. I used 9 feet of T-14 that had a grain weight of 125. It is important to find the sweet spot where you are not dragging the bottom, but not at the surface either. You need to have the fly in the lower middle of the water column. I was on a mission during this outing. This river had 14” to 24” if visibility.




























The last outing I had I was using tube fly's. The hook size I used was No 4 and a number 2. I hooked two fish and landed one. I believe the hook size of my intruders has a lot to do with me unable to set the hook. The size of the hook on my intruders are 8's and 10's. Now I realize that not finding fish is an issue, but I can only draw a conclusion from the evidence before me.

I swung flies in every transitional or staging area I could find and I did not hook up. I did not see any other angler hook up either from fly to bait! I also at this point would be yet again wetter than the fish are. The rains would not stop and thank goodness for good gear.



















I left this river to go to a smaller river. I arrived at the river and saw it to be really tannin in color. It being a smaller river the visibility was a solid 36” until it got that inky black that still freaks me out to this day. Lol I switched over to my other switch rod and slapped a bobber on it and a tandem pink egg and olive woolly bugger on it. I was ticking the bottom nicely with three BB split shots and had not luck. I walked down stream and found others in the areas I wanted to fish. I bolted farther west to fish my third and final river for today. I continued to be bull headed and not change from the purple peril intruder I was fishing. I kept on fishing the pattern to see if I could debunk my theory. It could have been a lot of reasons I did not at least hook up with a fish. I'm going to retie all my intruders.


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## Karl Wolf (Apr 26, 2020)

Thanks for the pics. Brings back memories of fishing those holes.
Maybe I'll get up there on a weekday next week.


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## Sonder (May 9, 2020)

I hope we get a real deep freeze so the ice fisher ppl can get there fix and we can get rid of these trees out of the rivers ..lol..


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## fly_ohio (Oct 31, 2014)

Greasy looking water! Keep in mind the volumetric flow rate (CFS) can change depending on how the river moves where the gauge is. Gauge height is the number to look at, although stubbornly I still look at the flow rate and need to recalibrate every year. I'm just talking about flow and not how it translates to clarity btw, I'm sure you know but that's a whole new sliding scale. Also I support the switch to size 2 & 4, its hard enough to get it to stick ha. I feel like every year I go through a streak of not sticking fish and try to re-evaluate everything to figure out what went wrong, but hey that's why we do this anyhow.


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## Sonder (May 9, 2020)

All your points are very valid and I post from a point of view that most can understand or come to an understanding through self education and trial and error. The other issue this year well one of the many. Is that each site needs maintenance. It's not USGS fault with the lack of funding and the sickness that is running around.

I also reckognize that your speaking in general terms and not targeting me in the conversation. It's the tidbits we can learn from each other that helps us grow as a community to become better anglers. 

For so many years unless I'm throwing a bait pattern for Strippas in Me, Browns down south, Esox, Pike, smallies around the Great Lakes Region, and steelhead here around home I tye small patterns. I believe it's a mentality thing for me. So I'm breaking out of that mentality like Calvin n Hobbs. 😆

I always will hook less fish than most because I'm fishing around less ppl than most.

The other things that affect n effect the gauges are built up sand, silt, rock, and other debris in the rivers/creeks. 

Be well,

Sonder


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## Sonder (May 9, 2020)

What does greasy mean friend?


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## fly_ohio (Oct 31, 2014)

Greasy meaning I wish I was swinging it instead of staring at a monitor right now. And yes I was speaking in general terms and not targeting you by any means. Just trying to point out little tidbits about how stream gauges fluctuate from year to year that may not be obvious to some. 220 cfs one year may equate to the same river height at 150 cfs the next year because of river bed changes near the gauge. Secondly, I was just poking fun at how we start to pick apart fly design when you get a couple bone crushing grabs and the steel doesn't stick. Should it be tied on wire or braid?! hook point up or down?! smaller or bigger hooks?! octopus or straight eye?! drop a loop or set like Jimmy Houston?!..the list goes on.


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## Sonder (May 9, 2020)

Thank you I was like greasy 😆


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