April 30, 2009

Dahlberg Diver

Filed under: How To... — admin @ 7:32 am

CharOrangeDahlberg200.jpgI talked to a great fly guy the other day, John Fehnel - Great Lakes Fly Shop in Duluth, MN. When you’re up that way this season stop in and say hi to John and gear up for any kind of fly fishing. He’s right near the Lester River in the Lakeside area of east Duluth.  John’s “go to” fly for spring, summer and early fall smallies is the Dahlberg Diver (inset).

If you tie deerhair bugs, make sure you cook some of these up for the upcoming season.  John likes this chartreuse one during the early season and later switches to an exact replica in a darker green. You can buy them online through his shop. Larry Dahlberg of Grantsburg, WI developed this fly decades ago on the St. Croix and other famed waters near Hayward for smallmouth and muskies.

Take some time and learn to tie these hair bugs. It takes patience, strong mylar-type thread and lots of deerhair. There may be days when a high floating popper doesn’t do it. This is the time to pull out the divers. Upon stripping, they dive underwater and pull a tantalizing line of bubbles after them, causing commotion and excitement. This can trigger iffy fish into striking.

If you like to tie challenging, intricate flies - big enough to actually see what you’re doing, you’ll love hairbugs.

The main issue is, after repeated use, they waterlog and sink. The good news is, if they’re sinking, you suddenly have a Muddler Minnow-like pattern working subsurface without changing flies! This is great if the divers weren’t working, but if the fish liked the surface action, you’ll have to put on a dry one.

The Dahlberg Diver is listed in the Top Ten Smallmouth Bass Flies (How to Tie and Fish Them: Brad Miller; available May 8, 2009) and should be part of your everyday arsenal on the river.

April 2, 2009

Murdich Mania

Filed under: Observations, Reflections — admin @ 7:08 pm

I tripped over this fly last summer and scored big on a day when everything else was just so - so. I’ve since learned the Murdich is one of the primary go to flies in the Midwest for smallmouth anytime of year. It is especially effective in mid to late summer when those young of the year minnows are getting big enough to attract the attention of big bronzebacks.