Strip Leech

Its a rainy Tuesday. Three days of rain in a row. ...and the moisture is so welcome. I hope it helps our water table.

I have encountered several throat samples this year that have contained leeches. Big leeches. Well, I rarely have stripped a big leech in the past but this year, I have made an effort to try this tactic. I have used an intermediate sinking line to cast and retrieve. I have been pleasantly surprised at my success and I have been more than glad to get away from watching a strike indicator.

The strip leech pattern that I designed is simple. It is basically pine squirrel tied on a hook. I doubt my pattern is unique and it is a fish catcher.

I have made a tutorial on how I tie it up.

Take a look!

Strip Leech

Hook: Daiichi 1760 size 8 (use your favourite streamer hook)

Bead: 1/8 (brass or tungsten) silver, gold, blue

Rib: silver wire, small (Optional step)

Body: Pine squirrel (black or brown)

Flash: Krinkle Mirror Flash, pearl (or your favourite flash)

Head: Pine squirrel

Collar: Black dubbing (optional)

Tie in your rabbit strip right behind the bead and add some flash!

This is an optional step. It can prevent the rabbit strip from fouling on the tip of the hook. If you do this step, then tie in silver wire first before installing pine squirrel. 

Clip 4 or 5 cm of pine squirrel, cut off the hid and make a dubbing loop; spin up the pine squirrel. Then wrap!

Create a dubbing loop and wrap onto the front of the hook to create a neat head. Keep it sparse! Add some dubbing to make the collar neat (optional step) and go fish!

 

Million Dollar Rain

Thank goodness. Rain and lots of it! Central Alberta was so dry. This sustained rain will help a lot. The rivers are now getting dangerously high with all this rain and run off starting to happen. The great news is the snow pack is way above average but that means run off maybe longer than usual. The colder weather and rain will definitely help lower water temperatures in the short term on our pot hole lakes.

I have been tying flies the last two days. The rain will not last but we certainly need it. From Rocky Mountain House to Stettler, it is dry. Bring on the rain. I hope it helps bring our water table up a bit as well!

 

Birch Lake

Karen and I spent the day at Birch Lake today. It is a lake full of challenges. Perhaps the biggest challenge is just launching your watercraft! You have to negotiate a hill down to the lake that is about 50 m. It is steep in a couple of spots too. Luckily we borrowed a wheeled frame from my buddy Doug that made getting our pram down to the lake easy. Even the grunt back up the hill at the end of the day wasn't too bad because of the wheeled frame we put under the boat.

Well our first stop on the lake was quite productive for Karen. By the time I had a take, she landed 2 brookies and three rainbows. The brookies belched up stickleback minnows. Karen was using her usual tried and true Tokaryk Special. We set up on a drop off and the trout were feeding on the shallow side of the drop off.

We headed to the far end of the lake and again fished along a drop off. I switched to casting and retrieving a black leech streamer on an intermediate line. I managed to hook three nice rainbows. Karen hooked another nice rainbow on her Tokaryk Special.

A bathometric map certainly helped us decide where we would set up on the lake.

We kept prospecting and found the active fish were about 8 feet down. That was interesting considering the water temperature was around 65F. 

Stripping the streamer got more action for a while.

Near the end of the day we set up in a spot I like. I hooked a sizeable brown and Karen followed suit a few minutes later. I continued to strip a leech and Karen stayed with her Tokaryk Special! Two different strategies. Both worked although at times one was better than the other.

The air temperature was climbing to close to 27C.  At 5 pm we called it a day. 

If the weather forecast is accurate, we have rain on the way. We definitely need the moisture. It is tinder dry out there!

Enjoy the upcoming weekend. Sunday maybe a wet one!

Brook sticklebacks were on the menu of the trout!

Celebrating a fun day out on the water!