Baitfish

At approx. $15 for a dozen colored sharpies, it is a bargain compared to other premium pens.  The prismacolor markers used to be my favorite when I used to illustrate, however the price of each pen at nearly $5 is outrageous for flies.  I am thoroughly impressed with the range of color and vividness of the sharpie pens.  The color pigment also dries incredibly fast which makes less color smearing and finger printing.

 As springs approaches, my opportunity to use fish fry patterns comes closer.  I tied a few different fish species for opportunities I may have on various lakes and streams.

The California Golden Trout
It has been a few years since I have been on the south fork of the Kern river. I had found monster brown trout the last time I explored one of the high elevation meadows (a section where the south fork snakes through).  It is no secret that these brown brutes are indulging on the snack sized golden trout.  Hopefully I can catch a kypezilla before they are electro-shocked and eliminated from the watershed.

Bluegill
Typically MVL comes alive with bluegill and bass fry around April.  This fishery really picks up and remnants of educated steelhead sized trout, trophy bluegill and largemouth bass can be caught all in one day.  Woolly buggers have proven there effectiveness last year, now I will try some new offerings.

Threadfin Shad
The lower Kern river is sometimes overshadowed by its bigger brother, the upper Kern river.  I am personally guilty for overlooking this fishery due to bait-fishing pressure and unstable flow rates.  Access is also difficult in many areas and car theft is notorious.  Aside from all that, this fishery is known to produce some fat rainbow trout due to the shad population released from Lake Isabella.  Smallmouth bass are also a possible catch if flow rates permit.  Unfortunately, it seems that the best time of year to catch smallmouth bass (spring-summer) is also during the kayak and diaper hatch.

There is a handfull of bass lakes scattered throughout southern California where fish can be taken on a shad fly.

Hook: Gamakatsu SL11-3H (I tied these on size 4)
Head: 3D eyes (silver 3/8")  I formed the head with Loon UV Knot Sense and sealed with Loon Hard Head (clear). 
Body: Craft fur (white) Taper and color the bodies depending on fish species. I also wrap non-toxic weighted wire around the hook shank if I wish to sink the fly faster.