Not a fly, but a dressed treble...

Mods, if this is not an appropriate place to post, feel free to move it. I couldn't think of a spot.

Anyway, earlier this week, I was fishing at one of my little "bait holes", a creek that's just absolutely chock-full of Green Sunnies (at least, it used to be). First night, I was catching Gills, Greenies, a couple small LMBs, and even a naturally-occuring BG x GS Hybrid (love those things). I was using my 5wt with a size 14 GFA Foam Hopper. I even saw a male LMB obviously guarding a bed, not 5' from where I was standing.

There was a gent a hundred feet or so upstream that was fishing bait under a float. How he was catching with that huge red/white plastic globe float is beyond me. But catching he was, as I saw him put a few on a stringer that already had a bunch of fish.

The second night, after work, I stopped by, this time armed with my UL spinning rig and one of my own size 0 in-line spinners. I caught a few fish right off the bat, all sunfish. I noticed that male LMB wasn't around. I started moving upstream after I spooked all the fish in that area. That's when I noticed that I was getting many bites at all (normally get bit every cast here, catch and land a fish 1 out of 2 casts). Kept moving to where the guy from the night before was fishing, and still nothing. Finally, got about 50' past where he was, and started getting bit and catch a few fish here and there.

I did notice that a lot of my bites seemed to be smaller fish. Possibly average fish that were just short-striking the dressing on my treble. I made a decision that once I got home, I pull out that box of VMC size 12 round-bend trebles and dress one, as I was using a standard Eagle Claw size 8 treble. As I was gathering stuff to dress the hook, I finally found my lost packet of white fox tail fur. I decided to use that, as I've heard fox moves like nothing else when it's in the water.

Here's the dressed hook:

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And the finished lure:

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I'm not really worried about the meat harvest, if that's what happened. Next good rain will have this creek up several feet, and fish from further downstream will move up and repopulate the hole, as well as the surviving fish will breed.

Looks great. Had great luck on mid-atlantic river fish with an inline. Got my biggest crappie ever as a bonus fish while swimming it for smallies. Typically fish them a SLIDER Do-Nothing style - cast, let sink to a count, then slowly reel in doing nothing but swimming.

I dress trebles for cranks & jerk baits (inlines too) w/ flashaboo. Use a color that's dependent on the color of the bait, but most of the time it's a pearl holo color. I think the dressed treble imitates a tail of a bait fish and the flash just makes them irresistible.

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Nice spinner and nicely done on the treble - they can be a pain in the butt to tie until you get used to doing them. Once you cut a bunch off hold the top and pull the really long hairs and use them on jigs and the shorter ones to tie on trebles, it take some getting used to but you don't waste any

You're right FM - took me a while to 'get the hang' of them, but now, I can do them in my sleep.

Hookup, thanks for the idea I might have to try that with a bigger one, for use in the river for White Bass and Stripers.

This little size 12 hook is CATCHING! Yes, I've caught a few smaller fish, like I thought I would. However, I'm still catching decent 'gills, Greenies, BG x GS Hybrids, and LMBs. Caught a 2 lbs male from the pond at work yesterday. I have GOT to start carrying my camera with me when I'm fishing.....

I even managed to do something I would have never thought of. Tonight, I was at my little honey-hole that I "thought" was cleaned out. I saw something odd. A little ball of orangish-red "something" moving around, going UPSTREAM, just under the surface. The only thing I could think of was a bobber, still attached to the hook, still hooked up to a fish, but the mainline was broken above the bobber. I started trying to snag the line. Took awhile. The fish was getting spooked by the constant splashes that seemed to follow it. I finally managed to snag the line. My little UL rod bent over and started pulling drag. Definitely a nice fish if it could hold a float under for minutes at a time. I finally got my hand on the line with the float, and start pulling it in. About a 2 1/2 lbs Channel Cat. Still had it's spots. Had a jig with what looked like some kind of connective tissue on it. I'm thinking someone was using Chicken Gizzards? Anyway, I released the catfish. I realized it was getting dark, so I packed up and left.