I spent about 3 hours out on Cedar Creek with my best friend and his girlfriend's son today. No, that's not the sinning part. He's got one of those fancy boats that actually has a steering wheel and not just a stick. Ostensibly we were out there to test his new supercool side imaging sonar, but the jury rigged transducer wouldn't stay attached to the transom, so we ended up playing with the GPS portion of his new system. We're still not sinning. We wandered over by the dam and were comparing the regular sonar signature with the contour lines on the GPS when I recognized an underwater feature that I have seen the Whites/Hybrid/Striper guys discussing on the forum. He and I had made a run at them around the first of the year, but only hit a couple. While we were fooling with the GPS and generally just basking in the glow of technology, my buddy spotted the birds hitting not too far from us.

Sin ahoy. We got into the whites and hybrids on the devil's tackle (that new fangled kind that the weight of the lure actually pulls the line along when you cast, I think it's probably a passing fad, but I'm a sucker for peer pressure). The young man with us was the first to hook up with a nice white and then it got busy. I barely hooked a decent hybrid and lost him trying to get him in the boat. Of course since we were catching fish my buddy had left his net at home. Over the course of the next two hours we boated several fish as we chased the birds and the bite around an area approximately 1/2 mile in diameter.

The high point: towards the end of our session, we had a triple hookup and in the process of unhooking them somehow managed to break all three lures off all three lines. Can you guess what the birds did? If you chose when completely nuts on the surface while we were lureless, you win.

The low point: my buddy yells out "Birds Birds" and we tear across the lake towards where the birds are hitting. As we begin to get closer I realize that these birds are pretty far away from where we were before. Then I realize that they are pretty close to shore and some boat docks. As we get closer I take my eyes off the birds and notice a man on the dock the birds are near. The man had a bucket......and was feeding his fish. The moral: you can't always trust the birds, sometimes they are liars.

Pictures to come, if my buddy remembers to take them before he cleans the fish. Don't you wish you had a buddy who would take you in his boat, drop you off at the dock in time to pick up your child, AND clean the fish?

You know how when you're sinning you keep thinking about how you can make it right? All I kept thinking while we hauled in those hybrids and whites was "I've gotta get one of these hybrids on a flyrod". So how do I do that? Has anyone here had any success with going after these fish in the open water with fly tackle? Those are the first hybrids I've ever caught and the runs were great, but I want to hear the drag scream on my 8wt, not a bait flinger.

No I have not caught a hybrid on a fly YET! This spring WILL end that and be 1 more scratch off on the bucket list. I have talked to several in my area that have hooked and landed hybrids on the "fly". So I have the theory now I an going to implement the theory into the practical. BTW I think I'll be using a 6# with a rocket head/shooting line.

Say 10 "Hail Mayflies", and 10 "Our Feathers"
You need to watch who your hanging around with. Remember, your known by your associates.

(Can I come and hang out with y'all?)

Sound like a good time was had by all. It's the fun, not the tackle, as far as I'm concerned.

Kirk

Great story, sounds like a heck of a time to me!

heh, I think all of us use the "forbidden tackle" sometimes

I use my forbidden tackle more than my fly, but it is kinda hard sight fishing for 20# carp in 18' of water when they are on the bottom.

Try catching hybrids in 30' on the fly. I have drown many a shad and will continue with out any guilt I sin and will sin again! Casting gear,spinning gear, fly gear all part of a well rounded fisherman

A buddy took me out in his boat last year and told me to bring an ultra light spinning outfit along, of course I just brought my fly rods. We fished shallow to begin with and I was keeping up with him, he then moved to 10' of water and I still did OK. Then when he moved out to 15', I had to increase the leader length. Pretty soon in 20' of water and a 15' leader. Then when he shoved us out to 30' of water depth the fly rod finally had to go, but I still used my flies on his ultra light spinning gear. It's hard to admit that your selection of gear isn't always appropriate.

It's all in knowing when each type of gear is appropiate. I was a purist with the long rod for a while but eventually figured out that I was wasting good time on the water just being stubborn. Funny thing is, I had learned a ton about fishing from using the fly rod that I could apply to regular gear.

OK, I know that the water temperature and other factors won't allow me to get a hybrid on the fly rod anytime in the near future, but I know at least one of you has attempted this. I want to hear about tactics and equipment, please. Besides, there have been about 3 posts all day long and I'm not getting my virtual fishing fix.

yeah, someone make a new topic!!!

heard clouser and deceivers

You can catch them under the lights of boathouses on Cedar Creek at night. Christian and LHD were going often last year

I have caught them when they are mixed with the white bass going thru the spawning motions on a white zonker but they'll probably hit anything that looks kinda like a shad, I have caught more trolling a crankbait (ie; Rapala Shad Rap) than any other method.

You can get down pretty deep with a shooting head line (go ahead and throw a 350-grain or even a 400-grain line on your 8-weight; you're not gonna break it).

Of course, at this point it sounds like you're just one small step away from becoming a bait chunker.