You won’t find anything like this in fly shops. It’s a variation of my conehead bunnybou, the bass fly that catches channel cat. Notice the tail material is not a bunny strip. But what is it? Looks like squirrel tail only smaller. Give up? It’s a chipmunk tail. How do you get a chipmunk tail? You’ve gotta be very quick.
I think this will be a productive bass fly but of course the bass will have the final say.
Yesterday was the second time I’ve caught a big channel catfish on a fly rod while bass fishing at Kill Creek Lake near DeSoto, KS.
I knew immediately it wasn’t a big bass. Bass are close-in fighters. They like to slug it out up close and personal with lots of head-shaking top water acrobatics. Old Mister Catfish just heads back home to the bottom thinking, “Dang! I wish I hadn’t bit that thing!” He also makes long runs like a big trout. This one took me all the way into my backing. Hadn’t seen that since my last trip to the San Juan. Ten minutes later he was flopping in the boat and posing for a picture before being released. I love to eat catfish if somebody else cleans them.
The fly? Same pattern that fooled the last big cat at Kill Creek only this time white instead of purple: My own creation, the Conehead Buddybou. For a bass fly it catches lots of catfish.
The evening would have been complete if Larry Lunker had been with me, but I believe he was there in spirit.
You never know what you’ll catch on a fly rod when you think you’re bass fishing.
This catfish hit a purple #2 Conehead Bunnybou at Kill Creek Lake. I haven’t read my “Catfish At A Distance” book so I don’t know what particular species of catfish it was. All I know is that it was over two feet long and didn’t seem too happy with the idea of being caught.
I didn’t have a net so I lipped it. Right. You think I’m gonna stick my hand in a mouth like that? I unhooked it and turned it loose before it could hurt me.
