First Buff on the Fly

[catman529]

Spent a few hours on the Harpeth today. Saw tons of buffalo, a few nice carp maybe 10-15 lbs, even had one carp swim right by me 5 ft away.

Cast to countless buffalo and as expected they weren't interested. Switched to an olive nymph at one point and stopped in a shallow sandy stretch of river on the way back downstream.

Saw this one buff that was lighter in color than most others feeding for about 10 minutes or so. Cast to him numerous times with no luck, but soon he was within 10 feet of me and closing. I was standing in the middle of the river in knee deep water.

I had my fly hidden in some algae on the bottom and he was feeding around it only 5 feet in front of me. Saw him sucking stuff from the bottom and noticed my line wasn't responding well to the twitching anymore. So I lifted the rod and saw the buff's mouth lift up - he had already eaten it.... set the hook and he started shaking his head not knowing what was going on (buff do not fight as hard as carp)

Got him in and grabbed him and carried him to some solid ground above water for a pic (it's for the Fly South tournament) and took measurements. He was hooked perfectly in the corner of the mouth

I have caught a few buffs on corn, dough, and even a nightcrawler. but they were all few and far between, because buffalo just don't bite well most of the time.

Getting one on the fly was a reward... normally I just target carp for the intense power they put out when hooked, but this was a tough fish to catch. I probably won't target them outside of the tournament because they don't put up the fight that I love but this sure helps me out in the tourney...

 

[CATCHDAWG]

That's cool!

 

[gil1]

Jonathon, as I emailed you, that's freaking awesome! It took years for me to catch a buffalo on the fly, and you did it in no time flat. You are my trash fishing cohort in crime, and I'm proud of ya.

Now for the bad news. Unless I'm losing it, that doesn't look anything like a 12 pound fish. Could you have measured wrong? You always measure length to the middle of the tail (the shortest distance), but that would probably lose you only an inch or so. I don't know what the deal is - hope I'm totally wrong.

 

[easy45]

Cool

 

[catman529]

I measure to the tip of tail - so take an inch off then if you measure to the center. I don't think measuring instructions were given for the tourney or were they? You're right the fish was not 12 pounds, more like 9 or 10, but I just measured carefully and did the LxGxG/800 formula. The 11 pounder that currently leads in the tourney doesn't look like 11 either. I guess I should email fly south and ask about measuring. From tip of nose to tip of tail it was a solid 25 inches with a 16 inch girth.

 

[catman529]

ah I just discovered the mistake... In my haste when calculating the weight, I accidentally did LxLxG/800. Actual calculation is 8 pounds.... Puts it at 2nd place I think.

 

[RUGER]

 

[B.D.]

Congrats, catman! I'm glad you are in the tournament this year.

I cast to about a hundred buffalo yesterday over the course of several hours in 10,000 degree heat and I did not get a single one of them to bite.

The measuring instructions are printed on the back of your number card - tip of the nose to fork of the tail.

Regardless, that's a great fish. It seems like most of the buffalo in the Harpeth run 4 to 6 pounds, so an 8 pounder is an especially nice one.

You're right that 90% of the time, the buffalo don't fight much. Most of them just kind of resist and give dead weight - if you slack up the line, they won't even run, they'll just sit there. They just pull against you when you pull. But every once in a while I hit one that will have a little fight in him. It seems like the ones over ten pounds have a tendency to fight a little harder. I got one on the Caney a couple years ago that was about 11 pounds and fought like a mad dog.

bd

 

[catman529]

I've caught a 9 lb'er last year while night fishing and seen plenty in the 15+ lb range.

I don't know HOW I missed the measuring instructions on the card.... just looked at the weight formula. Already sent Fly South an email asking about it and to take an inch off the fish I measured if I measured wrong.

 

[gil1]

I measure to the tip of tail - so take an inch off then if you measure to the center. I don't think measuring instructions were given for the tourney or were they? You're right the fish was not 12 pounds, more like 9 or 10, but I just measured carefully and did the LxGxG/800 formula. The 11 pounder that currently leads in the tourney doesn't look like 11 either. I guess I should email fly south and ask about measuring. From tip of nose to tip of tail it was a solid 25 inches with a 16 inch girth.

Heck, I wouldn't worry about the inch. I just threw that number out there without actually knowing if there's much of a difference.

 

[gil1]

So I just had to look at your fish again, and I knew something wasn't right. You accidentally multiplied length x length x girth divided by 800 or 25 x 25 x 16 divided by 800 = 12.5 pounds. You should have multiplied girth x girth x length divided by 800 or 16 x 16 x 25 divided by 800 = 8 pounds.

Sorry bout dat. Still a phenomenal buffalo on the fly.

 

[catman529]

yep I realized my mistake last night, pretty stupid one