This is a report I received from David Hwang
Hey John,
I thought I would touch base and just see what’s happening with you.
Dave Weaver, Vince Deadmond, Joe Staller and I went to Upper Lake Mary this past weekend and did really well for perch and pike. Nothing in the class of what you caught at Ashurst earlier in the year but consistant action. The average was 24-30 inches. I had a 27 incher (actually measured) shoot off between my legs, while I was in a float tube and lost control of the rod and ended up breaking my 8 wt rod in 3 places. It was totally my fault. I over stressed the rod. I did however get the fish in by hand lining it and got this picture taken with it. Weaver got a few in the 32 inch plus. They were a lot of fun. Most of the the others were fishing flashy white flies on sinking line. I did pretty well with your chartruese and white Foxhead minnow before it got mangled up too much to fish. In the afternoon, the bites got more aggressive and remember that simi seal blend you made me? It was basically the blood leach color with more flash and more red mixed into it. It was my best fly. I tied it on a size eight with a translucent orange bead head and a red bead in the middle and it realy worked well for me. I caught larger perch and my largest pikes. Yes, on a size 8, 4x hook. It’s really a great color and would love to get some more of it. Anyway, thought I’d give you a heads up on the pike fishing at Lake Mary. I didn’t get a chance to try ashurst but did enjoy Lake Mary.