In-Crease your odds for Fall topwater bass

My dad used to say that when mid-September came around, it was time to head to Toledo Bend for the best topwater bass action to be found anywhere.  Massive schools of threadfin shad would take to the surface, and sometimes there would be explosions of fish over acres in any one area of the lake.  Catching 40-60 bass a day on topwater was the norm for him.

You don't need to run to T-Bend to enjoy this level of action. Fact is, just about every reservoir across north and central Louisiana - as well as Mississippi and Texas - experiences this phenomena.

During summer, threadfin shad are often in deep water the entire day. But when water temperatures drop below 80 degrees, they begin to congregate toward the surface, especially in the late afternoon. Some attribute this to a secondary spawn. Others attribute to the fact that turnover reduces oxygen across the water column, and shad being intolerate of low oxygen, head to the surface.  Even others attribute it to an increase in plankton production.  Most likely it's all of the above.

What I do know is that when bass begin keying in on shad they become very selective.  The fly has to look like a shad to have much success.  I've always done well with Clouser Minnows, Coma Cocahoes, Whitlocks' Sheep Shad, and The Amnesia Fly when it came to submergent patterns.  For topwater, it's been Walt's Foil Pencil Popper and the Crease Fly.

I became a believer in the Crease the first time I saw it in action.  My friend and nationally renowned fly angler Nick Curcione came to visit, and due to weather, we canceled a marsh trip and went bass fishing instead.  I never got outfished on my home water, but Nick really put it to me that day!  

Joe Blados of Long Island, New York, created the Crease Fly some 26 years ago.  He explains in his book, "Innovative Saltwater Flies", that making balsa poppers was time-consuming and messy.  So he got the idea to use sheet foam, crease it over a hook, and use glue or epoxy to bond the sides together.

Blados discovered that unlike a popper, his creation made little plop when stripped. But instead had greater side-to-side action and as a result, more strikes.

Doc Andry with one of countless
bass taken on his Crease flies

In Louisiana, the Crease Fly had no greater ambassador than my good friend, Kevin "Doc" Andry (aka, "MusicDoc").  A nationally-awarded band director, Doc has gone on to master deer hair tying and is now, IMHO, one of the ten best deer hair tiers in America. But he still ties a gorgeous Crease Fly now and then. 

The materials required include a Gamakatsu B10S size 2 hook, white sticky foam found at most hobby stores, Lame fabric in “tissue” silver or gold, craft fur or bucktail and stick-on eyes.

The first step is to create a teardrop-shaped form that will be used to cut out identical shapes of sticky foam.  Put the form on a sheet of sticky foam, trace the form out, and cut out that shape.  Pull the backing off the sticky foam piece and attach a cut square of Lame fabric to the foam. This is the “crease piece.”

Wrap a thread base on the hook and tie in a tail of craft fur or bucktail. The tail should be no longer than the hook shank.

The next step is Doc’s improvement: He ties in a small rectangle piece of foam on top of the hook shank, closer toward the eye. This gives more surface area for the crease piece to bond to, and it adds more buoyancy to the front of the fly.   With this addition, the fly floats higher in the front than in the back. When the fly is stripped, it dips and darts like a Zara Spook.

Next, take the crease piece and add drops of Super Glue gel to the side opposite the fabric. Fold it over the top of the hook and pinch the sides down. Doc suggests using a tiny clamp instead of fingers.

The Lame tissue fabric emulates scales of a baitfish. You can use permanent markers to add color to the tops and sides.

Stick-on eyes come last.  To protect the eyes and body, use a coat of a clear water-based exterior acrylic (e.g., Delta Ceramcoat) or 30-minute epoxy. Another option is a UV-based epoxy. 

When we lived in Baton Rouge, our 7-acre neighborhood lake had large schools of threadfin shad that would surface starting in late September.  One of my favorite lures on commie tackle was a suspending lure - a gold Countdown Rapala to be exact.  

Doc advised me to try and use lead around the shank on a couple Crease Flies to imitate the Countdown Rapala. I was impressed with the results, and continue to experiment with this variation.

I once asked Alex Beane, former manager of the Orvis in Baton Rouge, why he converted most of his topwater offerings in the store to Crease Flies.  

Alex said that it was easier to cast than balsa or Styrofoam poppers and better for novice fly anglers looking to get into the thrill of topwater action. He also noted that for expert casters, a size 2 Crease Fly could be cast with as light as a 5-weight rod.  Both good reasons why Crease Flies have broad appeal.

These much above-average temperatures of late are only prolonging the inevitable. Sometime - hopefully soon - the shad will take to the surface, the bass will be there to greet them.  And hopefully, I'll be there to greet the bass.

Louisiana releases first stocking of redfish

30 day old juvenile redfish. 
Photo courtesy of Gena Lyons & USFWS

Over this past week, over 150,000 hatchery-raised red drum were released into Louisiana waters, marking the first redfish stocking in state history.  The releases were conducted by CCA Louisiana, the Recreational Fisheries Research Institute (RFRI) and the Lousiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF).

The fingerlings were raised at the Gulf Coast Research Lab at The University of Southern Mississippi, and released at West Cove near Sabine Wildlife Refuge, the Rigolets and at Grand Isle.  At each location, the fingerlings were first acclimated to local water temperature and salinity before being released.

According to CCA and LDWF, the purpose of the stocking is to enhance Louisiana's redfish population, which has been on the decline for a decade.  New regulations were passed in 2024, which narrowed the slot size, reduced the daily limit from 5 to 4, and eliminated the harvest of redfish over 27 inches.  However, several conservation groups supported a lower 3-fish limit since modeling showed that recovery of the spawning stock under a 4-fish limit would be 2 to 3 times longer.  

According to Randy Pausina of RFRI, using genetic identification, strategic release sites and long-term monitoring, they will be able to measure how many of these fish survive, and what level of contribution they make to the spawning stock.

Not everyone was impressed. Tony Friedrich, President of American Saltwater Guides Association (ASGA), quickly pointed out that studies in Texas and elsewhere, where millions of fingerlings have been stocked annually for many years, have shown that only 2 percent of hatchery-raised redfish make it into the breeding population.

Glen Cormier, Conservation Director for the Fly Fishers International (FFI) Gulf Coast Council, referred to this as a "band aid" solution.  "We don't have a 'catch' problem, we have a 'breeding' problem. Hatcheries are pivotal in that they provide opportunities for anglers in ecosystems where there would be little or no viable fisheries.  But never in history have they been more effective than an existing wild population."

Things are about to get interesting...

What's up with tungsten - other than price?

Ask any fly tier about what's happening with tungsten beads, and they will give you an answer that might include expletives.  The price for a 20 pack of beads using this dense, non-toxic material has risen almost 220 percent in the past year.  This is in response to the price of the mineral itself rising from an historical average of about $750 per metric ton (up until March  2025) to a peak of $2800 in February of this year.

For fly anglers, the use of tungsten beads for beadhead flies allows them to sink quickly, yet maintain a smaller profile.  This is critical when fishing moving waters, where the trout,  smallmouth or other species might hold to the bottom.  Hundreds of popular patterns like the Zebra midge, Perdigon, Countach, and Rio Bandito were originated with tungsten beads.  Countless brass beadhead patterns now use tungsten when needed for deeper water use.  

Tungsten is twice as dense as lead, and 2.4 times as dense as brass.  Lead wire was the top material for constructing "deep flies" for decades but because of restrictions across many waters in the U.S. and elsewhere, lost favor.  In addition, the rise of beadhead flies resulted in use of harder materials like brass and tungsten.  There are other non-toxic alternatives, like bismuth alloys, but they can be equally expensive.  

So what's really happening with tungsten?  Tungsten has the highest melting point of any metal, and is critical for military and aerospace applications, and in particular, for the use of electronics in AI data centers.  And yet, nearly 80 percent of the world's supply comes from China.  Not because the rest of the planet has so little and China has so much, but because it was always much cheaper to buy from companies in that country than to mine it domestically.  In fact, the US has not mined tungsten since 2015.

This fact has not escaped the Chinese.  In the race for AI dominancy, their government has now capped the export of this valuable mineral - thus resulting in worldwide shortage and soaring commodity prices.

Realizing the strategic need for more domestic tungsten production, yesterday the Department of War announced a $450 million investment in The Elmet Group, the only US-owned producer of tungsten and molybdenum materials.  The investment is expected to reopen tungsten mines in Nevada, as well as create high paying manufacturing and tech jobs in Michigan and Maine.  

In response to yesterday's news, tungsten prices fell 17 percent.  But before fly tiers rejoice over possible lower prices, they should remember that one of their favorite materials is in direct competition with the AI Data Center market.  It's doubtful we'll see (somewhat) cheap tungsten beads anytime in the near future.  

With that in mind, tiers might want to recycle the beads off of worn flies rather than chunk the entire fly into the trash can.