FIRST TRIP – 2011
I finally got a chance to go out for a few hours. Temps have not been that high, but the ice is off the ponds and it is not raining. I decided to head to a pond that is not far off the road and I was fairly sure he fish might be along the break line off the dam. At least that was the hope that I had.
I grabbed two rods and the vest and headed off. I arrived at the pond and got the rods ready to go. I put on a hares ear type fly and a black marabou leech type of fly with rubber legs. Early in the season I fish things that look more natural. Those types of flies seem to work better than the attractor type flies.
Got out on the pond and saw that there were two kids fishing the pond also. That was not a problem as we would be fishing different areas. This pond is about 50 % bigger than a football field. The deepest water is about 14 feet near the dam. The water drops of to about 4 to 6 feet about 20 feet off shore over most of the pond.
I started with the black marabou leech first. I cast it out and let it drop for a very long time since I wanted to let the fly drop so it was below the shallow depth of the break line. I hoped that there might be some fish along the break line. On the second cast the end of the fly line twitched and I set the hook. I had a nice gill on the line. It was nice to get a fish on the second cast of the season. I continued to cast over the area and got a fish on about every fourth cast. I used very slow, small strips with long pauses. Not fast fishing, but I was getting some.
The kids saw I was catching some fish and they came over to see what was happening. They stayed back until I asked them how they were doing. They had not caught anything. They had big spinner baits on so I knew they were after bass.
They watched for a few minutes as I was casting. I hooked another gill and asked if one of them would like to land it. It was great fun to watch him bring it in with the rod dancing. In a few minutes the other kid got to bring one in.
At this point their parents showed up and they had to leave. I asked if they liked fish. When they said yes I gave them the 10 fish I had. They headed for the truck. In a few minutes the Dad was there asking if the kids had asked for the fish. I told him that I had offered them the fish and that they had not been any problem at all.
Over the next hour I caught two more gills. I would do the same thing again. I did get to eat a few fillets and had great fun.
Hope you can get out on the water.