ON THE SHORE
I had a chance to get out but it was for a short time so no canoe. I grabbed two rods and headed for a pond. I picked one near the road and got to it fast.
When I arrived I went to the dam end to try fishing the shallow flat on one end. I hoped that there might be some fish feeding in this area. I had a black furl tailed mohair leech on one rod and a Goldie Jr. on the other one. I cast the mohair leech first and it had not moved it far when a nice gill to it. This fish did not want to come to the shore. The rod tip did a lot of dancing but I finally won. I made another cast and picked up another gill in just about the same place.
As normally happens with my casting, the next cast was not close to where the first two landed. The fly had just hit the water and there was a large swirl. I immediately hooked into a fish with a great deal of weight. It took a long time to begin to gain some line on this fish. The fish jumped and I saw that it was a large bass. I finally got the fish under control, and managed to get it to shore. I could see that it was a female that was full of eggs. I took the fly out of her mouth and let her loose while still in the water. I'm not sure it makes any difference on the amount of stress the fish had, but I felt better.
There were no more fish in this area. Were there just a couple of fish or did the fight with the bass scare the rest away? No way to know, but it was time to move. I went about 40 feet and tried again. This time I tried the Goldie Jr. I had the fly near the shore where the break line is and got a solid hit. I brought the fish in and it was a large crappie. I reached down and lipped this fish in the water. I did not try to swing it up.
I made another cast and picked up another very nice crappie as the fly came in by the break line. I had another fish to lip. That was the end of the crappie, or any fish that wanted the Goldie Jr. I tried the leech and got a few nice gills.
I moved to try another area. I tried the Goldie Jr. first still looking for those crappie. I let the first cast get to deep and picked up some weeds. It was crazy to have weeds that large this early in the year. I made another cast and kept the fly higher in the water column. I get a couple to taps that felt like weeds, but there was no greenery on the hook. The next time there was that little tap I set the hook and I got another nice crappie. This fish was all over the place, flopping on the surface and then it dove. It was acting more like a bass. I picked up three more crappie in this area and then the fishing turned off.
I am not sure why, but it was time to move. I moved about 40 feet and tried again. This time when there was a little tick on the line I set the hook. This crappie jumps out of the water, and spends almost as much time in the air as the water. But it was fun! I got two more crappie in this area. Both of them went airborne. This is happening more and more each year to me.
It was then time to move. Another person had come to the pond and was fishing the flat at the end of the dam. I moved around him and headed on up the pond. I know there is a channel that runs near the shore on that side of the pond. I wondered if there were any fish there. I got there and make several casts, but no fish. The sun had gone behind a cloud, so I decided to change flies and see what might happen. I decided to go to a hare's ear type fly and a white boa yarn fly.
I used the hare's ear first as it was on the rod I picked up. I got the fly to the edge of the ditch and a fish grabbed it. It was a nice gill that made the rod tip dance a lot. I got several more gills out of this area. All of them hit the fly hard and gave a nice fight before coming to hand.
I tried the white boa yarn fly, since you have to try a fly that you have tied on. I cast it out and the water swirled as the fly hit the water. A nice crappie had taken it. I got four more crappie in this area. All of them must have been just under the surface.
I hit the time of great dilemma; stay with biting fish or head home to get the other things done that need to happen. I did head for home, but I think that I regret that decision. The other things did needed to be done, but the fish were biting.
I had some nice fillets to share, and great fun catching the fish on my bamboo rods.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick