The Year in Review

As I said in my previous post this looks like the end of open water fishing but in looking back I really had a great year. A few of the highlights are I caught the biggest bass of my life, a wonderful day when I caught 11 bass, caught a humongous bluegill, a trout that was one of a very few summer survivors at Bacon Creek and some bonus weeks open water fishing as freeze up this year was late than last year. I could just go on and on but, above all, I went on some great outings with my new friends from the fly fishing club. I am very happy with the way things went.
How did your year go?

Well... It was pretty good. Numbers of fish aren't a very good indication, I live a few blocks away from an absolute smallmouth factory and during the warmer months, 100 in a day is really not that uncommon. That said, I caught lots of fish, had lots of fun, shared good times with close friends and family and just enjoyed nature. What more can one want?

Oh, and I have really improved in the carp game. They are such a challenge, I love em!

This was my first full year in fly fishing, and a fun one, too. On a summer trip to IL I caught my first (and only) two smallmouth bass. The first was 15", and still my biggest fish on a fly rod. I also caught a crappie in that same creek, another first. Also on that trip I had a couple days on a pond and caught some big bluegill, around 9-10". One day I caught 10 plus a few bass, the other day I caught 8 plus a bass. Not big numbers but good for me considering I only spent about 3 hours on the water each day. That trip got me really interested in warmwater fish, since I had only fished for trout here in AZ before. I found a local lake that has largemouth, yellow bass, and bluegill, and bought a float tube last week so hopefully I can make it out there in the next week or so.

I'm not going to give up trout fishing in the creeks here, but I've never had more fun with a fly rod than fighting those bluegill. If the warmwater fishing locally is as good as I've heard, I would rather fish for those species than trout.

Also I started tying my own flies this year. Great fun and I've started catching more fish because of it. Instead of buying flies and hoping something works, I started to find out what the fish eat in a particular creek/lake and tie flies to match.

The fly-fishing season appears to be over for me. I keep a fishing log so I can compare trends from this year to previous years. I do also using spinning gear on occasion, but here's my 2009 "stats".

I made 101 FLY fishing trips in 2009 (75% of my total fishing trips).
I landed 1,339 fish on flies (73% of my total fish caught).

On flies, I caught Largemouth Bass, Crappies, Bluegills, Green Sunfish, Hybrid Sunfish, Channel Catfish, Common Carp and Grass Carp.

Grass carp was a new species for me this year on flies, and I landed 2 of them. The biggest was 36.5 inches. Fly gear/fly also caught my personal best channel catfish...a 31-incher.

The end?

Lots of bass to be caught here. My buddy with a 7lb 11oz bass caught this weekend:

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q...AwNTAuanBn.jpg

Sounds like all of you guys had a pretty good year. Excellent!

When I started fly fishing it was like learning how to fish all over again. All my life I'd used spin casting, bait casting and spinning equipment and with a few modifications for each type of equipment it's all pretty much the same. But with fly fishing a lot of things got turned on their head & I had to learn how to fish all over again. That process started about five years ago and since then I've improved considerably with room left for a lot more improvement. Each time I accomplish something new it's a good feeling that I'm getting somewhere. Just exactly where I don't yet know but somewhere.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Bad Wulff

The end?

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Yep. The ponds around here are iced over now.
In another couple weeks, it should be thick enough to walk on and start ice fishing.

I think I'm envious of you guys who can ice fish. I reckon sitting out on a frozen lake fishing is better than sitting at home looking out at the frozen wasteland.

Unfortunately here in Northern KY, we're in that DMZ between the north and south. It gets too darn cold to fish here, but it rarely gets cold enough for the lakes to freeze over thick enough to walk out on and fish. They do freeze over, but only an inch or less thick except for a couple weeks in an exceptionally cold winter. Maybe once every 4 or 5 years do we get ice thick enough that I'd trust it to go out and ice fish.

You guys farther south have far less down time over the winter.

Those of us in the middle ground, well, December - April are tough.

Jeff

Well i learned to budget my time better in spite of all my necessary non-flyfishing projects that involve traveling between two states. It goes like this: First, go flyfishing, forget the rest. If i have luck and/or if it gets too hot or cold, try to remember what one or maybe even two of the necessary non-flyfishing projects are and drive in that direction...try not to look at the river or the lake on the way by. Secondly, work on the projects (once i get around to them) preferably when it's dark, which wastes no daylight that could otherwise involve flyfishing. Third and lastly, consider my priorities (see 'First, go flyfishing') and remember that i can always work on projects but i can't always flyfish since it does get dark, too hot or too cold. Then go flyfishing.

Ok, all seriousness aside, i caught and released multitudes of smallies this season, quite a few minor steelies, a number of trout, the occasional bluegill, crappie, a very few decent lmb's but a number of juveniles plus the bonus steelie this year that's pictured in the 'Fishing Reports' segment.

Yesterday i fished in 14f weather but in the sun so it wasn't bad. Iced guides, yes and no fish...not even a bump nor a show, but was i bummed? No, no flyfishing friends, not me ! I woke today to see 11f on the outside therm and that pretty much is keeping me in for now...yeah, a project is under consideration....sheetrock. I do notice the sun is out and that at a few mins to 11am it's pushing 22 out there so maybe....

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

This was an odd year for me. I got more multiple day trips in this year than usual, but far fewer days on the local water. Caught lots of fish, met a couple more FAOLers, tied more flies than I lost, and got to spend a lot of time with friends and family. I got my nephew into his first fish (which he is still talking about), and got his mother (my sister-in-law) out a couple times with the rest of the kids, too. All in all, a very good year.

I did my 'year in review' last month when I went through all my photos from my 2009 fishing trips. At the Alpine Fly Fishers annual December meeting/fund raiser, one of the things we do is have everyone submit their digital photos and Steve places them onto a PowerPoint program and we show them during the meeting. My photos showed just how great of a year I had for fishing in 2009. Between the Yakima River in eastern Washington and the Missouri River and Clark Fork River in Montana, I caught some really nice fish, and a lot of them.

I am about to start my winter fishing on the Yakima River and I have many trips planned to the great state of Montana for 2010. Yep, it looks like 2010 will also be a great year.

Larry ---sagefisher---

While I've fished less this year than ever before I have been fortunate to make some wonderful new acquaintances right here in my own back yard and that is always a good thing!