Night fishing, 9-10-09

[FishnDave]

Had family activities after work last night. Got home around 8:20pm. It was such a nice night, even though it was dark already...
So, I decided to go fly fishing at a local public pond.
Used a yellow Boa Yarn Leech, and did pretty well. Fished for 2 hours, and stopped when I reached 40 crappies. Also caught 4 bluegills, and 1 channel catfish.
The bluegills were smallish. The crappies were "medium-sized"....averaging around 9", but I measured one bigger one that went 11". The catfish was 20.5".

[JohnScott]

Dave -

That thing in the last pic is definitely in the running for ugliest fishy ever posted on FAOL !! That pinkish eye could be the deciding factor in a show down with the worst ??

Having said that, glad you got out and enjoyed the evening. LOTS of action, for sure.

John

[Eight Thumbs]

Hi Dave,

Glad you had a nice run of fish last night. Looks like a lot of fun. 8T

[FishnDave]

John, you may be right! The eye reflecting the light from my camera flash and cap-light is weird... and I've certainly seen more attractive lips!

Catfish have a face even their mother's don't love...But I do like catching them, they put up one heckuva battle!


I'm too lazy to check the math right now...when I told a buddy of mine what I caught last night, he told me that worked out to 1 fish every 3 minutes for those 2 hours.

Lets see 120 minutes/45 fish... hey, that's 1 fish every 2 mins 40 seconds! LOL ug..."math geek"...

[SteveGibson]

That's really cool, Dave. I've been thinking about doing some night fishing here. I think it will be productive.

[FishnDave]

Tried it again last night...fished for 2.5 hours in the dark. Caught 44 crappies, 4 bluegills, 1 largemouth bass (15.5")...and hooked a muskrat!

Now, I admit I cast over near the muskrat on purpose...to scare it off. There was no moon visible last night so it was really dark. When I thought my line was well clear of the muskrat, I proceeded with my usual retrieve. Suddenly, the muskrat took off underwater, and my line was going with it! Yep, it was hooked. It was an ok battle, as far as that goes, but probably not as good as the bass. I always wondered what a muskrat would feel like on the end of the line. Now I know. I won't be casting anywhere near one again, though. I felt bad. I got it into shore a couple times, and it dove under the bank both times. The 2nd time, I couldn't get it back out...or maybe it freed the hook on a snag under there? Anyway, I got my hand as close to the end of the line as I felt comfortable with (visions of the tiny beast jumping out to bite me were taken into consideration), and slowly pulled. The line soon broke.
If I'd had a landing net with me, maybe I could have netted it and removed the hook? About a month ago, my son hooked a young duck. Not sure if it was on purpose (he said it wasn't, I was at the far side of the pond at the time), I know the ducks were hanging around right in front of him and the duck certainly went after the fly, it was hooked just inside the top of the bill. I was able to hold the duck and remove the hook. My son felt bad, too, so I know he won't fish again with ducks hanging out by him.