2010 Central Iowa Fishing Reports

[FishnDave]

Per John Scott's suggestion, I'm starting this thread and will add to it as the year goes on. This isn't just for me...I would like to invite and encourage other members that live/fish in the area to also post their fishing reports here.

So...it begins:

Got skunked while fly-fishing a local pond during my lunch-hour yesterday (3-25-2010), but had about 35 minutes to fish yesterday evening. I hit a pond in Urbandale with my fly rod. First 25 minutes I had no hits, saw one follow. I fished the spots that usually produce well for me.
I move further around the pond for my final 10 minutes of fishing, and finally found some fish. I caught 7 bluegills, and missed/lost several others.
Here's my first open-water (local) and first fly rod fish of 2010! It wasn't the biggest or prettiest of the day, but it was THE FIRST.

It was also the first fish on some new gear I'd gotten over the winter.
After looking at the pictures of this fish again, I noticed the opercle is mostly GREENISH-colored. I have pictures from both sides of the fish, and they both looked like this. Seems odd. Maybe this is because this is a smallish/youngish fish?

[Sasha]

Great report! And congrats of your first fish of 2010 on your new equipment. I look forward to your upcoming reports.

[FishnDave]

Public Pond in Ankeny
Saturday 3-27-10
10:45am-1:30pm
Fish sought: Crappies
Fish caught: 28 Crappies (pretty much all 10" or less), 1 LMB (17.5")
Used: fly rod, "crappie candy" fly

Caught 1 or 2 crappie fairly quickly, but then walked around much of the pond looking for more active fish. FINALLY found some, and it was a lot of fun after that. Eventually they quit hitting...or I'd caught most of the fish. :laughing7:
The bass hit near the end, and it was an excellent battle. Very healthy-looking fish!
I "broke in" the custom fly rod I'd bought over the winter, and it really worked great. Steve from Midwest Custom Rods really made a winner with this one. Thanks Steve!
The fish were a bit deeper, and I was using a WFF line...so what worked well was to cast out to the deeper water, let the fly drop for at least 10 seconds, then make a series of short strips, then let the fly settle again. Most of the hits came when the fly was practically just sitting there, or sinking slowly. I really had to watch my line to detect the strikes...when the wind riffled the surface, it was really tough to see what was going on.
Here's some pics:








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Public Pond in Urbandale
Sunday 3-28-10
1:50pm - 3:00pm
Fish sought: bluegills
Fish caught: 4 Crappies (pretty much all 9" or less), 5 bluegills (7.5" or less), 2 LMB (12" or less), 1 hybrid sunfish (6")
Used: fly rod, "crappie candy" fly

Didn't take any pictures. Fished several areas, only really found fish in a couple small pockets just off the first drop-off.
It was windy, but still a nice sunny day to be out!

The crappie candy's worked so well, I had to tie up a few more:

[Clay]

Nice report Dave. I heard the fish in Iowa just chatting it up about the destroyer with the new Loop outfit who is really going to shake things up this season.

Look forward to your reports.

Rick

[FishnDave]

Ha ha! I like to keep them guessing, Rick...I used the custom rod on Saturday, and the LOOP again on Sunday. Thinking about throwing a couple other of my 5wts into the rotation soon too!

[JohnScott]

.... with a Midwest Custom Fly Rod. How cool is that !

Really enjoying your reports, Dave.

I've heard people talk about crappie candy, but I don't recall seeing pics of them before.

Nice fishies. That large mouth bass looks very healthy.

John

[Sasha]

Another great report. Those are some good looking fish!

[FishnDave]

Such a beautiful day today during lunch...6mph wind, 72F...I HAD to go fishing!
I hit a pond that 2 years ago was EXCELLENT...big bluegills, good numbers, plus a shot at some decent catfish on occasion.
This was the pond that got ruined by an ice-angler who apparently didn't practice catch & release or selective harvest. Last year it was rather poor fishing, except for the occasional catfish. I caught and saw very few bluegills there last year, even during the spawn.

But, its close to work, so that's where I went today. I thought maybe I saw a bluegill, but whatever it was came to the surface, than dove back down…so it could have been a frog or small turtle.

I DID see a couple grass carp, and put a fly in front of them a few times, but they weren’t interested, and finally headed for deeper water. And here I have to admit something...as soon as I saw those big grass carp lurking in the shallows, my I started SHAKING! I noticed my legs really shaking, and then when I tried to change flies, my hands were doing the same. I guess it was the anticipation of what would happen if I managed to hook one. Now...I always get excited when I see a school of white bass smacking baitfish on the surface within casting range. THAT always puts a big smile on my face. But this was totally different. I'm at a loss to describe it.

But anyway...Skunkeroo, baby. I did see 2 bluegill carcasses…probably winter-casualties.

[KeatonsDad]

Such is life. Still great to be on the water isn't it.

My parents have a pond with some big Grass Carp in it and I hooked into one of those things one summer. It was quite a ride! The pond was only about 100 feet long and that fish ran from one end to the other and back again about 10 times.

[FishnDave]

The day-long rain stopped, the sun came out, the wind died...made for a nice evening, except it was sort of cold. It was 48 F as I headed for the pond. I had an 1.25 hour time slot to fish, between 7:45pm and 9pm.
This was "experiment" night. I had tied up some flies earlier in the evening, plus had some previous ties I wanted to try out.

There was already a "Rabbit Fly" on the line, so I started with that.


Didn't take long to get the first crappie.


I think I caught one more fish on it, then switched to a very small (1"-1.5") EP-style minnow and caught a couple crappies on that:


Then switched to a craft fur minnow about 2.5" long...olive over bright yellow over white, and caught at least one crappie on that:


Then I put on a fly I had tied up last night. I had planned to tie up Joe Cornwall's Crappie Killer (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...id=52479137997), but changed the body from chenille with tinsel ribbing to using estaz. I figured it would add flash, as well as some bulk for night fishing. I used pearl estaz on one, and the GRAND size chartreuse pearl on the other. I tied on the chartreuse one. This fly worked really well! I caught pretty good numbers of crappies on it, even after it got dark.
I also tossed it over in front of a storm culvert that empties into the pond. I figured the current from today's rain would bring some fish there. First cast yields a good fish! I admit I was sort of hoping for a catfish, but it turned out to be a rather chunky bass. I didn't measure it, I would guess it at about 15".


I wondered if a boa yarn leech would still outfish the new (modified) Crappie Killer fly. I put on a silvery-gray one. First cast...Crappie! But then that was about it for that fly. Maybe they couldn't see it as well as the usual yellow one I use? But I've done well on that color at night last year, so I know it can work.

But, for the remaining time I had left, I went back to the modified Crappie Killer. Caught more crappies. And last fish (again) was a bluegill. For a 7.5" bluegill (not very big), it is a mystery how he got enough of that big fly (#6 3xl streamer hook) in his mouth.

So, total was (at least) 17 crappies, 1 bass, 1 bluegill.