Hit the pond at work today.....

[AllenOK]

We had a full prep crew at work today, so I had a gut feeling I would be getting out a little early. I had a fly rod in the van, and took the reel in with me so the heat build-up in the van wouldn't start breaking down my line.

Once I got out, I drove over to the pond, pulled out the rod, attached the reel, strung it, and tied on the popper I've been using lately. Grabbed my box of flies, some floatant, and my fishing bag, which had my camera tripod in it.

I put the bag down (you can see it in the second scene), and cast the popper out. Slurp/POP!!! Set the hook, and brought in a nice Hybrid sunnie. Released that fish, and cast out again to a slightly different spot. Slurp/POP!!! Got a good hookset on that one, and brought it in. Boy, these Hybrids are nice on a fly rod!

Decided to set the camera on the tripod and get some video. Managed to catch another Hybrid (first fish on the vid, sorry I was half out-of-frame), then followed by a string of Bluegills. Didn't catch any Bass, but they are in there.

You see a little bit of my newbie casting technique. I know, I need to keep my wrist straight. And, it's more elbow than anything else. I'm working on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pja56...ature=youtu.be

Last fish of the day (not on video) felt like another nice Hybrid Sunnie, but it ended up diving for the bottom, and wrapping my tippet around a stick or something, and I ended up loosing my tippet, popper, and fish.

[FishnDave]

Beautiful spot to fish!
Technique? You can cast out and catch fish. That's all the technique you NEED!

[billhouk]

Very nice. The pond where I work is posted, "No skating, no swimming, no fishing." Caught a very nice bluegill in it before they posted it.

[James Smith]

Nice little pond and the fish looked very willing to play. It looks like it would be a great place to put in a kayak and fish the reaminder of the pond. Thanks for sharing.

Jim Smith

[NewTyer 1]

Yes sir, that sure is a nice weedy pond. I bet there are some lunkers hiding in the tall reeds. As far as your casting goes,
1. Don't bring in the line so far, leave enough out, maybe 20-30 feet so you will be able to load the rod quicker.
2. Slow down your back/forward cast. Wait until you feel the rod load on your backcast before starting your forward cast.
3. lock your wrist and pretend that your elbow is resting on a plank and the only motion you can make is straight forward and backward and use your body more.
4. Learn the double haul, it well help with distance.

I am assuming that you are fairly new to fly fishing, is that correct? Check this site out, it is one of the best sites I have found for all the information you need. I have been casting for awhile now but, I never learn enough so, I am taking one of Orvis's free casting classes. Here is the link...
http://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/

Also, wear the hell out of youtube. There are hundreds of casting and tying videos there. I just want to state that I am certainly not beating you up about your cast. You were able to get it out and catch fish. I just assume that everyone is like me and always wants to improve their fly fishing abilities.

[AllenOK]

Thanks, folks.

NewTyer, I've been hitting youtube for over a week on casting, mainly Lefty Kreh's videos. Thanks for the link for Orvis, I'll have to check that out.

Jim, I'm a yakker myself (just saw the sub-forum for paddling a few minutes ago). That pond is small enough to walk completely around; I just prefer that side I was fishing. Of course, a yak or canoe would allow access to the entire weedline. I don't know if my job would let me launch into that pond, though. I work for a retirement community, and the residents think of those fish as their pets; it's C&R. I have a few small lakes nearby that I can drop my yak into that have good sunnie populations. Hopefully, here soon, I will be doing exactly that.