July 3-6, 2014

[FishnDave]

I flyfished 3 ponds over the holiday weekend...in fact I visited each one twice! Mostly I was flyfishing with bass-sized poppers. Fished the wide range of conditions...clear waters on a sunny day, to high muddy waters on a cloudy day. Did pretty well. Caught plenty of bass, with a number @ 15.5". Lost a handful of larger ones.


















Biggest was a 20-incher that hit around noon on July 4th.






I compared pictures to one I caught in May...and its the same fish! After I caught that fish, a large bass (same one?) started following me around the pond like a puppy...always hanging out right in front of me. Went back a couple days later...and she's STILL following me around! She won't hit any flies, but likes to attack small bass, bluegills and crappies I catch...knocks them up right out of the water like a trained dolphin!

[FishnDave]

Anyway...I also caught bluegills, crappies, hybrid sunfish, and green sunfish.
On July 5th, after we got 1.4" of rain earlier in the day, all the ponds were high and stained. I was still able to see quite a few Common Carp in one pond (way more than I expected to see) feeding along the shoreline, making even muddier water. I started flyfishing for them. I hooked 3. One wrapped me around a metal post twice before breaking off. The second charged for deep water and thrashed before throwing the hook. The third one gave a HECKUVA great battle...and I finally won one! My 2nd biggest carp on a fly rod, 30". A fellow whose fly-carping credentials and opinion I trust greatly guesstimated the weight @ 14-16 lbs. Not bad on a 6wt fly rod with 8 lb test tippet!



In the flooded grass around one pond, I saw small pods of baby bullheads"



As a fitting ending to the Independence Day weekend, we had some awesome Red-White-Blue colors in the sky last night.

[jimsnarocks]

Cool report David. Thanks. Jim