Central Iowa 2019

[FishnDave]

The ice finally disappeared off most of the local public ponds on March 23rd. Over the past month, the flyfishing started out pretty great, and has seemed to decline since then. But here's some of the better fish from this first month of flyfishing here:
Crappies to 13":








And as of yesterday, the crappies in some ponds are starting to guard nests, and the males are sporting their darker spawning colors:




Some decent bluegills have been caught:


Only a couple Pumpkinseed Sunfish:

[FishnDave]

Some beefy Hybrid Sunfish (naturally occurring) have been attacking flies I've been using for bass:






The bass fishing started out great, but has slowed for the past week or so. Most of my bass have been caught on Blane Chocklett GameChangers tied from a variety of materials and in a variety of sizes...from 2.75" to 4".
20.75":


19.5":


20":


Had especially great days with a Feathered GameChanger:


And a small 2.75" synthetic version:

[smij]

Definitely a great start to the season!

[Prairieschooner]

Nice! My bass take so far has been one feisty little 6-incher !

[FishnDave]

I'm looking forward to the topwater bite heating up. Bluegills are hitting floating flies already. I've caught at least one bass on a Howitzer head popper and missed a few other strikes. The one I caught...it was the first cast of the morning...I cast out, and the popper was just sitting there as I was messing around with my line, not paying attention. I heard the splash, the popper was gone...It took me a few seconds to get my line sorted out and catch up to the fish, but it was still on! Talk about LUCK!

[FishnDave]

I've been trying/hoping for carp during my lunch hours lately. I've presented the fly to many bubble streams and mud clouds with no strikes to show for it. I finally got one! Beautiful golden fish! 26.5" long. Pretty healthy. My formula suggested 8.75 lbs for a weight. Sure looked a lot bigger, but that's all fine. Very strong fish that gave an excellent accounting itself!


I also got to use my new Fishpond Nomad net. This is exactly why I got it, and it worked perfectly. I gotta admit, when I saw the fish in the water, I wasn't sure it was going to fit in the net! But it did.