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:








-------------------------
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

[FishnDave]

Thanks John!
Here's a link to Al Campbell's FOTW entry for the Crappie Candy:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...052801fotw.php

As you can tell by the picture of the flies I tied, I was experimenting a little. Chenille vs double Uni-Yarns for the body,... deer hair on the bottom, vs congo hair, vs calf tail (on the yellow one). I've fished the chartreuse/white color so far, and it has done well. I haven't tried the yellow yet, but the fish in one pond I frequent really seem to like anything yellow.

Today (Monday, 8-29-10) during lunch I finally tried a local pond I've had my eye for a few years but have never actually fished. It wasn't as deep near shore as I'd hoped. Visibility was maybe 18". I didn't see any fish in the warmer shallows as I walked the shore....but I did save the trip by catching a crappie. That was odd, I'd heard it was a bluegill pond! )

[Beaver]

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the report. That LMB is really nice. Looks like the Crappie Candy is working as advertised. Keep up the great reports.

Beaver

[FishnDave]

I fly-fished a local pond last night after dark...from 8:30pm-10:45pm.
I began by using the Crappie Candy, which had worked well at this pond a few days ago during the daytime. Well...no takers.

After about 20 minutes, I switched to a yellow Rick Z's Boa Yarn Leech, which I had tied with beadchain eyes for a bit of weight. The boa yarn material seems to push a lot of water, and has worked phenomenally for me on my nighttime fishing excursions. I'd never fished it with beadchain eyes before, though. I caught 2 crappies on this pattern, fishing the same area I'd just fished with the Crappie Candy.

Knowing crappies tend to move higher in the water column and closer to shore around sunset, I wondered if I was fishing too deep. So, I switched to an unweighted yellow Boa Yarn Leech. I caught another crappie from the area I was working.

It was a breezy night, so some spots on this pond that typically produce for me were a lot of work to fish last night...so I hit them, but didn't spend a lot of time there. I picked up a couple more crappies in a wind-blown corner close to shore.

Next, I moved to an area that really doesn't normally produce well. It was near the wind-blown end of the pond, but it was behind a point of land, so slightly sheltered from the wind & waves. I found a spot about the size of a bathtub where I managed to pluck 10 more crappies. They were really aggressive if I brought the fly just exactly through the right area. If I got outside of that area...nothing.

So, although it started of really slow, I was happy with 15 crappies for the first nighttime fly-fishing excursion of 2010!

Sorry...no pictures! )

[Sasha]

Another great report. Those are some good looking fish!