Headed back to the hole I was in Sunday. I never got a chance to fully ?explore? the hole. Today I did just that, and I?m glad I did.
I found that I had been fishing near the tail end of the hole. The core of the hole was just 100? further upstream. It was also a little deeper, and I can safely wade closer to the rocks, closing the distance to the fish.
I started out throwing a topwater lure, the same Tiny Torpedo that caught a bunch of fish two days ago. Well, this morning was more clear, so the topwater bite died shortly after I got there.
I decided to pull the fly rod out and see if anything would take a Clouser. I tied on one of my bead chain Clousers in chartreuse over white, and started casting it out. There wasn?t much water moving. I could just barely see water moving.
I quickly found that the fish wanted the fly just drifting along the bottom, and usually would take it after it made ?the swing?; turning to face upstream like all the shad in the water was doing.
I caught a few White Bass, then I got a nice Tap, and a strong pull. When it came up, at first, I thought I had a small Catfish, but realized it was my first Sauger on the fly:
Shortly afterwards, I got another distinct Tap, and pulled in my first Catfish on the fly:
It?s just a little one, still got it?s spots. But, I can see why folks target them on the fly, as it pulled pretty darn good.
About 20 minutes later, doing the same thing, but about 20? further downstream, I got a HARD pull. My pole bent over. It?s shallow here, so the fish came up really quick. IT WAS A FREAKING LONGNOSE GAR! And then it popped my tippet, taking my fly with it. I might not have landed it, but I did get a look at it.
I?m definitely going to have to get an 8wt rig with my taxes this year.