BAD END TO TRIP
It is another opportunity to head out to a pond and do some fishing. It has not rained for a long time and I know that I can get into this pond. It is off a gravel road and then down a cow path and over a hill to get to it. That is what turns out to be part of the end of the adventure for the day. That will come at the end of the narrative, discourse, or ramble as you look at this.
I get into the pond and get the canoe off and all the rods loaded in the canoe. I then drag the canoe through the grass and weeds around the edge of the pond. There is a strip about 25 feet wide and about eight feet high that had not been mowed when the field was worked for hay. Not the easiest thing to get the canoe through, but there are times that some brute strength, awkwardness, and persistence can pay off.
No chance to cast from the shore as I normally try to do so I get the canoe into the water and get out from shore. Why take a chance of having one of the weeds jump out and grab my fly? If I am too close to shore I just know that will happen. How those weeds manage to be so mobile is just beyond me. Not only do they grab my flies, but they seem to migrate to my garden.
From past experience I know that his pond has bass, green sunfish and crappie. I am after the crappies that reside in this pond. With this in mind the four rods have these flies on them: silver Godlie Jr, a yellow boa yarn leech, a perch-a-bou and a Gilly. I have caught crappie on all of these flies and I am sure that at least one of them will work on this day. Every fly fisherman has to believe that when they tie the fly on, or why tie it on?
I grab a rod and start casting. When I do this, I usually close my eyes and reach down to grab one. That way I don’t get in the debate with myself about which one I should start with. The white boa yarn leech is the first one to go into the water.
Several casts with this fly result in two small bass taking the fly. The fly has been fished at several depths and with several different retrieves. So it was time to change. The next rod I grabbed was the one with the Goldie Jr on it. This is a fly that I have confidence in.
I still have confidence in the fly, but the only fish that was interested in it in this pond on this day was a very small bass. If I had caught three more this size I might be able to claim I caught a foot long bass. So it is time to change flies again.
I have had success on the perch-a-bou a few weeks before so it is the next fly I go to. So I lost the debate and went with the fly that had worked before. I know that I am a creature of habit. The flies I start with are usually the flies that I ended the last trip with.
This fly seemed to interest the small green sunfish in the pond. I caught about a dozen that were all about four inches long. The fly was getting a response, but not from the species that I wanted to tangle with.
I am down to the Gilly. If this fly does not work then I will be tying on another set of four flies to try. As I have stated before, I don’t like to tie flies on so I do all four when I have to. No reason other than I think I want to have flies in the water to catch fish. That is the only way to catch fish is to have flies in the water.
My first cast with the Gilly drops in near a lily pad. This cast was made with great skill, no serendipity at all in this. Those of you that believe this, I have an option on the Eiffel Tower and the Brooklyn Bridge.
There is a flash of silver near the lily pad and I have a fish on the line, and it turns out that this is the first crappie of the day. I don’t realize this for a short time as the fish runs and fights much more like a bass. It is not until I have the fish near the canoe that I realize that it is a nice crappie. I net the fish and put it in the fish basket. My mouth is watering at the thought of having some crappie fillets. Things are looking better.
There is another lily pad about 15 feet from the first one and I drop the Gilly near that pad. There is another flash of silver and then I have another crappie on the line. This fish also runs and twists like a bass. It gets netted; to be sure the hook does not come out if I tried to swing the fish in. The longer I fight a crappie the more likely I am to net the fish to land it. Too many other have gone back into the pond.
I cast out toward the center of the pond to see if there might be any interest there. There are other lily pads, but I make sure that I cover all of the water before I move to another spot. The fly has dropped for a few seconds and there is a swirl around the fly. I set the hook and think that it is another bass. This turns out to be a crappie also, but I lose the fish as it comes to the surface and shakes the hook out. Dumb mistake as I had raised the rod tip way up to bring the fish to the surface. I thought it was a bass and that it might come off if I did that.
I made all of my casts about 20 feet and covered the water in that area. I then moved the canoe and cast to a few more lily pads. Turns out the crappie seemed to like being near these pads and several more fish came to the net. Several also got off, but I had fillets to eat and had tangled with some large crappie.
It was time to head home. I got the canoe back through the same path I made coming in, and it was much easier than the incoming trip. I got everything loaded and headed out from the pond. After getting back over the hill and onto the cow path I thought the ride was a little rough, but the road was not in good shape. So I slowed down and that seemed to help.
The same thing happened when I got onto the gravel road. The ride was very rough, but the road is very rough in this area. So I slowed down and the problems seemed to go away. When I got to a smoother section of road, the problem returned. I stopped the truck and got out to see what might be the matter.
It did not take long to find the flat tire. In fact it was the destroyed tire.
I am not sure how long I had driven on the flat, but it was long enough that
the tie was shot. I had to take a short hike to get to a house where I could
make a phone call and have my wife pick me up.
It was too late in the day to get the tire fixed so after cleaning the fish
I cleaned up and waited for the morning. I got the tire off and into to town.
Got a new tire put on and headed back to the truck.
Being on a country road I had pulled the truck off to the side. The passenger wheels were over the edge of the road and I could not raise the truck high enough with the jack to get the tire on.
I had to come into town and get a wrecker to come out and raise the truck to get the tire on.
It had been a very fun day until the whole tire incident happened. Maybe if I were not so dense at times I might have saved the tire, but who knows. After the tire was on and I got home I took fillets around to folks to share.
That night we had some good, if expensive, eating.
Hope you can get out on the water, less the flat tires.
Rick
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