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I went out to the lake two days after I had to dredge
the bottom to get a fish to hit. I wrote about it in
getting the salad to go with the fish. These are the
bonus days as it is December and for some strange reason,
global warming perhaps, the ice is off the ponds.
To a large extent I am a creature of habit. I will
start doing what worked the last time I was out,
unless the conditions have changed drastically. So
I get to the pond and cast the fly out, and let the
fly drop again so it is near the bottom. A slow
retrieve and nothing happens. I try this several
times and decide to change fly rods.
When I change rods, I always make a cast to wind the
line on the reel I have been using. By making the cast
and winding the line in, it winds on better for me than
having a glob at my feet and doing that. I have a talent
for getting knots in the fly line.
In any case the line goes out and I am reeling it in.
I am not doing this very fast, why waste a cast? The
fly is a bout twenty feet out when the end of the line
goes sideways. I know enough to set the hook when that
happens. I had a nice crappie on the line. What is a
fish doing hitting a fly that is six inches under water,
when they had been hugging the bottom two days before?
That is why it is called fishing and not catching.
I was getting ready to put the fish back in the lake
when I heard a horn honking. One of the old geezers
that I rarely see was coming down the road. When he
got stopped, he said that he would like to have the
fish. He told me that he has gone through a long bout
of ill health and was just getting to the point where
he could get around some. I told him that it was his
meanness coming out.
I made another cast, with the same rod and fly. Why
change something that may be working? I retrieved the
fly in and nothing happened. I do pay attention each
time to see what is going on when I catch a fish. The
retrieve was not as steady as when I was reeling in
the line. Could this make a difference? There is
only one way to find out.
To shorten the ramblings, each time I cast the fly
out and let it drop a few inches under the surface,
I would have a fish hit when I reeled the line in
slowly. There was something about the steady retrieve
that the fish liked. I try to do what the fish like on
any particular day. At times I wish the fish would tell
me what they want faster.
When the fish hit, I would stop reeling and just
strip the line in. That way I did not have to take
as much line off the reel to make the next cast. It
was casting about 25 feet out into the pond and
reeling about five feet of line in. I have been
told there is a breakline out at that distance
and the fish must have been holding on that.
I got the old geezer a dozen crappie before the need
to make a living got in the way. He said that this
would make him three meals. I told him to behave so
we could pick on each other for a long time.
This was another beautiful day to be out. It was another
reminder to me to pay attention to what the fish want
and not what I might like to do.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~
Rick
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