DELUGE
It rained for three straight days, and we had at least two inches of rain each day. That could be true for many places in the country. It was a very wet spring in many places. Not a good time to try to drive into any pond.
I hiked into a pond, and went to one that I could get into at the dam end. I had no desire to hike through all the mud that would be in the area where the pond drains.
I got in and the water was fairly dirty. It only had about three inches of visibility and the water was very high. The water level was about 6 inches above the drain pipe in the pond. It was not real good conditions to be out, but it is when the time was available. There was a small snapping turtle on top of the drain pipe. I wondered if the turtle could get off the pipe or not. I did not offer any help.
I walked across the dam and headed down the east side of the pond. I wanted to start fishing at the farthest point from the truck. That way I get closer to the truck as the fish basket gets heavier. That is the optimism that we all go to the water with.
I had a 5 weight and a boo rod with me. It was one of the days that I wanted to fish the boo. I always want to fish them, but need to use the other rods. From one of the knitters in town I had received some small pieces of yarn that had one strand of luminescent material in it. I tied some soft hackles with that, and also some flies with some luminescent flash material in them. I thought this was a good time to try these flies.
I started fishing where the water is about 6 feet deep. I cast the fly out and let it drop a few feet and then started a very slow retrieve. I was hoping that this would give the fish time to see the fly and take it. I fan cast the area and did not have much luck.
I moved about 40 feet and tried again. The water is deeper here and there is a channel that starts about 25 feet off shore. I hoped that there might be some fish in the channel or near the break line. I started by letting the fly drop about four feet here before starting the retrieve.
The fly was near the channel when I felt the tap. I set the hook and had the first fish come to hand and it was a very nice bluegill. I made another cast and had another fish take the fly at about the same place. I fan cast the area, picking up fish on about half the casts. After the fishing slowed I tried the other rod and picked up a few more fish. Out of curiosity a black boa yarn fly went on and tried that. I got one fish on it.
I moved again about 40 feet. I tried the black boa yarn fly first, and picked up several fish on that fly. I even got a couple of crappie in this batch. I switched to the other fly and got a few more fish. Then the fishing slowed.
I moved to the dam. The area on the west side of the dam is a shallow flat. It is full of water weeds. No chance to fish the area. Fish get tangled in to many weeds.
I picked up a few fish along the dam. I tried several different flies to see if that would help, but that did not seem to help any. If the fly was in front of the fish they would take it. From 8 to 10 fish in each place and then it was over. I must have caught all the fish or they turned off.
I headed home to get some other things done. As usual I had more fish in the basket than I had thought. It took almost an hour to get them all filleted. Fortunately I had fish to share.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick