DELUGE AND COLD
It is a day off and time to hit a pond. There had been variable amounts of rain over the past few days. Officially about 2.5 inches, but there were reports of up to 6 inches in places. Heavy bands of rain went through in places. Then the cold front came through. To wet to drive into any placed. The temperature is 49 degrees with a 20 mph wind.
I grab two rods, three hook boxes of flies, the fish basket, the forceps, a heavy coat and hat and head out. I almost look like I am heading out to ice fish. Maybe dumb to be out, but it is a day off and I need to be on the water.
I got to the pond and saw that the water looked like chocolate milk. There was about 1 inch of water going over the drain pipe. I went down the dam to the far end and started casting. I was using a black boa yarn leech and a soft hackle tied with some fluorescent body material. Lots of good casting practice.
I moved up the pond and tried again. On the third cast I felt a little resistance and set the hook. I had a nice gill that headed for China. Lots of dido's and twists before this fish came in, but there were no more fish in this area.
I kept moving across the dam casting with both flies, but I had no luck with either of them. I got near the drain pipe and worked that area very carefully. My hope was that with the water funneling into this area and bringing food, that this was a good spot to fish. It was a wonderful theory and resulted in two more gills; one on each fly.
I changed to a hares ear type fly and a Goldie Jr. After making several more casts and I got no more fish so I moved to another area and tried again.
I might have had one light hit that I missed. Might have been a clump of algae also. Hard to tell. Went back to the first two flies and had no luck.
It started to sprinkle a little bit. I knew there were storms predicted and decided that it might be smart to go home.
I never did figure out what to use on the fish this day. But the time was therapeutic and we had enough fish to eat.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick