PERSNICKETY
It was going to rain the rest of the week. The temperatures were also going to be about 25 degrees cooler. That is the best reason I know to go fishing. My best half says that I don't need a reason. The existence of fish is more than enough reason for me to be out. Also if I did not go I might be crankier than usual.
I picked up two rods that I had not used for a while. I got out to the pond and looked at what was on them. I had a Goldie Jr and a white streamer tied with yarn. This one is thicker than fun fur but much longer also, with some sparkle in it.
The water was stained with about 16 inches of visibility. I decided to cast with the Goldie Jr first. On the third cast I got a strike just after the fly hit the water. It turned out to be a nice crappie. Just after I put the fish in the basket I saw my furled leader on the ground. I picked it up and saw that it had broken in three places. I'm not sure how old it was, but that ended the fishing with that rod.
I go with the other rod with the streamer. I was just getting ready to put the Goldie Jr on this rod, but as I raised the rod tip to lift the line off the water and allow me to change the fly a crappie hit the fly. The hook set and landing were the same motion. Could it be that I needed to fish shallower in the water column? The best way to find out is to try. I cast the fly and started to retrieve right after it hit the water. The fly has not moved far and another fish was on the line. An ornery little bass took it, but there were a few more crappie in this area.
I moved down the pond and tried again. I picked up a few more crappie in this area. I had the fly about eight feet off shore when a cat fish took the fly. After several minutes of tug-of-war the leader parted. Darn, I wanted that fish in my hands, but I would have turned it back.
Since I only had one fly like that with me I had to use the Goldie Jr. This fly worked as well as the other fly one, and I would pick up a few fish each area.
I knew that there were some storms coming in, and it turned out that the storms were moving faster than I thought. The winds picked up a lot and it started to sprinkle. It seemed like the smart time to head home.
I had the fish filleted, guts buried, and everything put away before the rain got to the house. I looked at the furled leader and saw that some of the threads in the leader had separated. I think enough of them did this and that was the cause of the breakage. To the best of my memory, this leads was at least 6 years old. I managed to landed a lot of fish on that old leader. I looked around and found another in my stash to replace it.
We had fillets to eat and to share, and I did not get soaked doing it.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick