WHITE DAY
It was a day to be outside. The weather was fairly warm and there was not much wind. Besides that, after a long winter, any chance to be on the water was a good one. I grabbed two rods, the fish basket, some flies and headed out.
I went to a pond that it is easy to walk into. There is garden type gate about 100 yards from the pond. In order to drive in there are two fields and three gates. Being lazy, and not sure it is safe to drive through the fields, I walked in.
The water was discolored, with about three feet of visibility. I had a black fur tailed leech and a white boa yarn leech on the rods; light and dark. I cast the black furl tailed leech first, but I had no luck with that fly. I decided to try the white boa yarn fly in the same area.
On the second cast I picked up a nice gill. It was not much of a strike, more of a heavy feeling on the line. The next cast resulted in a fairly nice crappie coming to hand. Things were looking better. I made several more casts and got in some casting practice.
I moved about 50 feet and tried again. I started with the white fly and picked up a few more gills; again not a hard strike, but a heavy feeling on the line. I tried the black fly and got one small bass on it not much bigger than the fly.
I moved about 20 feet this time and tried again. All the fish have hit when the fly was coming in almost perpendicular to the shoreline. I tried the black fly again and have no luck. I caught more another gills and a crappie in this area. Then it was time to move again.
There seems to be a few fish at each place. I decided to try a yellow fly to see if that works. It was lighter than the black leech, but not any more successful. It seems that white is the color to use to catch fish and all the other colors were for casting practice.
As much as I may need the casting practice I tied on another white fly. This one is weighted a little so it will run a little deeper. I thought that there may be more fish deeper. A few fish came from each place using the white flies. I got to near the dam, where there is a small flat. I made a cast along the break line of the flat and got a solid hit. I thought that it was a bass, but I was wrong. It was a 12 inch crappie. This was the only one in the area, and it was my best crappie of the year. I found a few more fish along the shore line after moving off the dam.
I looked at my watch and decided that I needed to head home. I had several fish to fillet. Picking up a couple of fish at each place adds up over time. I had some good eating and was able to share fillets with several folks.
It was a fun day. Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick