LITTLE SUCCESS
I went to as pond on the only day of the week that I had free to go fishing. I had other things that needed to be done, which seems crazy for a retired guy. It was still way to wet to drive into any place. It had rained yesterday so several ponds were out of the running. Way to much mud between me and the pond edge. But I knew of a pond that had mowed grass around most of it. This seemed to be a good place to try. It was partly cloudy with a 15 mph wind blowing out of the northwest with gusts of up to 30 mph.
I had a 3weight and a 5 weight graphite with me. I had a white Only and a black fly on the two rods. I went to the southeast corner of the pond where the dam is and there is a large flat area that slopes out over about 60 feet. Then there is a 3 foot drop off. I cast with each rod several times and picked up a nice bluegill on the black fly. This spot is usually good for a few more fish, but this is not the fish counter.
O moved across the dam about 30 feet and tried again. This way I could cast over deep water and bring the fly in, or cast over shallow water and bring the fly to deeper water. Several casts with each fly resulted in another nice bluegill on the white Only. Things were not seeming to be going very well so I decided to change flies to see if that might help. O tied on a dark hares ear type fly and an orange eyelash yarn leech pattern. I made several casts with each of those flies and I got another nice bluegill and a small bass.
I moved along the dam again and tried the flies in the next place. I got another nice bluegill there, and it was time to try flies again. I tied on a purple furl tailed mohair leech and a bright green bodied fly. I tried those flies and got nothing in that place. I moved along the dam to one of my favorite places on the pond. I tried the flies in this area and pick up another nice bluegill and a decent crappie. I tried different retrieves and depths and nothing happen.
I moved to the west end of the dam. This area is a flat that slopes out with break lines of about two feet every 12 feet or so. There always seem to be some fish in this area. I cast with each of the flies in this area and got another bluegill and another crappie. I moved around the end of the dam to the western shore. I cast out over the same area to see if flies coming from another direction would interest the fish. Now the wind was more behind me. I got a couple of ticks that I assume were weeds but when I go the fly in there was no weeds on the hook. I cast again and did a hook set when the nick cam and I had a nice crappie. I got three more fish in that area when doing a hook set whenever the line moved in a strange way. My guess was that the fish were hitting before, but the slack line prevented me from feeling or seeing anything. I moved along the shoreline and tried again. I did pick up a few more fish, but there were no solid hits.
I tried a few more spots with some other flies and picked up a few fish in each spot. I even tried doing hook sets at random as the fly came in but it did not seem to make any difference. I decided to leave as it was getting darker out. I got home and had the fish taken care of for about 15 minutes when it poured again. It was one of those days when no pattern developed but still a fun day.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick