SMALL SPOTS
It was a nice day, no rain but we had showers the previous three days so it was still to wet to try to drive in. In the low places the truck would probably disappear. I grabbed the fish basket, a 3 weight, a 5 weight and boxes of flies and headed off.
Since it was still quite wet I parked and hiked into the pond. The pond lies north-south with the dam at the south end. I came in on the west side and then headed for the dam. The southeast end of the dam has a flat that slopes out to the deeper water, which is a nice place to start to see what depth the fish might be at.
The rods all had flies on them; a black boa yarn leech and the Dr. Mike. The Dr. Mike is a pattern from an old magazine. It started out as a Steelhead fly and was downsized for trout. I thought that it looked like it would work for panfish. Pattern is: hook your choice with bead head to match, abdomen dubbing loop, hackle is soft type, and peacock for thorax.
I cast these flies out in the shallow water and the fish showed no interest. When the flies went out over some deeper water I had fish hit them just after they hit the water. Two nice gills came to hand. The rod tip danced and the fish did not want to come to shore. That was all the activity there.
I moved about 30 feet along the dam and tried again. No fish in that place. Various depth and retrieves were used to try to entice fish, but had no success so it was time to move again.
This time about 15 feet. There was a goose nesting around this pond and I did not want to get to close to her. I saw her as I came across the dam when she left the nest, but returned quickly. I avoided the goose and cast the flies out and got a few fish. All came as the fly dropped. A couple near the surface and the others as the flies went a little deeper. Not a single fish as the flies were retrieved in.
I figured out that the fish were about 30 feet off shore. In each spot I would catch a few fish and then I would have to move. I went along the back side of the dam to avoid bothering the goose.
I tried the flies again in the next place and got two nice crappie, one on each fly, and then the action ended. Different retrieves and flies did not work.
The mind games were working. Are there more fish there that were spooked or is this all the fish? I moved a few feet and tried again. I moved three times and found another spot with a couple of fish.
I continued to move around the pond and find those little spots where there would be a few fish. Each spot was about a yard square. Not sure why, but that is what the fish were doing.
When I got to the northwest corner of the pond my thirst meter was saying it was time for a drink of water. I don't carry water with me or I would never make it home. So headed home after a fun day. Had fillets to eat and share.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick