CANOE TIME
I finally bit the bullet and headed to a pond that I knew that I could put the canoe into. I also knew that there probably would be other folks out on this pond, as there are not many places you can go to launch boats.
I got out to the pond and saw there were three other boats out there. Not a problem as there is a lot of room for everyone. Got the canoe off the truck and put all the stuff into the canoe, especially the paddle. This time I could move the canoe around.
There was no wind. The surface of the pond was flat. There were two 3 weights and two 5 weights in the canoe. I had a Goldie Jr, black furled tailed mohair leech, white boa yarn and another fly like a Bitch Creek on the rods. I grab a rod, with the white boa yarn leech on it and make a cast. I let the fly drop for a few seconds and then start to move it. The fly has not moved far when it is hit and the hook is set, and it turns out to be a crappie of about 10 inches.
Not a bad way to start a trip. I make another cast and have another fish take the fly in the same way, and it turns out to be a carbon copy crappie. The next three casts produce fish in the same way. Just at the fly is starting to move horizontally a fish will take it. It’s fun to not have to work to figure out what the fish might like and how to present it.
I am getting ready to make another cast when a boat pulls in right over where I had been hooking the fish. Being dumb, at times, I asked why they were parking where I had been casting to. I was told that they could anchor their boat where ever they wanted and there was nothing that I could do about it. Not wishing to debate the issue I decided to move some and see if I could find some more fish.
I moved about 50 feet and started casting again. I picked up a few more fish, a mix of crappie and gills. Seems the fish were everywhere and it was just the presentation. The boat pulled into this spot. I was ticked, but was not sure I could do a lot about it.
I was getting ready to move when another boat showed up. Two guys in a bass boat, with their dock bumpers down moved by me and went up to the other boat. They slowed down but bumped into it. When they were told to back off and leave the first boat alone, they replied that they could go anywhere and do anything they wanted. The first boat moved, but every time they stopped the bass boat would nudge into them. They finally decided to leave.
I will admit that I was laughing, to myself, that they were being treated this way. The bass boat came up to me and the guys said that the behavior the other boat had displayed just drove them nuts. The one guy said that he could make their life miserable and hopefully after a short time they would leave.
Seemed to work and I did thank them for helping me. It would not have been a fun day to have to move every few minutes to a new place.
They guys asked me what I was using. I showed them and they said they had nothing like that. I pulled out a box, from my vest, and gave each of them a few flies. They had spinning gear, but with a bubble float they could get the flies out.
We parked about 20 feet apart and starting casting and catching fish. They were having a ball with the flies and catching fish. I caught fish on all the flies, but the white boa yarn fly worked the best. Caught a few nice bass also, that all went back into the pond.
It became time that I needed to head home. As I started to leave the other fishermen wanted to give me back the flies. I told them the flies belonged to them. I wanted them to use them and have fun with them.
I got home and did not remember that I had caught that many fish, but I had lots of fillets to share with folks. Overall it was a very fun day, especially because some other folks decided that some behavior was not acceptable.
Later in the afternoon I got a call from the other fisherman, and they told me that they had caught 78 fish on the flies. They wanted me to know that they had a ball catching the fish.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick