SHORE AGAIN
We had another gully washer with way too much water in way to short of a time. Water ran over roads and a lot of basements were flooded. Not good conditions to try to drive into a pond.
I grabbed two fly rods and hiked into a pond. I picked one that did not have a lot of trees around it. I figured I would be better off if there were no trees to catch. The road was very muddy with water sitting in the low spots. It was a smart move to not try to drive in.
The water was fairly colored. I had had success with the yellow boa yarn fly and had that on one rod. With the other rod I tried a fly pattern that I use with some changes for dirty water. It is a Gilly on a longer hook shank with a brass bead at the head and I use a lot of two sizes larger dry fly hackle on the front. This fly has color and pushes a lot of water. I have tied a couple of other patterns that use some luminescent material to see if they work in muddy water. I tie these with bead heads and dry fly hackle to push the water.
I cast with the yellow boa yarn fly first, and catch one little bass on this fly. Then I tried the modified Gilly and fished it several times through the same area. The idea was to see if the fly would attract any fish through their lateral lines. It did work a little as I picked up a few fish. I tried a soft hackle tied with luminescent yarn, a luminescent bead at the front and the hackle tied reverse so it points over the hook eye. The hackle is tied twice as thick as I usually do on a soft hackle. Want to try to move water again.
I did get a few fish on this. I was not sure if he fish were very scattered or if only a few would take each fly. I started moving slowly around the pond making some casts with each fly and then switch to the other to see what might be happening.
At each place I might get a few fish and then it was time to move. I moved around the pond doing this. I did try some of my other flies and did not have any success with them. I think the fish were finding the fly with their lateral line.
There were enough fish to share some fillets with people and have a meal ourselves. It was fun to know that I had figured out what the fish would take.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick