SHORT TIME
It was a Sunday afternoon, and we had done all the things that needed to be done for the day. I helped move some furniture to another house, and even helped move some furniture in another house. When I got home my wife said that I should be on a pond until it got dark. That meant and had just over an hour to be out. Not the longest time, but much better than nothing.
I quickly grabbed two hook boxes I had put some flies in and two rods and headed out. I relly wanted to try those flies and this seemed to be a good time. I did take the fish basket just to prove that I am an optimist.
I went out to a pond close to home. November is the time to head for the dam to fish the deepest water, since the fish seem to be heading there. Also I could fish a couple of places where fish always seems to be, and I would have the break line just off the dam to fish.
First I grabbed one rod that had a soft hackle I have been playing with. It has three colors on the body and a reversed hackle. Made the dubbing from some yarn scraps I have and that completed the fly. I cast it out and let it drop for a long time, and then started a very slow short strip with a long pause. I figured the fish, if any, would not be moving fast. On the third cast, not having let it drop as long, it felt like I hit a weed. I knew that there were no weeds that tall 30 feet off the shore, so I set the hook. I had a nice crappie on the line. Strange thing was that three other fish followed this one in close to shore. Not sure why this happened.
Being a curious person I cast back out in the same area and did the same thing for the retrieve. Again, about 30 feet off shore another "weed" hit. It was another nice crappie, with some friends following it in. I put this fish in the basket and cast out again, and it was a carbon copy of the previous cast. I got fish, all crappie, on seven straight casts.
I had no hits on the next two casts so I changed to another rod with a different fly. This was a generic nymph made with some of the yarn scraps, and I used Velcro on a stick to rough it up some. I made a cast and let it drop. Then I started to retrieve and the line felt heavy. I set the hook and had another fish. It was another of the nice crappie. After the fish went in the basket I made another cast and pick up another fish as the fly dropped. It was a carbon copy of the previous fish.
I caught four fish on this fly. Curiosity drove me, so I changed the fly for another pattern. This had yarn dubbing with a peacock herl head with a little Krystal flash tied like a trude wing. It was just another weird thing coming from my vice.
I managed to hook three fish on this fly. Each was a light hit just after the retrieve was started. Then the action stopped. Did I catch all the fish? Did they move? Could they have caught on to what was happening? I don't know so I moved about 40 feet.
I made a cast and had another fish hit. This hit was on the last fly I had used so, out of curiosity, I cast with the first fly I had used. It had not moved far and I had another fish. I decided to try this fly again and got another fish.
I began to alternate the rods and picked up several more fish; all of them nice crappie. When this place started to slow down I headed back to the first spot and made a cast. I picked up another fish there. I saw that the sun was touching the horizon so I headed home to fillet fish while I had some natural light. I had 31 crappie that were each about 14 inches long.
I had some great fun and some good eating.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick