FIRST TRIP OF 2015
I finally got my fishing license, and in Iowa when you turn 65 you can get a lifetime fishing license so I had to wait until my exact birthday to do it. The day arrived and I got my license and went out for a day on one of my local ponds.
I went to a pond that I fished a few times a year, a pond that has very few trees around it. I hoped that the water had warmed up enough to get the fish moving. I took a 1 weight and a 3 weight graphite rods for my first outing of the year. When I got to the pond I decided that I would go with a white and black boa yarn fly on the two rods. I made several casts into some shallow water with each of the rods but the fish were not up in that area.
I moved across the dam about 40 feet and cast out with the black fly and had a hit just after the fly hit the water. I was not prepared for that and missed it. I was ready on the next cast and got a nice bluegill on the line. It felt very good to have the throb of a fish on the line after a long winter. The order of the universe was getting straightened out. I cast back into the area where I missed the first fish and got it this time. Then I made some more casts with no response. I tried a white fly and had no response. I tried the flies shallow and deep with different retrieves but had no hits.
I continued to move across the dam, trying both the white and black flies without success. When I let the fly drop for about 5-6 seconds I got a strike. I thought I had a bass, but it was a nice crappie. The pole danced more than it had with the bluegill. After several more casts I moved along the dam another 40 feet. There were no fish in the upper part of the water column. By letting the fly drop deeper I had more strikes and I landed one more crappie. My guess is that the rest were crappies that were rolling on the fly and the hook was tearing out.
I got to the west end of the dam and decided to end my fishing day at that spot. I thought that all of the rest of the water was to shallow. I made a few casts with the white fly and got nothing. I switched to the black boa yarn fly and got a couple of more gills when the fly was a little deeper.
Now my curiosity was up. I change the white boa yarn fly to a black nymph fly with a bead head and I cast this out and let it drop. The fly came back about 10 feet when the line felt heavy. I set the hook and had another nice crappie. I continued fishing this fly over the area and picked up a few more bluegills and a couple more crappie. The wind came up and I could not tell when fish were hitting. I got a small bass that hadthe hook way down in its throat. I got the hook out using forceps, but am afraid the fish will die. I decided that it was a good time to head home. I did not catch a lot of fish but I had a lot of fun.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick