SLOW AND SHALLOW
It has rained again. That is all it seems to be doing. Wish some of this was along the West Coast. Way to wet to try to drive into any place. The urge to fish one pond is was so bad that I hiked the half mile into it. Got through a lot of mud before I got to the pond. The truck would not have ever made it in. Every little depression had water setting in it, with mud under that.
I headed down the west side of the pond to try that area first. There are usually some fish in that area. I tried a couple of flies and had no luck. Tried with different retrieves. I was getting ready to move when I saw a fish just off shore. The fish was barely moving and it finally sunk out of sight. That got me to thinking so I changed flies tying on two that were un-weighted. One was a hares ear type fly and the other was a fly from sparkle eye lash yarn.
The sparkle fly went in the water first. I let it sink a little and then moved it slowly a few inches and then I let it pause for a few seconds. This continued for a few feet before the fly disappeared and although I did not feel anything I set the hook. I was hooked up to a nice bluegill that had intentions on a visit to China.
I cast the fly out again and start the same retrieve. About 10 feet off shore I saw a crappie take the fly. Again I did not feel the take but a hook produced a nice crappie. I get two more fish on the next five casts.
I decided to try the hares ear fly. I got a few more fish on that fly, but never felt a strike. All that happened is that the fly disappeared. That was enough to do a hook set.
After getting those fish I moved up the pond. I had to go around the trees that eat flies. When I got to the next place and started with the hares ear first. I picked up two nice bluegills on that fly so I tried the sparkle eyelash fly and got three nice crappie on it. All on the same slow retrieve with no strike.
About this time the sun came up over the trees on the other side of the pond and the fish quit biting. Here are a few pictures that show this:
These show the west side and the south dam area of the pond. I headed around the pond and ended up in the area on the left side of the first picture. There are tress that come down very close to the shoreline.
I had rubber boots on and waded out in the water a little. There are some breaks in the trees where it is possible to roll cast. So that is how I to get the fly out about 30 feet that is about the limit of my roll casting. I did the same retrieve as on the other side of the pond and found the fish there.
Again there was no strike but I saw the fly disappear. After getting several fish in the different spots along that shoreline the curiosity bug hits so it was time to change flies. I tied on an olive marabou damsel pattern and a yellow boa yarn fly. I roll cast those out and brought them in with the same retrieve. These flies worked using the same retrieve. It was still fun to catch the fish, even though there was never a detectible strike. I got to a place where I will needed to go around a few trees since it was not possible to get around them in the pond.
When I picked up the basket there were more fish in it than I thought. Thinking about how far I am from the truck it seemed that this might be a smart time to head out. The basket will weigh more the closer I get to the truck. It’s amazing how the fish can put on weight while in the basket.
I am about half way out when a four wheeler came in to see if he can work in the field. We agreed that there is no chance. Getting a stuck tractor out is no fun. The big treat was that I got a ride the rest of the way out. It was his offer.
I gave him five nice fish to have a fish dinner with his wife. I took care of the rest and had numerous fillets to share. It was very good fun day on the pond. With the bass that were released over 100 fish came to hand. I do like this pond.
Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick