BASS -O- RAMA
I headed out to a pond that I had not been to for a while. The road had washed out and had been fixed for about a week. This is one that can be driven to and that allowed me to take the canoe. I got everything in the canoe and moved it about 25 feet to get near the edge of the pond. I made a few casts before I launched the canoe and first cast resulted in a bass about a foot long. The rod tip danced a lot while getting this fish in. I made a few more casts and picked up a few more bass. I changed rods and tried again and got two more bass with that rig. I tried the third rod and got another bass. Where are the cousins?
I launched the canoe and moved out on the pond. The trees that had shown above the water were now about six to eight inches under water. By placing the canoe between those trees and the shoreline, it was possible to cast to both of them.
I still had a Goldie Jr., with a rubber legged dragon, and a black boa yarn leech on the three rods. On about every other cast, either toward the shore or toward the trees, there was another bass on the line.
I moved about 40 feet and tried again, but it did not matter if the fly came in shallow, medium or deep depth. The retrieve did not matter, the only thing that seems to want the flies were bass. I changed flies for a new set. I put on a weird hares ear, a woven wire prince and a nymph pattern. These were all smaller than the previous flies. Maybe the bass will ignore them or the other fish will be interested. Several casts with each of these did not change anything. About every other cast it was a bass. Most were either about 7 inches or 13 inches long. Every once in a while there were a few larger ones. The best three were around 5 pounds.
I changed flies again to an orange eyelash yarn fly, an olive marabou fly, and a sculpin type fly. I tried this at the same spots but still it was only the bass that seem to be interested.
I moved to two more times and tried the same thing again, and still only the bass seem to be interested.
I tied on two different soft hackles, and a real heavy yellow fly. I tried the soft hackles first. The one time I miss where I wanted the cast to go and dropped it near a tree, and there was a fairly nice gill waiting there. It was almost two hours before the first gill came to hand. I tried a few more casts around the tree and got one more gill. The other flies seem to only interest the bass.
I moved near two more trees and got a few more gills ton the one soft hackle. More bass on the other two flies.
The temperature was going up and this seemed to be a good time to head home. I had enough fish for diner and the memories of many bass. Sure wish it had been their cousins. That is almost like having each wish worth a penny, we would all be rich.
Hope you can get out on the water. Rick