I did my normal trip of heading to the water reservoir
during my lunch hour the other day. It was the first
time in a week it had not been raining and blowing a
lot. Two of those days there was lightening, which means
I am not out.
Decided to fish the small pond formed when they put the
road in. I would have the wind at my back and have the
roadbed, which is about 8 feet above the water, to block
the wind for me. Just got down to the pond when one of my
elderly friends came by and asked if I thought I would catch
any fish. Told him I did not know, but I would have fun in
any case.
I tied on a Bead Head Peacock Sword nymph to use. Thought I would
need to fish a little deeper than normal if I was going to catch
anything. On my third cast I hooked into a fish and got it in.
I had a 8 inch bluegill. The "Old Coot" as he calls himself told
me to keep it on the shore and he would be back in a few minutes
with a bucket. He wanted the fish to have for supper.
I would cast out and let the fly drop for about 4 to 5 seconds
and then slowly retrieve it. I was trying to bring it back at
a slow steady pace. Most times it was just the feeling of a
little more weight on the line that indicated that something
had hit. About every 6 to 8 casts I would have a fish hit.
I actually caught about half of these.
The "Old Coot" got back and I put the fish in the bucket for
him. He watched as I kept on casting. The first fish I hooked
after he got back was a 19" bass. When I hooked this fish it
went ballistic and came straight up out of the water. I did
not put much tension on this fish because I was using 5X tippet.
The fish came out of the water several times before I landed it,
I think more by luck than by skill. This one went back into the
pond.
I did have to change the fly because the bass did a job on the
fly I was using. I went from a gray to a yellow fly. I think
I should have started with the yellow because the crappie seemed
to love the black fly. I caught a 10 inch crappie on the first
five casts and 12 of 15 for the streak. I think a school came by
moving slowly.
Ended up giving the "Old Coot" 15 crappie from 7 to 10" long and
13 gills from 7 to 9". He thought it was a great day of fishing
and was ecstatic to get the fish. He cleaned them and shared them
with a few other folks.
Two days later I caught 2 bluegills, 1 crappie and 1 bass using
the same fly in the same pond. Guess this is what keeps us on
our toes as we go out fishing.
Here's the fly:
Peacock Sword Nymph
Hook: 8 - 14.
Thread: Black.
Tail: 3 or 4 Peacock swords about shank length.
Body: Ostrich herl, 3 or 4 strands in several choices
of color.
Hackle: Soft of some sort, I use a lot of pheasant
body feathers.
Note: This can have a bead head nor not. I have
substituted emu feather for the ostrich, but have not used
it enough to make conclusions.
Hope you can get out on the water soon. ~ Rick
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