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I went out to the lake for one of my normal
lunch hour fishing excursions. It was a mild
day and there was just a slight breeze blowing.
When I got to the lake I could see that the
water was smooth on the settling pond on the
east side of the road. I decided to fish there
and avoid a couple of folks that were fishing
the jetties.
I had a size 8 McCrey's Honey and a size 10
Suspending/Floating nymph on the lines. (See
Ricks favorite Bluegill flies) I decided those
were good flies to start with. I cast out the
McCrey's Honey and let it drop for a few seconds
and then started retrieving it very slowly. When
the fly was about 15 to 20 feet out I could start
to see it in the water. I could also see the fish
that were following the fly. I slowed the fly down
and that did not trigger them to hit the fly.
I tried retrieving the fly deeper in the water
column and shallower in the water column. I retrieved
it faster, I did strip and pause at different speeds
and lengths. I even changed to an unweighted fly and
that did not help.
I tried the suspending nymph and had the same thing
happen. Fish would follow the fly and would even stay
under it, but would not hit it. I let the fly sit for
three minutes, timed by my watch, and the fish would
not hit it. I pulled it across the surface of the water
and the fish would not hit it.
It was time to change flies and sizes. I put on a
size 8 black gill bug (black marabou tail, black
chenille body, bead head and three black rubber
hackle legs at the front). I tied a size 20
Pheasant Tail Nymph (PTN) on the other line
that was unweighted.
I cast the PTN out first and sat that rod down to
let the fly drop in the water column. I cast the
black gill bug out and started to slowly retrieve
it in. When I got the fly in fairly close to shore
I could see the fish swimming around the fly, but
not taking it. I changed the retrieve speed and
depth of the fly to no avail. I even tied an olive
bug tied the same way with yellow legs. Lots of
following but no takers.
By this time the other line had been in the same
spot for about 10 minutes with nothing happening.
I started to very slowly retrieve this line. I
was doing a short, slow pull and then pause but, I
could not see this fly in the water I could tell
where it was by the fish that were following it. I
varied everything that I could think of and still
no takers.
I was beginning to wonder if I knew anything about
catching fish. I had run out of time and needed to
head back to work. I am sure that all of the fish
were laughing at my efforts to catch them. One of
those days when I could not figure out what was
going on.
I returned to the lake two days later, my next lunch
hour in this office and had dramatically different
results. I caught fish on every fly I had tried two
days before. I was fishing at the same spot and
retrieving the same way that I had before. It restored
some of my self confidence that I might know what was
going on.
It is interesting how a day or two can make so much
difference in how the fishing goes. It also helps
to keep us humble to know that we can't always fool
the fish. It is also why they call it fishing and
not catching.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~ Rick ziegeria@grm.net
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