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Angler Dave and I had made arrangements
to meet on Saturday afternoon and go
fishing again. We knew mid October is
not the best time and the temperatures
were supposed to be down some. Also
there was a fairly stiff wind blowing,
but then you can't always control the
weather and the best time to go
fishing is when you can.
Angler Dave got to the house at 1:00 PM
and we headed off for the pond. I was trying
to decide which pond would be the best. We
needed one that would break some of the wind.
Got to the pond I finally decided on and we
got all of our stuff arranged. I think the
wind was blowing between 20 and 30 mph.
As long as we stayed on the south side of
the pond the wind was not as bad.
We anchored and started to cast. Neither of
us had any luck with any flies that we tried.
After two or three changes of flies Angler
Dave is grumbling that he may have to go to
his beloved Woolly Bugger. We move to another spot
and continue to cast, without success. We move
again after about 10 minutes of casting.
I have gone through several of my favorite flies
and have not had any success. I have fished high
and low in the water column. I have fished fast,
slow, smoothly retrieved and herky-jerky retrieves.
Nothing has worked, so it is time to get experimental.
I tie on a red marabou leech pattern (red marabou
feather tied on with the tip as a tail, the rest
of the feather twisted and then looped with the
thread a few times and wrapped around the hook
with a beadhead). This is a bright fly that the
fish might see at a longer distance. I am
bringing this fly over a drop off when I feel
some weight and set the hook. It is a bass
that is 10 - 12 inches long, but it is the
first fish.
I tell Angler Dave that I was tired of being
polite and just decided to catch fish. I had
waited long enough for him to catch the first
fish and had given up on him. A few casts later
I hook another bass and Angler Dave starts
picking on me. He tells me he has Clousers
in his box that are bigger than this fish.
The fly I catch the fish on is almost bigger than the
fish. I do tell him that I can see the title
of an article as being, "Rick ___ fish, Angler
Dave zip." He did laugh at that, but there was a little
maniacal sound to it.
The wind was beginning to decrease in velocity
so we moved to the north side of the pond. This
way we could cast into the wind some and be over a
breakline. This might help us some. I did not do
much with the red fly so I changed to a white
Peacock Sword Tail Nymph (Ricks Favorite Bluegill
Flies). I had not tried a white fly and that might
be the color for the day.
I cast, with the wind, and put the fly within
6 inches of shore. When the fly was out about
6 to 8 feet from shore I felt some weight on
the line and set the hook. I had a fairly nice
gill on the line. After a few more minutes and
nothing happening we moved down the shore a
little ways. I caught another gill up near
the shore and was riding Angler Dave a bit
about this. Some comments on things like
"Rick 4, Dave zip". I will tell you that I did
offer to let him use the fly that I had on but
he was still trying to find something that would
work.
We continued to cast and Dave finally tangled
with a gill. I think it was some sort of comment
about not listening to his guide anymore. We moved on
down the shore again to see if our luck would change.
I decided to change flies and went to a modified
Hares Ear that I have tied. I tie orange feather
quills across the hook shank under where the thorax
will be to act as gills. I also use red turkey
tail feather quills for the wingcase. This was
a size 10 with a copper bead head on it. On about the
third cast I had another gill hit the fly.
Angler Dave had a couple gills hit a "bee" type
pattern that he had been given. I had a crappie
hit the Hares Ear. Then we could not get another
fish to be interested. It was about 5 PM by this
time and we decided that might be a good time to quit.
We did not catch many fish, but we had a good
time being together. Angler Dave was very gracious
in taking all the ribbing I was giving him about not
catching any fish. We did catch enough to have
fillets for a couple of meals.
Just before Dave left, we stopped at my office
so I could show him the punches I have and give
him a few bodies that I have made with them. He
also has a few dyed turkey and pheasant tail and
body feathers to use for tying colored PTN and midges.
If you get a chance to fish with Angler Dave,
take it as it will be a very enjoyable time.
He is a very nice person.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~ Rick
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