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I went out Saturday morning for my
normal fishing excursion. There was no
wind. The surface of the pond was mirror
flat. I could see fish active right on
the edge of the pond. Water would splash
onto the shore when they broke the surface.
Time to be excited and see what I can do
with these fish. I thought a surface fly
would work well so I put on a popper with a
midge dropper.
I got everything into the canoe and got
out on the water. My first four casts
resulted in bass from 6" to 22" long. I
think the bass were chasing fry against
the shoreline. I moved out a little farther
and started casting. I was not getting
anything so I decided to try a subsurface fly.
This is the time of year when I really
like to use a Peacock Sword Tail
Nymph (in Ricks Favorite Bluegill flies).
I tied on an olive one and cast it
into an opening in the vegetation along
the shore. There was a cooperative gill
there that liked the fly and the tussle
was on. It took a few minutes and some
work to get around the weeds but I finally
got a nice fat 9 inch gill into the canoe.
As my normal pattern I cast about 10 feet
away and got another gill to hit.
I am not sure why I decided to do this but
I cast back into the same place I had cast
before. I got another gill that was a carbon
copy of the first one. I cast again and was
about 2 feet to the side of where I had been
before. No fish at all. I cast back to the
same spot and had another gill take the fly.
I think that I am beginning to see a pattern
here. The fish seem to be stacked in certain
spots and will not move to take a fly. I
don't run onto this pattern very often, but
when it happens it can be very frustrating
until you figure it out.
I backed off the shore line about 20 feet
and started casting to every opening and
depression in the weeds along the shore.
If I did not catch a fish on the first two
casts I abandoned the spot and cast to the
next. If I caught one fish then I would catch
a few more at the same spot.
After casting to this area I moved down the
pond. This is when the great fun began. I was
catching gills that ran from 11 to 12 inches
long. These were big enough to put back into
the pond. I sure want those big genetics to
reproduce. I caught about 50 fish this size
along the shore line as I moved around.
At each location it was casting to the same
spot. I could not be off a foot and have the
fish hit the fly. As long as I hit that spot
there would be a fish. I did try casting to
the side and had no luck. I did catch several
bass along the edge also. All of the fish seemed
to be near the shore. I think it is still fry
eating time.
I had some other things that I needed to get
done so I headed home. I ended up with 39 gills
and two crappie at home. I know that I returned
many more than that. It was a fun morning. I
think I will be fishing with anglerdave
next weekend.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~ Rick ziegeria@grm.net
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