|
I went out to a pond Saturday morning
that I haven't been to for about one
year. The last two times I have been
there I have run into bee nests. Having
a severe bee allergy causes me to leave
in a hurry. But this time no problems
and I got everything into the canoe.
I decided to try a couple of flies I had
tied before but had not used much. One
was a leech pattern made out of Boa yarn.
I tie this on and then wrap around the hook
about 4 times in a spiral up the shank.
The other was a midge pattern tied with
a weaving pattern that I learned from
the DVD from Parnelli.
This pond has a band of weeds about a
couple of feet wide around the edge of
the pond. I thought there might be some
fish hiding under the edge or cruising
looking for a stray minnow. I cast the
leech along the edge and let it drop. After
about 2 seconds the line started to move
sideways. When this gill felt the hook,
she did not like the idea. She took off
for the center of the pond and made a
series of circular movements. I finally
got her in and was impressed with her size.
She was 8 inches long, a growth rate of about 2 to
3 inches from last year.
I cast along this weed line four more
times and got carbon copy gills each
time. They all headed deep and stayed
broadside to the pressure of the rod
and line. After that this fly did not
work in this spot. I tried the
midge, just to see what would happen.
I cast out and let the fly drop. I saw
no line movement, but when I started
to retrieve the line I felt weight on
the line and tied into another gill.
This gill had taken the fly deep enough
that I had to use forceps to get it
out. I decided to try another cast to
this same general area with the midge.
Again the fly dropped and I did not see
any line movement, but there was a
fish on the line. This time it was a
bass that decided to become airborne.
This fish jumped 5 times before I could
get her landed. She was 17 inches
long and fat.
With the commotion this fish made I
decided to move down the pond a little
way and see what I could scare up. At
each place I stopped and cast the fish
would hit the leech with some authority
or move the leader to show that they had
it. I never did see when the fish took
the midge pattern.
In fact I spent a lot of time fishing
the midge pattern just to see if I
could detect the strike. I never did,
but I caught a lot of fish on it. The
only thing I can think of was that the
fish were taking the fly in and following
the line down. When I started to retrieve
the line the fly was sodeep that they were
hooked. I finally lost the fly to bass
that took me into the weeds.
After that I decided to try a whole
variety of flies. As long as I let the
fly drop and did not do things very fast
I would get fish to hit the fly. I went
through several flies and got fish on all
of them. It was a fun morning
and the fish were fairly cooperative.
I ended up with 45 fish by the time I
got done. I did turn several bass
back into the pond. The fish have
increased in size over the past year.
I think this is one of the ponds that
I will be able to hit once a year and
keep it in shape.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~ Rick ziegeria@grm.net
|
