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Tuesday noon hour was very hot. The humidity was almost as
high as the temperature. It was very uncomfortable to be out
and I did not stay long. I got wetter from the humidity than
I got from sweating. That was time to call it quits.
Thursday was a little cooler and the humidity was down. We
had a few rain showers come through with a cool front and
that helped some. The noon temperatures were in the low 80's
and there was a slight breeze.
When I got out to the lake I could see a few other folks
fishing the shoreline on the far jetty. That was fine, I
was going to fish the settling pond. We would be far apart.
I cast out a popping bug first. I am still waiting for the
top water bite to start.
I did not get any fish on it, but I had a few fish follow the
end of the fly line in. I had made a loop on it; I hate tying
nail knots, and had used some red shrink tubing over the line.
The fish were following the red.
That meant that a red popper went on. I cast it out and had
the same thing happen. The fish followed it in, but they did
not hit it. I let it set a long time. I made a "V" retrieving
it. I popped it and did several other things. None of them
made the fish take it.
I tied a red fly on the other rod. This is a soft hackle
tied with red punch yarn with a heavier than usual hackle
head with a red feather. I want to push more water with
this fly most soft hackles do. This feather is fairly soft,
but made a bushy head.
I cast this fly out and let it settle for about 20 seconds.
I then started bringing it in with a very slow retrieve. The
fish had followed the popper when it was retrieved that way
and I wondered if they would take this fly moving the same
way. The fly had moved about five feet when I had a hit.
This turned out to be a bass that was about a foot long.
This fish did not like the idea of being on the end of
the line and spent a large amount of time in the air
trying to get rid of the hook.
I got him to hand and released him back into the lake.
It was one of those times that the fly was in the corner
of the fish's mouth and came out very easily. I did this
while the fish was in the water and did not have to touch
the fish at all. If it works once it is worth another try.
I got the fly out and let it drop. The next thing I knew
the end of the line was about five feet to the side and
moving fast. I held onto the line until it became tight
and had another fish on the line. This was a good-sized
bass. It looked to be about 24 inches long the first
time it jumped. I knew not to horse it with 5 X tippet
on the rod. So it was just trying to control the direction
the fish went and wear it down a little.
There is a disadvantage to fishing with fly rods. They are
usually much longer than the rods that conventional anglers
use. When you hook a fish and have the rod up to pressure
the fish, it is easier for other folks to see it. The result
is that after fighting this fish for about 5 minutes I have
a person on each side of me. They tell me that they will
not cast until I get the fish in. They will take the fish
and then fish this area. Not that I agreed to any of this.
I finally did get some control over the bass. I could gain
line slowly. I could get her to turn and swim the other
direction by changing the angle of the rod. I had her
about 8 feet off shore when one of the folks went out
in the water to be closer to grab her. Dumb move!! The
fish went ballistic. She jumped and I kept the pressure
on the line. The fly popped out and she was gone.
I grabbed my other rod and left. I had the fun of hooking
and playing the fish. I did not want that spoiled by
dealing with some less than brilliant folks. I may get
to tangle with her again. The main thing is that she is
still swimming in the pond.
Friday was another matter. Late Thursday and early Friday
some big storms came through the area. There are flash
flood warning and roads washed out all over the place.
The storms went just north and east of Lamoni. Some places
reported 7.5 inches of rain in 8 hours.
When I got out to the lake it is up about three feet.
The settling pond looks like coffee that has been
heavily creamed. I decide that it might not be the
best place to fish. The temperature is still in the
70's; there is a breeze out of the southwest and the
sky is cloudy.
The water is much clearer in the lake. I go to the flat
and hope that some fish have come up on it to look for
food. I tie on a hairs ear type fly and cast it out.
The fly is dropping when I get the first gill of the
day. The fish inhaled the fly and is hooked deeply. I
have to dig the forceps out to get the fly out. I am
doing this when one of the old geezers shows up.
He brings two buckets down. He had one bucket to sit
on and the other bucket for fish to go into. I put
the gill in the first bucket, after having got some
water into it. I cast out again and let the fly drop.
When I start to retrieve the line there is another
cooperative gill on the line. I swing it over to the
old geezer and he takes it off.
The next cast does not get a fish on the drop. The fly
is almost to the shoreline when a big gill tried to take
it to Nebraska. This fish hit like a freight train and
wanted to get far away from me. But I got her to do what
I wanted and put her in the bucket.
It turned out that on almost every cast I caught a fish.
Some times fish hit on the drop and other times on the
retrieve. But the fly always had to be about two feet
deep in the water.
If the fly was shallower they would not take it. I
ended up getting 30 gills for the old geezer. This
is the fastest fishing time I have had this summer.
But all good things come to an end. It was back to
the slave factory.
Big weather changes through the week.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~ Rick
(Written 09/11/07)
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