We had some more rain here. That means that the roads, cow
trails that go to the ponds are just too muddy to try to be driving
into. So I decide to hike into a pond to go fishing. I also decide
to take just a couple of boxes with me in a fanny pack. Do you
remember what fanny packs are?
I did not want to wear my vest as I hiked into the pond.
It was muddy on the road, so I walked on the grass. In the low
places there were puddles of water. I could have rolled the canoe
in over this, but it would have been a lot of work, both ways.
This pond is one that I do not get to very often. I have to cross
a pasture to get to the pond. The owner does not like anyone in
the field with his cows. So I only go to the pond when the cows
are not in the pasture.
The pond is about the size of a football field. It lies in a northwest
to southeast direction. The northern part of the pond has water
from about six inches deep to about six feet deep over the first 60
feet or so. The water then drops down until it is about 12 feet deep
for the last quarter of the pond. There are a few trees around the
southern part of the pond. The northern part is ringed by big trees
that are about 50 feet back from the edge. The spread of the tree
limbs gives about 30 feet of space for the back cast.
When I get into the pond there is about three inches of visibility
in the water. Not the best of condition, but I have time and I am
at the pond. I know that other ponds will not be any better.
I have two rods with me. When I hike in, I am somewhat lazy, it is
with two rods. Both were 5 wts. I put on a silver Goldie Jr and a
black marabou leech. This would let me know if a bright fly or if a
dark fly would work better.
Since I came in at the dam end of the pond, I started casting in
that area. I slowly moved along the pond, making several casts
with each fly in each place. I might have had a few light bites, or
I was hitting old weeds. It was the same result, there were no
fish in the basket, because there had been no fish on the line.
It took me about an hour to get up to the northern part of the pond.
All of the retrieves were very slow to keep the fly in front of any fish
that might see it. I move to a spot where I know that the water is
only about six feet deep over a large area.
Now the trees are behind me so that my casting distance is limited,
or I will be catching the trees.
I have a very hard time landing trees, cleaning them and most of
them are not that good eating. So I try to leave them alone. They
also seem to be able to eat a large number of my flies. A good
reason to fish from a canoe to keep the flies away from trees
where the trees cannot jump out and grab them.
The wind has slowed down some. With the trees as a wind break
the pond is flat. At this point I begin to see the little rings on the
pond. They are not very big and I cannot see any bugs. No, it
is not raining! I watch for a few minutes to see if I can see any
bugs. Most of these bugs seem to be coming off about 40 to 50
feet off the shore. Finally there are a few bugs that come out near
the shore. I am not sure exactly what genus and species, but it is
a midge.
I am in trouble. Having been lazy, by not bringing in the canoe,
I am not able to really get out where the fish are. I know, the
thoughts are to do a roll cast. That works well if you practice
it on a fairly consistent basis. In the canoe I move so that I really
don't need to do it, so I am out of practice.
The larger problem is that I have two boxes with me. Stupid does
not have a midge pattern with him. The smallest fly I have is a size
14 PTN. So I tie it on and cast it out. I do try a roll cast to move
the fly out farther in the pond. Every once in a while it works.
The result for another 1.5 hours of fishing is one bluegill.
There is some vacillating on whether the canoe will be dragged
in next time I go fishing. I may have to look for a canoe carrier
that has much larger wheels than the six inch ones I have now.
It is written in stone that I will wear my vest next time, so that
I will have a variety of flies to use.
I had not ever noticed a midge hatch in a pond this early in
the year before. It might be that I had never been looking for it.
I did have fun being out on the pond. I will work on getting
much better at roll casting. I will practice it some every time I go out.
Hope you can get out on the water. ~ Rick
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