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I went out to the lake over my lunch hour on Tuesday, as is my
custom while the ice is off the lake. The temperatures have been
going down some, but this was another one of those hot, humid days.
There was a nice breeze at the lake, out of the southwest. I decided
to try the main lake and see what might be there. Hopefully the wind
would push some food organisms in toward the shore and the fish would
follow it.
I cast out a popper first. I am still waiting for a good surface
bite. Not much has happened with that for the year. Poppers, hopper,
and all sorts of foam bugs have not brought much interest. I decided
to try a black leech to see what might be out in the lake.
The water is clearing and I thought this might be more visible. So
much for my thinking. No interest by the fish.
The popper was close to the shore, so I decided to cast it out again.
I pulled it in a little closer, to make it easier to pick the line up.
On this rod the line has a loop at the end that I made and the
shrink-wrap on it is red. There were three bluegills swimming along
under the red shrink-wrap. They would not hit it, but they were following it.
Time to tie on a red popper. The fish would follow it but not take it.
So time to try a red subsurface fly. I had a Gilly (Ricks Favorite
Bluegill Flies) that stuck out to me in the box and I tied it on. I
cast this out and let it drop. It had not gone far when the line
twitched and I had a gill on. This fish put a nice bow in the rod
for a little while.
I had her almost up to the shore when I heard the voice telling me
to turn around with it.
It was one of the old geezers I have not seen for a while. He told
me that he had both knees replaced this summer and is just now
starting to get around some.
I cast out again and let the fly drop. It had not gone far when I
had another gill take it.
This was getting to be fun. I got this one in and over to the old
geezer. I had picked up a dozen gills at this place when a car
pulled in. Four guys got out and arranged themselves almost next
to me and started casting. I reeled in and carried the fish bucket
up to the car and headed back to the office. I did not have much
time left to fish and did not want a sour taste in my mouth.
Thursday was a much cooler day. Temperatures were down about 15
degrees from Tuesday. When I got out to the lake the same group
was at the flat. I decided to fish the settling pond and see what
I might come up with. I still had the gilly on and started with
that. I cast it out and had a fish swirl on it right away. I thought
this was probably a bass, but you never know. I just know it had some
muscle to it and was going to take some time to land. I did not try to
gain any line on the fish, but tried to wear it out a little.
It took a little time, but I finally got some control over the fish
and stated getting some line back. I worked her in close and could
see that it was a good-sized bass. This fish was about 24 inches
long and shaped like a football. We did a little more tug-of-war
before I got to lip her. I did not take her all the way out of the
water. She was out just long enough to get the hook out and then
I let her go.
I wondered if there might be some other fish in the area. So I cast
again and let the fly drop. I let drop for about 15 seconds and then
did a slow 2-inch strip with a four to five second pause. I wanted
the fly in front of any fish for a long time. The fly was part way
back when I felt resistance and found that I had a crappie on the
line. This was about a 12-inch fish, large for this pond.
This is when I heard the voice asking if they might have the fish.
It was another one of the old geezers out today. I gave it to them
and managed to get one smaller crappie and four bluegills too. ~ Rick Zieger
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