Catfish & Carp
The water level is continuing to drop towards normal pool at our local reservoir. My buddy Jay and I fished there Saturday, and found some fantastic fishing. We used spinning gear part of the time, but I did catch 2 really nice catfish, 2 carp, and a hybrid sunfish on fly-gear. I blogged the trip here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/08/stellar-catfish-day.html
My apologies for not posting pictures recently…they have been in my blog. Makes for a boring thread HERE, however. And not everyone wants to check out the blog, I suppose. So…here’s some “teaser” pictures from the past month or so (same as some of the pictures in the blog posts):
Haven’t taken any pictures lately…but I have been fishing!
Last Friday was my birthday, so I took the day off and fished a local river. Caught a few Smallmouth Bass and a bunch of small Largemouth Bass on fly-gear.
The last couple of nights I have fly-fished a local public pond. I caught mostly bluegills and a few crappies. #10 Chernobyl ant/hopper patterns worked best, but I also caught fish on subsurface patterns.
2 nights ago, a family came down an threw some stale bread out for the ducks. As soon as they left, the ducks high-tailed it out of the water, and some good-sized fish started crashing the bread. It was catfish and grass carp. I got within range and tossed some streamers into the feast. I only had one good hook-up, which resulted in an immediate broken line. BIG fish! 
Well…I did take THIS picture when I was fishing the river the other day…
To finish off the holiday weekend, I went fly-fishing to a local pond last night from about 7pm-9pm.
It started off slow. I could see fish hitting the fly, but they weren’t getting hooked, just batting it around.
I figured a surface pattern would do the trick, but I couldn’t quickly locate what I wanted in my hip pack.
So I tried a variety of subsurface patterns, and finally settled on a gold Springbrook Wunder. In the meantime, I had my eye competitive eye on an angler using spinning gear on the far side of the pond. He seemed to be taking some stuff off his lure…I assumed were fish, but could have been weeds. He was using a lure under a bobber for awhile. Then I watched him struggle to reach the lure which somehow got stuck in the back of his shirt. He finally had to remove his shirt to free the hook.
The Springbrook Wunder worked very well. I caught at least 20 bluegills and a couple of crappies on that pattern.
As the sky grew dark, I switched to a bucktail streamer I had tied with a short chartreuse craft fur tail, silver mylar cord body, white kiptail, pearl angel hair & chartreuse bucktail wing, and I had wound some chartreuse hackle at the head. I caught a few bluegills on this, but more crappies (as I had hoped), at least 10 before I decided to quit for the evening.
I fly-fished yesterday during lunch. Was hoping to spot some of the large catfish that used to be in that pond. Didn’t see any catfish. Saw small <2” bluegills. Caught 2 medium-sized bluegills on a large “catfish nymph” just beyond the weedline. Spotted a pod of grass carp in the shallows when I first arrived, and launched a couple of long-distance casts to them. I was probably 30’ away from the water, and the fish were another 20’ out from the edge. If they would go for a nymph, I thought my chances were decent. As the 2nd or 3rd cast was being picked up to recast, my nymph must have bumped a fish close to shore that I had not seen. It took off, and spooked the rest of the pod… and they all disappeared.
Tried out the Jumpin’ Catfish Nymph last night during a short outing. Scored a good one!
If interested, check the report on my blog here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/09/45-minute-evening-outing-9-8-2011.html
Super fish Dave. Congrats!
[QUOTE=FishnDave;429729]Tried out the Jumpin’ Catfish Nymph last night during a short outing. [QUOTE]
What is a "Jumpin’ Catfish Nymph? Are you holding out on us Dave?
Holding out? No, not at all! If you click the link to read that blog entry, there is a link to a recipe for the pattern there. Actually, it has been posted on FAOL in the bulletin boards before, maybe you can do a search. I did not originate the pattern, but I think the link in my blog DOES give credit to the person who did. Its a neat pattern.
A guy on our Central Iowa Anglers forum asked me how the battle was. I thought I’d share my response here:
As far as the fight…a hefty, stubborn and strong 9-pound fish on a 5wt fly rod I normally use for crappies and bluegills? The battle is EPIC…everything you’d want it to be. Bulldogging. Strong line-peeling runs. Refusal to be brought into the shallows. Constant worry about line breakage. Yeah, its perfect!
Guess what? I went to a different pond last night to try for catfish. Caught a 27-incher there too! I blogged the report again. Go here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/09/breaded-catfish-la-fly-rod.html
And here’s a teaser pic:
I started my evening after dinner heading for a spot on the local reservoir to maybe fly-fish for white bass, catfish and/or carp. The spot I wanted to fish is enhanced when there is current, but there was no current last night. I didn’t even have to stop my car to observe that, so I turned around and headed back home. Then I drove to a nearby public pond, now hoping to bread-chum another catfish into the area so I could tempt it with an artificial.
Bluegills hit the bread right away. I tossed pieces of a second hot dog bun. More bluegills, but this time a big fish came through. I couldn’t tell if it was a catfish or grass carp, but it was a NICE fish. It may have seen me when it came to the surface. It seemed to spook, and I didn’t see it again. No big fish caugth this time out.
I switched to smaller patterns to target the bluegills and crappies. I started with a Birds Nest and caught bluegills. Some that I caught near shore were really nice, but skinny. As the sky darkened, fish activity picked up. I switched to a chartreuse Docaroo and caught 8 crappies (near shore and away from shore), some fatter bluegills (further from shore), and I also caught a small bass.
Fly-fished for an hour at a public pond in a nearby town last night.
Obligatory teaser pic:
Below is the link to the blogged report:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/09/back-to-school-bluegills.html
It was a cool, damp weekend. I managed to get some fishing done all the same.
The report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/09/mid-september-weekend-fishing-2011.html
Here’s last night’s report:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/09/2011-fall-fishing-season-starting.html
Blogged the reports for 9/22/2011 and 9/23/2011 (lunchtime) here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/09/fly-fishing-9-22-2011-evening-and-9-23.html
I fly-fished a local public pond during lunch today. It was cloudy and very WINDY. I managed to catch 5 bluegills. This time of year, larger subsurface patterns seem to get the attention of the bluegills. I started out with a black Woolly Bugger. I caught several 'gills on that.
I then switched to a microjig under an indicator. I caught one or two more bluegills on that, but the fish were smaller.
Today’s lunchtime fly-fishing report…brought to you by YooHoo Chocolate-Flavored Drink. ;o) “Whatever doesn’t kill you…must be EDIBLE!”
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/09/9-30-2011-lunch-report.html
Last night’s report here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/10/evening-fishing-report-10-6-2011.html
Fly-fished yesterday afternoon for a bit:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2011/10/fly-fishing-report-10-9-2011.html
looks like the bugger really triggered some aggressive strikes: and it looks like it was a very fun day. I am still tied up coaching football so I have no time to get out…