First open-water trip of the year today! 
I found a pond during my lunch-hour that was nearly 30% ice-free. It was supposed to be near 40 today, but I don’t think its gonna make it. It still hadn’t cracked 27 by the time I headed back to work.
I caught some cold fingers, and a good number of iced-up line guides, but no fish.
I used an indicator with a small microjig beneath that. The line is new, and the cold air left it coiling rather nicely. :sad: Between that, the iced-up line guides, the unweildy nature of the fly/indicator, and my own casting faults (and early season “rustiness”)…I’m glad nobody was shooting video of this trip!
It sure was nice getting out and FISHING!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Public Pond
Time Fished: 12:25pm-12:45pm
Ice cover: 60%
Water Clarity: Water clarity was somewhat improved since yesterday… I could see down at least 12".
Water temp: 32-33 degrees at the surface
Species Sought: One Ding-a-Ling
Fish caught: zero
Nicer weather. Didn’t use an indicator on the line, which made casting easier, although the wind didn’t do me any favors. No ice in the line guides…Air temp around 37 while fishing. Didn’t catch any fish, but did dredge up some green algae-goo gunk.
Didn’t see a soul yesterday, but there were a handful of people hanging around the pond today. None were fishing.
Not even One Ding-a-Ling ??
Better luck next time.
John
Not even ONE! Can you believe it?? Unless you count the one holding the fly rod… 
I have a theory as to why I’m not catching fish yet. The surface temps are still 32-33 degrees. The deeper water away from shore is 39-40 degrees. So, until the water in the shallows near shore warms up beyond what the deeper water is, there is no reason for the fish to come within casting distance. In looking at the 10-day forecast (like hitting a moving target)…it doesn’t appear the surface waters will be warming much anytime soon.
DO NOT READ THIS POST! SKIP IT!
Date: 3-3-2011
Location: Backwater Ponds below Saylorville Spillway.
Ponds were 99% Ice Covered
Time Fished: Didn’t even get the rod out of the car
Species Sought: anything with fins that was ALIVE
Species Caught: I ALMOST got some mushy fish parts on my shoes, but think I managed to avoid stepping on them. We’ll find out for sure at tonight’s Central Iowa Anglers meeting.
So…more ice on the ponds than I expected. Lots of dead fish…didn’t expect that either, since there were pictures of living fish from there just a couple weeks ago.
I had eaten most of my lunch in the car on the way over, and briefly I was tempted to cough it back up from the piscivorous bouquet on the breeze.
If you’ve just eaten, you may NOT want to see the pics below. This is the ONLY warning you will get.
Also, you might want to avoid the area for awhile as the temps continue to rise.
Amongst the deceased along the boat ramp area, I spotted 2 bluegills, 4 white bass…the rest appeared to be almost all shad, with the occasional drum, carp, and buffalo for variety.
I know what you’re thinking…and “You’re Welcome”!
Now, moving on. Here’s some pics of the river by the rocky island just out /downstream from “The Cut”:
And…there were a few eagles flying around. This one was sitting in a tree across the river. Handheld camera, low zoom capability…YOU GET WHAT YOU GET as far as the picture goes.
What the heck are all the dead fish from?? 
Winterkill. We are at the northerly part of the range for Gizzard Shad. During a cold winter, they often die off in huge numbers. In a smaller body of water like these river backwaters, their decomposing carcasses will rob the water of dissolved oxygen, and even the hardier fish will die. Happens almost every year. And then high waters in Spring and Summer will re-connect these ponds to the main river, and fish will repopulate the backwaters again. Circle of life and all that… ;o)
Thanks Dave for educating me, I just learned something today,
I beat you dont have to worry about any raccoons, opossum, Skunks around the house, they are all down at the lake getting fat on Suhsi 
ok ok… The TRUTH is I went down to the pond to take my yearly bath. The fish weren’t dead when I got there.
LOL
Any catfish in the area should be very, very fat.
Indeed, channel cats often take advantage of the ice-out feast of dead shad for the first few weeks. Or so I’ve read, I honestly have never fished for them at that time.
In the pond with the winterkill pictured above…the frustrating part is not knowing the extent of the winterkill…ARE there any fish still alive? Should I be fishing for them? Or was it a total kill? Live fish were photographed in a small patch of open water there just a couple weeks back…
Hey Popperfly, then you got guys like me who will scoop those up. Those shad are the A#1 catfish bait for ice out cats(go figure!!!). Actual it is shad guts, but decomposed and mushy thats about all you get when you bag them!!!
With that thought and image in mind> Anybody hungry???
I fly-fished during lunch on Friday. Air temp was 60! Wind was pretty strong from the SE. I had 2 hits, resulting in one hook-up that came unbuttoned halfway in. Water was clear, so I got to see the fish before it shook free. Crappie. SOO CLOSE…I hadn’t caught any fish from open water yet this year, and hadn’t caught fish since Feb. 12.
And then…
I stopped by that same public pond on my way home from work on Friday, confident I could catch a fish or two with my fly-fishing gear.
It paid off with the first open-water fish of the year for me!
It started off slow, but ended well. 12 crappies (all 9" or less) and 3 green sunfish. Fished for almost 1.5 hours.
Wind was still blowing pretty hard, and switched from WSW to NNW while I was there.
Pink-n-white microjig under an indicator worked best for me.
I took a few pictures, but haven’t downloaded them yet.
I got to show a crappie to some young kids who were walking around the pond with their parents. A girl of 4-5 years then launched into a rather lengthy description of a couple fishing trips she’d been on involving someone named Kenny. She was excited about fishing! Her younger brother already knew what fly-fishing was!
Here’s “#1”, a smallish crappie:
And a nice Green Sunfish:
And one of the other crappies:
Nice day to be out fishing during lunch! Temps around 45 degrees, and wind speeds under 10mph. 
Fish are definitely more active and cooperative since the last time I fished one week ago. I fly-fished again, but didn’t have to use an indicator this time. Fish either hit on the drop, or on the retrieve. Just watch your line.
I ended up missing quite a few, and landed 8 chunky green sunfish and 6 crappies. Very fun!
Chartreuse worked excellent today. I caught some of both species on craft fur Clousers and Myakka Minnows.
Oh, and I DID catch a fairly large tree today as well. Had to break my line, but then the fly dropped to the ground, so I just tied it right back on.
Looks like things are picking up. That chartruese and white fly has it all over that pink thing !!
John
Friday after work, I fly-fished the upper end of DMACC Pond. I hoped to find some trout up in that area, and did see a handful of fish hit something on the surface, but the water wasn’t very clear, so I don’t really know what the fish were. All I caught was 4 bluegills on nymph patterns and gold metallic patterns.
Sunday, I fly-fished for about 1.5 hours at Copper Creek Lake. Passed a couple guys with fishing rods on my way in, they said they hadn’t caught anything, the fish weren’t biting. It was slow, I caught 1 small bass, 2 medium-sized bluegills, and a 10" crappie:
Around 5:45pm, I hopped over to a local public pond to fly-fish. It was slow, too. A couple guys fished with spinning/baitcasting gear for awhile, and between the two of them they caught 1 bass.
I landed 8 crappies, 3 bluegills, 1 green sunfish, and 2 largemouth bass. The bigger bass was 15.5", and hit just at dark (cell phone pic):
And Monday, 3/21/2011 lunch report…
Fly-fished local public pond with buddy Ben during lunch. I caught 5+ crappies and 6+ green sunfish, including this one I didn’t measure, but its one of the larger green sunfish I’ve caught recently:
Ben is still out there reeling them in!
A Myakka Minnow worked best for me today.
3/23/2011
Public Pond
Time Fished: 12:15-12:50pm
Weather: Cloudy, 41 degrees F
Wind: 21mph from WNW
Fished with: friend Ben, who is on Spring Break from Med School
Species sought: any
Fish caught: 7 crappies (me)
Fly-fished (surprise!) during lunch today. WINDY!!! Although the temps said 41 degrees, TWC said it “feels like 31 degrees”. Thats about right. Anyway, the water was also highly stained from last nights heavy rain and the continuing strong winds.
So…Post-frontal conditions, high winds, cold temps, stained water…sounds like either the recipe for “How to get SKUNKED”, or “The Day I Caught a JUMBO Musky”.
You never know. You can guess, but you never know. It started off rather slow, but I found some fish. I had hoped to cast with the wind at my back, but ended up casting mostly into the wind. Want some cheese and crackers with this WHINE? haha
The first fish I caught was decent for this pond, probably 11". The others were around 9" or a little less. I started off with a Myakka Minnow, but had no immediate takers on that. Switched to a pink-n-white microjig under an indicator. Caught most of the fish on that, then ended with 3 quick fish on the microjig without the indicator.
Ben caught about the same number of fish I did, and won the Most Species award for catching a green sunfish too.
I fly-fished during lunch yesterday, usual place. It was sunny, breezy…around 36 degrees F. I caught ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. A buddy stopped by to witness my misery and discuss progress on a project we are planning with some of these public ponds. Of all the times to be “skunked”…it certainly is no better when there is a WITNESS to it.
Well, I hate to wear the scent of “skunk” any longer than I need to, so after dinner I headed to another pond. Temperature had risen into the mid-40’s, but had gotten cloudy and a bit windier. The wind eventually died down some. I fly-fished until 9pm (sky is getting completely dark right around 8:15pm here right now). Action was slow, but I managed to land 6 crappies and 1 bluegill…missed a few other crappies that I watched take swipes at my patterns close to shore.
I caught some on a chartruese microjig under an indicator, and some on a chartreuse craft fur Clouser.
A muskrat was very interested in me, and swam under my rod a couple times. I wonder if its the same one I caught there last year on my fly gear?
Anyway, notice the grass in the picture above.
I was surprised to wake up this morning to this:
3-31-2011
Local Public Pond #4
Time fished:12:25pm-12:55pm (30 mins)
Weather: 46 degrees F, Mostly Cloudy
Wind: ESE 5mph
Fish sought: Bluegills
Fish caught: 2 bass, missed a bluegill
I went fly-fishing during lunch today, and I went to one of the many local public ponds I hadn’t yet been to this year.
I hoped for bluegill…I caught 2 bass, and saw a bluegill hit that didn’t get hooked. The bass was FUN! It wasn’t a big one…13" or less…but it fought really hard and stayed down, trying to scrape the nymph off on the bottom.
And I saw this on the paved trail as I was walking along the pond:
It was about 1.5" long, maybe less. Since we don’t have naked mole rats in these parts, it must be from a young jackalope.