I fly-fished Blue Heron Lake from the shoreline this evening.
Caught:
-Crappies
-Yellow Bass
-Bluegills
-Channel Catfish
-Largemouth Bass
…and foul-hooked a Gizzard Shad.
Not counting the shad, I landed 30 fish in about 75 minutes of fishing.
The report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/05/evening-fly-fishing-5-15-2012.html
I fly-fished the DMACC Pond - WDM Saturday afternoon for about 1.5 hours. First time I’ve ever visited/fished this pond.
While there, I talked to a fellow who said he has fished the pond for years. Said there used to be a lot of BIG bass and lots of nice Hybrid Sunfish in the pond. Then the bucketeers came, and now there’s just smaller fish left. I said, “…even with the signs posted around the pond that say ‘Catch and Release Only’?” He said that was before the signs were put up. He seemed embarrassed to be caught out fishing with spinning gear, telling me he normally only fishes with fly gear, but he brought the spinning rod today because it was so windy. And it was definitely windy!!
I had fun exploring a new pond. Here’s what I caught:
-4 lmb
-2 crappie
-1 hybrid sunfish
-2 green sunfish
-28 bluegill
The bass, hybrid, and green sunfish were on the small size. The crappies were in the 8"-9" range. I caught a lot of nice bluegills, though. Not BIG bluegills…but nice ones.
Also saw some cool flowers behind the willows on the north side of the pond. Anyone know what kind of flowers these are? Look sort of like irises…but the leaves looked thinner and more narrow like a lilly.
Now that is a really neat pic, Dave. A rose by any other name is still a …
What is it?? 
The highlight of the evening was a 27" Channel Catfish.
The blogged report is here:
[http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/05/evening-fly-fishing-report-5-21-2012.html
](http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/05/evening-fly-fishing-report-5-21-2012.html)
I just compared pictures of this 27-inch catfish to the one I caught on April 2 of this year. Catfish this large typically no longer have spots, but this one does. I compared the spot patterns in both pictures. Its the same fish. Gotta LOVE Catch-and-Release!
Addendum:
After discovering I’d caught this fish twice twice this year… I checked a picture of the 27-incher I caught from this pond last fall (9-11-2011). SAME FISH! I’ve caught this fish at least 3 times on fly-fishing gear within the past year. I wish they were different fish, since that would indicate a larger population in this pond…but still, that’s pretty cool!
Pretty much just fly-fished for bass at a couple different places last night.
The report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/05/evening-fly-fishing-report-5-24-2012.html
WINDY!!!
Report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/05/evening-fly-fishing-report-5-28-2012.html
Tried for carp on flies today. Had one foul-hooked, spooked a few others when I set the hook on invisible fish…they MAY have been hitting? Water was too muddy to know for sure.
Caught a catfish instead.
Full report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/05/lunchtime-flyfishing-report-5-30-2012.html
Wild Iris.
Ah! Thank you!
Ha! The Report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/06/sunday-evening-fly-fishing-6-3-2012.html
My buddy Jay found me some carp that were willing to take flies at Saylorville tonight.
Report here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/06/finally-carp-on-fly-rod-for-2012.html
Fly-fished last night. The report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/06/tuesday-evening-fly-fishing-6-12-2012.html
For Fathers’s Day, I fly-fished from my kayak on Lake Keomah. I was hoping to find some Redear Sunfish.
The blogged report is here:
[http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/06/lake-keomah-fathers-day-2012.html
](http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/06/lake-keomah-fathers-day-2012.html)
Jay and I headed out to Saylorville Lake tonight. Report is here:
[http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/06/evening-at-saylorville-6-18-2012.html
](http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/06/evening-at-saylorville-6-18-2012.html)
Tried the Murdich Minnow for awhile before the big storm rolled in tonight.
Despite the incredibly muddy water and overcast conditions, it worked!
This is a 14" White Bass:
Flyfished for carp today. Caught 5.
Report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/06/after-storm-6-21-2012.html
24" Channel Catfish (estimated 6.3 lbs) on a fly last night:
And a 10.25" Bullhead on a fly last night:
It seems like a long spell of hot weather we’ve been having. But actually its only been 6 consecutive days of 95+ degree F weather. Nevertheless, this has warmed area waters considerably. I’ve heard of what appears to be heat-stressed fish (including small Smallmouth Bass) dying off in the Middle Raccoon River. This may also be related to the extremely low water levels in the rivers…slow current, less oxygen perhaps, and the water has more time to absorb more heat.
It has also been very dry. Since May 7 (almost 2 months!), we’ve had only 1.08" of rain in Ankeny…I assume the rest of the metro area is pretty similar to that.
Last night I flyfished a local public pond. There were some bluegills in the shallows. I caught a bass and some bluegills. One thing I noticed was that even though the air temperature was in the 90’s while I was fishing, when I landed the bluegills, the fish felt extremely warm. I would bet most of the fish (especially the crappies) are down just above the pond’s thermocline. I didn’t have the patience to attempt fishing deeper water with fly gear, so I just targeted the shallows.
Anyway…a few of the fish are still biting. It is really starting to feel like the “Dog Days” of Summer, though. A lot of the fish I see seem interested in looking, but not eating.