Flyfishing has been pretty slow at the public ponds lately, but that might be because I’ve been ignoring the panfish and trying for larger fish like Grass Carp and Channel Catfish. Still haven’t landed a Grass Carp this year yet. At least I’m SEEING more of them, which is a good thing I guess.
Last night’s flyfishing resulted in 3 Bluegills, 3 Largemouth Bass (biggest 17.5"), and a 13" Yellow Bullhead. The full report and pictures are here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/07/flyfishing-report-evening-of-7-10-2012.html
Mugshot:
Landed one carp last night at Saylorville Lake, lost a bigger one that broke my line. Both hit Fly Goddesses egg pattern. Also caught a nice bluegill on the egg pattern.
I need help. Can anyone I.D. these fish I caught on flies last night as either Smallmouth Buffalo or Black Buffalo? I’m unsure which species they are.
The story is on my blog:
[http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-fly-rod-firstthe-black-buffalo.html
H](http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-fly-rod-firstthe-black-buffalo.html)ere’s a couple pics:
A 19.5-incher
A 22.5-incher
This heat certainly has some fish in deeper water, but later in the evenings there is topwater action.
Flyfishing at a local public pond last night resulted in at least 10 crappies, 4 bass, 6 bluegills, and a bullhead.
Blogged report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/07/7-19-2012-evening-report.html
Regarding my query as to the identification of the Buffalo Species I had caught earlier this week…I sent the pictures to the DNR Fisheries Biologist for our area. It may help others identify their catch in the future, so here is his response:
It’s always tough when you are trying to ID from a photo, rather than having the fish in your hand. These two species are tough to tell apart, so don’t feel bad!
However, I believe that you caught 2 smallmouth buffalo. There are some body measurement ratios that the professionals use to separate these two species. I analyzed these ratios from your photos and both fish fall out as smallmouth buffs. In addition, and this is probably the best method, the smallmouth buff will have a keel in front of their dorsal fin. Unfortunately, I don’t have top-down photos to tell.
Hope that helps Dave and congrats on the catch!
Flyfished a couple public ponds last night. Caught 2 Largemouth Bass and a Bluegill from the first one.
Caught 3 Bluegills, 1 Crappie and a 23" Channel Catfish from the second one.
Excuses, excuses…I didn’t get out fishing until really late last night (after 8:30pm)…not much light left, the sun had already set. And then for the past few months I’ve been spending a lot of largely fruitless time chasing after catfish and grass carp with the fly rod. So, my catch rates and fish totals have severly plummeted. Average size is up, however. Definitely a trade-off.
Last night I tried some white bunny leeches and caught just 3 fish, one Bluegill, one Crappie, and one 17" Largemouth Bass:
Fly-fished during lunch today. Had a chance to catch some more catfish on flies, may have hooked a couple. Just got a good fight followed by broken lines for my efforts. Targeted carp instead, got one that was foul-hooked, landed one that was fair-hooked. Also caught a White Bass.
Full report is blogged here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/08/carp-for-lunch8-2-2012.html
Entertained some kids at a local public park pond with plenty of fish.
Longwinded blogged report is here:
http://www.fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/08/sunday-evening-fly-fishing-8-5-2012.html
Flyfished for a couple hours late yesterday evening after the storms passed. Landed 1 bass and 15 bluegills. The bluegills are still going bonkers for topwaters. I tried a nymph with no takers. A Chernobyl Ant/Hopper got the best action on top. Did catch a few fish on a yellow Boa Yarn Leech closer to dark.
A young teenager arrived at the pond as it was getting dark, and prepared to do some catfishing. He came over to ask how I was doing. He told me all the big fish are on the bottom. And that he had recently caught a couple nice catfish using grass frogs for bait. I wanted to explain to him that baitfishing isn’t fun for me. I’d rather actively pursue fish with artificials than to sit and wait for a fish to wander by a stationary bait. Plus the whole advanced skill requirements when choosing the “fooling fish vs. feeding fish” thing. And how I’d caught EVERY species of fish in the pond (Largemouth Bass, Bluegills, Crappies, Hybrid Sunfish, Green Sunfish, Grass Carp, Channel Catfish, Bullheads) on flies, and all but one species had been caught at least once on topwater flies. And how I’ve caught a fair number of larger specimens on the fly gear (bass to 19", catfish to 27" (same fish multiple times even), crappies to 13", grass carp to 29".
But I didn’t say ANY of that. I could have expounded on how he is likely fishing below the thermocline much of the time, and how most of the food in the pond will be in the shallows and along the weedline drop-off.
Instead, I decided that we were obviously both quite happy to be fishing and catching in our own ways. I just acted impressed and thankful for his information, and he left me to go chase down some more grass frogs to use for bait.
Would any of you have handled that situation differently? I keep thinking about it, but keep concluding it was best to hold my tongue because I probably would have come across as too serious, or a “know-it-all”, or elitist, or preachy…
I flyfished during my lunch-hour today. Didn’t take any pictures, but caught at least 15 bluegills. Saw plenty of bass, including some pretty nice ones, which is unusual for this pond.
I started out with a glass beadhead Woolly Bugger. Caught a few, but when I could watch the strikes they weren’t real aggressive takes, and most ended up as just “follows”.
I switched to a beadchain-eye nymph with a shorter but wider profile…something that looks more like a dragonfly nymph. I got a lot more strikes, and they were MUCH more aggressive on that pattern. When I could watch the strikes, the fish would zoom in quickly and inhale the nymph, then quickly dart away with the nymph still in their mouths. That made strike detection a lot easier, obviously.
Bravo, FishnDave !!! I teach for a living. It’s actually hard for me to NOT teach whenever a situation like that comes by. But You did the right thing. If he’d been asking for advice, then you could’ve let him have it all. As you noted, you were both happy with your past-times, and if he’s going after catfish for eatin’ purposes … “catch them fishes, buddy”!!!
Too often, we assume others want to know what we know, or that we are educating others to a better view of life. More often than not, others are quite happy in their “ignorance” and our advice is neither wanted nor appreciated.
My motto: “Give advice when asked. Give praise when appropriate. Give discipline when needed. Give respect always.”
I would have offered a rudimentary introduction to fly angling, just showing him the rod and the flies. If he wasn’t interested, that would be the end of it. If he was, I’d offer a demo on casting, and if he wanted to try it, let him use my rod. I may be a lousy teacher, but if he were a good student he’d do okay. If he wanted to go further and actually try to catch a fish, help him have it.
All that other stuff would be a bit much. But the opportunity to give a young person exposure to something that could bring joy to his life, now or later on, is not something I would pass up.
John
P.S. Reminds me of the times I’ve introduced adult fly anglers to Tenkara gear and techniques. They have all been appreciative and eager to try it.
Yesterday evening’s flyfishing resulted in at least 15 nice bluegills, and two LDR Grass Carp. Report is here…no pics:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/08/tuesday-evening-flyfishing-8212012.html
Tried it again last night. Saw this Mink:
Caught some bluegills. Bumped one big fish. Set the hook on this one. Not the hoped-for Grass Carp, but a Common Carp instead. Still a very fun fight!
Full blogged report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/08/chasing-bubbles-8-22-2012.html
I flyfished last night. Caught some Largemouth Bass, Bluegills, and Hybrid Sunfish. Hybrid Sunfish are cool! 
Here’s the blogged report, if interested:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/08/hybrid-sunfish-8-27-2012.html
Teaser pic:
Fishing (catching) has been slow for me around here. I blame that on my focus on “other species”…like grass carp and common carp.
Still, yesterday during lunch I hit a public pond that, according to a statement by a city employee, was super-stocked with grass carp. I’ve never seen more than 3-4 per trip…tops. And usually I don’t see ANY there, so I really have to wonder about the veracity of the information.
Anyway, it was windy, so I fished for bluegills. Caught 8 during lunch, all rather small.
Last night I was able to reach a public pond in another town about 25 miles away…but it was almost dark by the time I started fishing. I did see at least one Grass Carp swim by, and at least one Common Carp swim by…but despite the low light conditions they seemed to spot me easily, even hidden amongst the tall cattails. I managed to land 2 Largemouth Bass, 4 Bluegills, and 2 Hybrid Sunfish. The smaller Hybrid Sunfish was quite colorful, but it was too dark to photograph well, since the flash would bleach the colors. The larger Hybrid was a really NICE thick fish of 8.5" - 9". Caught most fish on a yellow Boa Yarn Leech, although I tried a number of other patterns.
Although this fish was definitely a Hybrid (mottling on the tail fin, yellow on the edges of the anal fin, etc)…it looks like it might be a 2nd generation fish…like a Hybrid x Bluegill cross. Definitely has very strong Bluegill characteristics.
Flyfishing for Bigmouth Buffalo? HELP!!!
Read the blogged report here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/09/flyfishing-for-buffalo.html
I flyfished the DM River on Saturday afternoon, fished Lake Petocka and a public pond on Sunday morning. Slow fishing all around. The report is blogged here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/09/fishing-report-for-2nd-weekend-of.html
Watched a Grass Carp (the Holy Grail of my flyfishing efforts) suck in my topwater fly last night. The story ended with the hookset. DANG! The blogged report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/09/fly-rod-grass-carp-fail-9-16-2012.html
