Enjoyed your blog account of the grass carp event. A confidence builder, for sure.
John
Thanks, John! 
Here’s some reports from earlier this week (blogged):
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/09/flyfishing-reports-mid-september-2012.html
Always enjoy your blog, Dave.
I’ve stopped in Ankeny, on the way to Minneapolis to visit family, for years. Next time I’ll take my Tenkara gear and try those spots.
Bob
Thanks, Bob!
Let me know before your next trip through, and I’ll be glad to give you maps and directions to some of the better ponds in town…as well as current fishing reports, if you’d like. The Peterson Pits and Skunk River in the previous post (blog) are within a couple miles of I-35, just north of Ames…which is @ 20 miles north of Ankeny.
After dinner last night I flyfished a local public pond until after dark. I did well, C&R’ing 18 nice bluegills and one chunky largemouth bass.
I started off with a gold Springbrook Wunder microjig about 2’ under an indicator. This worked very well.
As it began to get dark, a few fish started hitting the indicator, so I switched to an unweighted chartreuse Woolly Bugger and did well with that.
Even later, the wind died down and a few Grass Carp started rolling on the surface (WELL beyond casting range, as usual), so I put on a deer hair pellet fly, and caught more bluegills and the bass on that.
Nice evening of fishing.
Sounds great. Thanks, Dave.
Bob
Flyfished during lunch today. Plenty of Bluegills, nothing big. Some hit a woolly bugger, some hit a foam topwater.
This one was not the biggest, but was fairly colorful:
Also caught a couple of small Hybrid Sunfish. This one hit a deer hair pellet fly that was WAY bigger than its mouth!:
Latest fishing report blogged here:
http://www.fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/09/flyfishing-tuesday-evening-9-25-2012.html
Flyfished during lunch today. FINALLY caught my first “flyrod Freshwater Drum”. Not just one, but TWO…I was excited! I also caught a Channel Catfish and a Largemouth Bass.
Full report and lots of pictures on my blog:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/09/lunchtime-drum-9-27-2012.html
Today’s lunchtime flyfishing outing to the same place as in the previous post, resulted in just one fish caught…this chunky 12" White Crappie:
Managed to get a little more fishing in this weekend…which isn’t normal for me.
The report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/10/fishing-report-last-weekend-of.html
From the top of the Saylorville Lake Dam, Saturday morning:
I’ve seen the exit off I 35, near West Des Moines. Another place I need to visit. Thanks.
Bob
I took the day off. My buddy Jay and I went fishing at some central Iowa rivers and pits.
Jay used spinning gear and caught around 19 fish: White Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Crappie, Walleye and Freshwater Drum.
I used fly gear and caught around 53 fish: White Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, Hybrid Sunfish, Green Sunfish, and Common Carp.
Nice day to be out fishing!
The full blogged report is here:
http://fishndave.blogspot.com/2012/10/rivers-and-pits-10-2-2012.html
The Springbrook Wunder microjig worked well this past Sunday afternnon for Bluegills, a Bass, and a Crappie:
Managed to finally get out flyfishing late Saturday evening, and today during my lunch-hour.
Saturday I caught some nice Bluegills on a Springbrook Wunder microjig under an indicator:
…and some smaller Largemouth Bass. This one was the SMALLEST:
Today during lunch, it was mostly Bluegills again. There was almost no wind, so I used a #10 unweighted chartreuse Woolly Bugger.
I also caught 4 small naturally-occurring Hybrid Sunfish. This was one of them:
Sure is getting dark early! I was able to get out last night for 45 minutes…mostly fishing in the dark at that point. I couldn’t even see my fly line at the end of my rod. I was using an uweighted chartreuse Woolly Bugger (since it was already on the line from fishing earlier in the day).
I managed to land 11 Crappies and 3 Bluegills before my family decided I had other things to do. ;o)
Forgot my camera…so took this top-notch…uh…artistic(?) photo with my crappy cell phone.
Time flies when you are having fun !
John
Yes, and it sure has flown by! Fishing is coming full circle as the year winds down. Open-water season started with crappies and trout, bloomed into at least 16 fish species landed on fly gear (including 5 new ones for my fly-rod list) over the warmer months, and looks like it (open-water season) will be ending with crappies and likely some trout. Hopefully there will be a good month or more of open-water left this season.
Fishing has been a little slow of late, and I haven’t been able to get out nearly as much as I’d like. Sure would like to finish the year as strong as it started. 