Went fishing on the pond for the first time this year. Air temp was 42 degrees cloudy windy, water was around 50 degrees. So naturally we fished streamers on sinking lines. Not much action until I tried one of my Adams dry flies. I did not expect much but I enjoy fishing dries in hopes of a surface hit. Sure enough I had plenty, I guess after many months in deep water eating the same old stuff every day fish like people get a hankering for some good old summertime food…FB.
Bob
Was there any kind of a hatch going on in the pond you were fishing? I think sometimes we warm water guys don’t think about bug hatches much. But I have had cool temp days when bugs were coming of the pond and fishing nymphs, midges and small drys were the ticket.
Dave
My convential wisdom says to hit the ponds as soon as the ice goes off.
I usually start with PTN, hares ears ect as I think the more realsitic flies work better in the cold water.
Later attractor flies work better.
Rick
Dave, It was too cold for any hatches that day but I know what you mean. You got to be prepaired for the un-expected. Three weeks ago we had a warm up to 75 degrees and along the river for a 5 mile strech we had a massive hatch of a small black beetle sorta looked like a large black version of a corn rootworm beetle. If your from the midwest you know what they look like. An 18 or 20 chernoble ant whould have come in handy if I had one… FB.
One of my favorite early pond patterns is a Mickey Finn fished slow and in a steady sweep of a retrieve. Fished slow enough to get action. Attractant colors help for some reason. Just a thought. JGW
50 degree water temp and a 42 degree air temp is more than ample to support midge, mayfly, and caddis hatches. Just guessing I would say maybe midges or small mayflies were around in some form or another. Just a guess though.
Mike B
I was out fishing for bluegill yesterday, and after doing pretty well with a nymphs and buggers, I thought I’d test out a dry fly, just to push summer a little closer (there were no rises, although it was probably 70 degrees here in Arkansas). I tried for maybe ten minutes with no luck, but then for no good reason, I just started to make repeated casts to the same general area: cast, let it sit for 2-3 seconds, pick it up and cast again. After about 2 minutes of this, the fish started hitting, and soon were hitting on every cast–doing that great little bluegill move where they swim quickly up, stop an inch away, pause momentarily, then strike. I’m thinking maybe I managed to manufacture my own hatch. Haha. They were small fish, but it was still pretty fun.
On an even less related note : ), I caught my first skipjack herring yesterday on a white wooly bugger–it was about 12-14 inches long, made three big jumps, fought hard, and was really beautiful–very irridescent, slick, and silvery. I love “trash” fish! I had to come home and identify it in my Arkansas Fishes book… Anyone ever caught one?
Mike
I have! Here in Arkansas, Lake Dardanelle near Russellville has a pretty good population of skipjack, and I think Greers Ferry Lake does, too. They’re a blast on a flyrod!
The words “trash” and “Fish” should never be put together,as some of us have never found “ANY” fish that has the grace to take a fly being able to be trash…
“Wish ya great fishing”
augs, I’m a trashfishaholic, and some of my fondest memories are of fishing the White River where it flows through Batesville, AR. There is a city park with a waterfall, I would throw a bugger near the top of the fall, by the time it was drifting through the foam at the base I would often have a skipjack on… jumpy, interesting looking little guys!!!
Dave:
That’s just the situation where I caught one, too–at the bottom of the “waterfall” created by the outlet of the Lake Conway dam. They must like sitting in there waiting for food to be delivered. Next time I’m out there, I will definitely be trying to catch a couple more. (I would have tried for more the last time, but as I was landing the fish, a woman fishing near me asked if she could have the fish for catfish bait, and I agreed. As I was standing there with this fish in my hand waiting for the woman to make her way around to me, another fisherman stepped in front of me, and stood on the exact spot I had been fishing from, and started casting to where I had caught the fish! After I had delivered the fish to the catfishing woman, I asked the spincaster where he was going to fish from, hoping to indicate my surprise at his boldness. He missed that subtlety, though 
and answered “Right here.” I decided my best option was to roll my eyes and move on… But I’ll be back!).
Mike
[This message has been edited by augs (edited 04 May 2005).]
Mike,
That sort of behavior (fishing right next to or on top of you) never ceases to amaze me.
I congratulate you on your restraint.