Set the alarm for 6:00 AM and actually woke up and headed out! It’s easy to roll over on a Saturday morning and blow it off .But I didn’t and I went and I am glad that I did.
It would have been nicer to get there before the sun got up but I won’t get too greedy. At least I was on the water.
Started off with a yellow and chartreuse foam spider:
This was the first fish of the day. He fought like a champ. Three weight rod was OK but I sure wish I’d brought the one weight. Two thirds less rod equals ten times the fun factor! Beautiful fish. Nice colors of an older fish.
I kept on working my way around. I switched over to a Bitch Creek nymph but that seemed not to be all that interesting so back to the oam spider. As I worked on down the north shoreline I saw a fascinating sight. A very small bass or a bold bluegill came out of the water a good four or five inches trying to nab a dragonfly out of the air .He was unsuccessful but I wished him luck in the future.
Off the western shore lies a flat where the bream bed each season. I have dubbed it “Catfish Alley”, the stretch where I landed this fellow a few weeks ago and then this morning a channel cat took the foam spider. What a battle! Again, my initial thoughts were “nice bass!” but then the rugged, slugging, bore to the core of the earth battle started telling me I had a cat. Then I saw his dorsal fin and there was no doubt.
Here he is. (He refused to cooperate for the photo shoot!)
A little farther on down the shore I hit my last fish of the day, a little battling bass.
Everybody liked that foam spider. This is despite my concerted efforts to increase my skills and learn to tie Bitch Creeks. I did land one little old bluegill on the Bitch Creek there at the end. But by then I was ready to go and was too lazy to take a picture.
I’m indoors now and plan on remaining so until late tonight or wee tomorrow.
Looks like you had a good day today. I headed up to Beaver’s Bend for some cold water trout and as I passed through Broken Bow at 7am it was already 85 degrees! It was a little nicer on the river but still pretty darn hot. Looks like several more 100+ degree days in store for us. By the way, what lake were you on?
I was fishing a little community pond here in McKinney, Serenity Park pond. It’s a good place to get a quick fix if I need to fish but can’t get to anywhere else fast.
The heat has been building up over the last few weeks. The little pond I frequent throughout the year has dropped around three feet. it depends upon runoff for it’s water supply and there’s been none. But the last few days the temps have shown signs of breaking. Then this morning RAIN! not a huge amount, but enough to muddy my shoes and hopefully send some runoff into the pond.
No heat to beat yesterday! I had done a rain dance of sorts the other day after the frustrating experience of seeing a pretty little pond drying up. Yesterday the clouds rolled in, the sky clotted up and it rained for several hours.
We fished in the rain, standing under trees for cover. Then the lightning started up and we chose to high tail it to Sonny Bryan’s for barbecue and thence on home.
Oh, I had some luck with a little dropper tied on a #14 scud hook. Just peacocok herl body with red thread around the mid-section. Just like a Royal Coachman except a bead head dropper. Bluegills loved it!
Yes indeed Dave, yes indeed. I was recounting the experience to my friend Don yesterday and retrieved more of what happened.
I’d arrived at the pond later than I’d wanted to, it was full on dark and I’d wanted to try for bluegill in the waning light.
But as I tossed the foam spider out and retrieved it I started seeing quite a bit of sipping. the foam spider got “sipped” pretty hard a few times but no real takers. Then there was more of a “slosh-a-chug” and I knew instantly who it was; old Mr. Whiskers.
If you are over in Springtown Eagle Mountain might be a good bet. or the Federal Grasslands up by Decatur. There is a fly fishing only lake there that the Fort Worth Fly Fishers did all the heavy lifting on. No idea how any of that water looks right now but it’s far closer to you than Duck Creek
The fly fishing only lake (Windmill Lake, I believe) in the Grasslands has mostly pretty small fish, or at least that’s what I’ve been told by a few of the guys that go up there regularly. Rhodes Lake has been very good in the past but, like rrhyne56 said, I don’t know what the water looks like now. Stop in Decatur just northwest of Highway 380 on Highway 287 at the Ranger Station and get a map of the Grasslands. It will save you from getting lost in that maze of roads in there.
Thanks gentlemen. I appreciate it and will definitley make it a point to check those spots out as soon as I can. Actually had a good day yesterday afternoon on Walnut Creek in Springtown. Lost one fly to a 3 pound channel cat and caught a few bluegill and one 2 pound LMB. All in all, I would say it was a good couple of hours.
Its not as good as it had been about a month and a half ago but ever since the heat came in…well, they just dont bite as much. If I can ever get some pics I am going to put them up.
I enjoyed the story and the pic’s. nice looking fish, hey what size tippet was you useing?
