Lefty day

LEFTY DAY

Rick Zieger - May 31, 2010

I have planted some garden by getting the early stuff out. Tilled everything and then got some seeds and plants in. Picked up several wheelbarrow loads of limbs and got them out to the burn pile in the back. After that it was time to go to a pond.

I had received permission to fish a pond that is on private property. The land owner does not let anyone fish the pond. He found out that I do not keep any bass and invited me out to fish the pond to get some of the panfish out.

The pond is about fifty yards behind his home. It’s about 80 feet wide and two hundred yards long. The deepest water is about 18 feet deep in the channel that runs down the center of most of the pond.

When he rotates some cattle out of the pasture he will let me drive in to the pond. That works for me. I get into the pond and decide to spend a few minutes looking at it. The water is very clear, there is no wind and the sun is shining.

That is an invitation to tie on a Goldie Jr and to keep the Prince nymph that worked so well last week. The silver oldie Jr will be seen for a country mile. The prince nymph just might work again and it was already on the rod.

The Goldie Jr is the first to hit the water. It has not even moved when it disappears. I set the hook and have a gill that down not like the sting of the hook. Twists, turns, dido’s and a lot of rod bobbing before the fish comes in. It’s is a nice fat, 8-inch bluegill which are a lot of fun to catch.

This is repeated on the next five casts. Fish hit the fly just after it hits the water, and they are hooked before I can really do anything, but I have a lot of fun getting them in. I think it’s time to try the Prince Nymph and see what it might do.

This fly drops a little farther and has something hit it. I set the hook and have a 15 second battle before the fish is off. I am wondering if this is a crappie, but I will have to catch one to know. I do pick up a few more gills before the area stops producing fish. I move about 30 feet and try again.

The same thing happens in this place. Some gills on both flies and several fish that get off before I can get them to shore. I am really thinking crappie. I continue to move around the pond and catch fish at every place that I stop.

I finally do land one crappie, which proves to me that this is probably what I have been losing all this time. I must be hooking them in that paper thin membrane on the side of their mouths.

The landowner comes out to see how I have been doing. He also is going to catch some fish so they can have some friends over for a fish fry. He is not catching many so I catch some for him. When he decides that he has enough I decide that I am going to leave also. There are a lot of fish in the basket. I also am getting thirsty and will have to fillet all the fish.

I get home and find that I have 98 fish in the basket. Not sure how many I gave to the landowner. Not bad for two hours of fishing.

The other thing is that every fish was caught while I was casting left-handed. I had been practicing casting this way, every since Castwell made me feel guilty for not being able to do it. I do not set the hook as well doing it this way, but I think I did pretty well for the day. I do have more confidence in my left-handed casting now.

Lots of fillets to share.

Hope you can get out on the water.

Rick