I was with a friend the other night and trying a new pond. Unfortunately I had my baitcaster with me beacause I thought there was too much cover for a fly rod. But anyway, I was fishing a crankbait in a little cove and hooked up on something BIG :shock: I had him hooked perfectly… I think… but this fish was not like any bass I had ever fought on the fly or lures. It would shake it’s head and dive down. Unlike a bass, pulling drag out and away, this fish stayed put and would make runs deeper and deeper. Who knows maybe it was a bass but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on what I hooked up with. It would shake it’s head and run to the bottom and might have moved a total of 20 yards to my left before it shook out the lure. My rod was completly doubled over, this rod is my heaviest action bass rod and very hard to double over. But does anyone have any ideas or any fly suggestions that could work like a crankbait??? Anything will help as I am baffled as to what it was.
Thanks,
BC
P.S. If it helps any this was in a decent size lake. Maybe 5+ acres.
I caught a channel cat on a nymph of all things a few weeks ago, and while he wasnt huge (18 inches) he fought like hell on a 5 weight. I would guess in a large pond or a small lake like that, either a cat or a carp, but I dont know about carp going for a crankbait. So best guess is a huge cat. We have bowfins here and I hear they fight like mad also, just never hooked one. They are the fighters that play like they are done, and then spring back to life and make a run. They will do this 4 or 5 times before submitting. So again, sounds like a cat.
That’s what my friend was saying too. I figured it was something big like a cat. But I don’t know about the bowfins that is a possibility too.
Thanks
BC
I’m going to agree with the rest and say it was a cat, too. They are very determined fighters and because they don’t spend all their energy in quick runs and jumps and all the other nonsense trout and bass are prone to, they tire out very slowly. I got one a couple nights ago, maybe about 5 pounds that took a good twenty minutes to land on my six weight. He had taken a deer hair bug I was waking across a shallow cove. They are very active this time of year, and will definitely take a crankbait.
That is something else. Literally the lines between spin casting and fly fishing are becoming more and more blurred with things like Full sinking lines for fishing depths 20’ or more…crankbaits for the fly rod…fly fishing for large salt species and even musky and pike…all seems to have really taken off in the last 10+ years. I’d be interested to try one…but at what point do you just revert back to using a spinning rod???
Yeah, there’s gar around here, but not usually in the ponds. They seem to be more for moving water around here. The rivers and spillways have plenty. I’d still vote for a catfish hooked in the fleshy corners of the mouth. If he didn’t get the hole treble in his mouth (a miracle I know, but possible) then it could have pulled out of the soft part of his mouth and been “shook loose”.
I am agreeing with channel cat. Does anyone have any ideas on a good fly to use for em? I know we have gar but I don’t think they are in the lake I was fishin.
Thanks for all the help!
BC
Here lately, I’ve been having the best luck during the day on big black wooly buggers. At night they’ve been coming up to deer hair frogs fished across shallow bays and along cattail or other emergent weed edges. See the “Night Game” post in this forum for a picture of one that grabbed a popper.
If it helps any this was in a decent size lake. Maybe 5+ acres.
“Decent?” Five acres seems kinda small to me. Based on that, I would guess that it was a Cat too, my first thought was big pike, notorious for headshakes and runs, and they’ll take cranks more readily than catfish, but you usually have to have a lot of water to get bigger pike >50 acres, I’d say.
njsimonson…I meant to say it waw a decent size pond. Around here where I fish they are usually just small farm ponds and this is the biggest one within a 5 minute drive. I don’t judge acres quite accurately so it is probably a little bigger than 5 acres. Sorry for the confusion.
BC
I’ll second the black WB … also - try a darker or contrasting zonker (contrasting to water color).
For the fun of it - try a fly - with contrast - that is out of the blue, you wouldn’t think of using. Say - atlantic salmon fly. Oversized trout fly. something totally different. Cats are garbage cans … you just might be surprised.
But anyway, I was fishing a crankbait in a little cove and hooked up on something BIG :shock: I had him hooked perfectly… I think… but this fish was not like any bass I had ever fought on the fly or lures. It would shake it’s head and dive down. Unlike a bass, pulling drag out and away, this fish stayed put and would make runs deeper and deeper. Who knows maybe it was a bass but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on what I hooked up with. It would shake it’s head and run to the bottom and might have moved a total of 20 yards to my left before it shook out the lure. My rod was completly doubled over, this rod is my heaviest action bass rod and very hard to double over. But does anyone have any ideas or any fly suggestions that could work like a crankbait??? Anything will help as I am baffled as to what it was.