Back when I was into the ‘mainstream’ of fishing, I knew how to approach ‘new’ water. You know, that lake or pond where you’ve never fishied beore, don’t know anything about, and just want to find out if there are fish, what they are, and some idea of how big.
I’d take an ultralight spinning rod, tie on a small aberdeen hook, Texas rig a live nightcrawler, and walk the bank making short casts to every thing I could see.
Found out pretty quick if there was anything worth catching.
How do you guys approach this with fly gear? I’ve pretty much settled on a popper/nymph set up. Any other good ones? Things that you do ‘just to see’ what’s what?
What are your favorite ‘catch what ever it may be’ rigs?
Good question and not an easy one, Buddy. It depends on the type of water is the short answer for me. For creeks and rivers with faster moving water, I like to start off with a surface pattern of some sort before I may be forced to go to a subsurface pattern like a wet fly or streamer. For lakes, ponds, and canals where the water is slower moving, I like to start off with a nymph pattern because I know nymphs are present on those waters usually in good numbers. Nymphs are also present all year as are minnows or baitfish. A surface fly/dropper rig is usually my last resort on all types of waters after I go through a lot of different kinds of patterns when fish seem unresponsive. Its usually an educated guess when selecting flies and when I guess wrong, I go through a lot more flies :).
I just started fishing that little lake at Sun-N-Lake community (there is a lot of fishing pressure on this little lake so smaller sizes and natural imitations may be a better choice) and I will invariably start out with a nymph pattern. I hung a good size LMB on a #10 MDN (Marabou Damsel Nymph) but it got off the hook after wrapping me up in weeds when I failed to turn it with rod pressure. I have since caught three more small LMB and one small Bluegill on Minnow Crease Flies so I am having some success but I’m still hopeful of catching some bigger fish there. I am sure that most of the fish on this lake are feeding heavily on minnows, fry, and nymphs by their behavior of cruising the shallows. I have used Cypert’s Minnows and some other streamers but the fish would not touch them for some reason.
Other things I do is to watch birds; make observations of insects or baitfish; observations of fish structure or likely fish holding areas; wind, weather, and temperature conditions can also dictate where fish may be holding; etc. Birds know where the fish are because their eyes are a lot better than mine :). If I am in a position to be able to actually see the fish in the water (usually not the case), then I can sight-cast but I am usually forced to use the above mentioned methods due to poor water clarity. Maybe this will help some.
For me (lake fishing for panfish), I just about always start with either a black beadhead bugger, or a small (size 8-10) black over chartreuse clouser.
Before that however, I get a map of the lake, even if I’m shore fishing. Here in Minnesota, the DNR has published on their website depth maps of just about every lake in the state (yeah, that’s a lot). That helps me narrow down where the fish may be a lot faster.
Unless I know for sure that there is no surface activity, I start with topwater. Usually a small popper or diver, like a Sneaky Pete. I then move to subsurface like a James Woods Bucktail. If I still get no action then it’s bottom time with a bugger or craw.