A night of firsts for my fiancee. I took her out last night for a) her first shot at fly fishing after dark and b) her first experience with bass poppers. It was a beautiful evening, mostly clear, moonlit sky, warm but not oppressive and just enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitos at bay. As the sun went down we did pretty well, catching smallish bass and a few nice gills. While there was still enough light to see, Marguerite worked on getting the hang of casting the bigger popping bug (she’s used to casting nymphs and bluegill flies) and working it on the water. As it started to get good and dark the quantity of fish dropped, but the trade off was bigger fish. I got the first one, about a twenty inch channel cat that ate my deer hair frog that I had cast up under some overhanging branches.
about ten minutes later, Marguerite had something with some size to it eat her popper and take off for parts unknown. This was far and away the biggest fish she’d had on the fly rod to date and was surprised enough that she forgot to give it line and it broke off. We tied on another popper and a few minutes later, working the edge of a weed bank, she was rewarded with another big swirl on her fly. This time she set the hook, then fed line as it charged out into open water. She played it perfectly this time and after a couple minutes and a lot of splashy jumps, landed her first big largemouth on the fly.
We fished a little while longer, caught a few more fish, then called it a night. I think I was more excited about her fish than any of the ones I caught myself. What a night!
Whoa!! That’s some fish!! Did notice, it’s glowing in the dark…or is that just the flash? :lol: <sorry 'bout that Guys! Inside joke!!>
Congrats!
Fishing at night can be great!
_________________
RRhyne56
http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com
http://robinsrumination.blogspot.com
Betty–
That would be the flash. The light conditions were a bit less than optimal for photography, and this is a different piece of water. On that pond we probably wouldn’t have needed a flash :lol:
Wow great job, I bet that cat was a hoot to land!
What color of poppers were you using? Just deer hair of bright colors or what?
BC
P.S. Congrats on the fish!
haha kool i love catchin cats on the fly
basscatcher85–
Forgive the quality of the pics. I was in a hurry, but they’ll give you the general idea.
This is what the cats have been taking:
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa5/ … GP0241.jpg
And this is what Marguerite got the bass with:
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa5/ … GP0242.jpg
I also use a Dahlberg diver in the same froggy colors that works really well, too.