Weird spots

WEIRD SPOTS

Rick Zieger - Oct 22, 2012

I had a chance to get out on a Sunday afternoon so I grabbed two rods and headed for a pond. I brought two small boxes of flies to use. I drove to a pond that I am allowed to walk into. It is about a quarter mile walk into the pond and almost 1.5 miles if I drive in. Besides, I would have to drive around a corn field to get there. The landowner doesn't want his corn damaged, so I walk in.

The pond is long and narrow. It is about 80 yards long and 50 feet wide at the widest point. A gully that has been dammed up is the best description. Even with my casting ability the whole pond can be covered from shore. The other nice thing is that there is a 60 foot area around the pond that is meadow. On this day it had just been cut and all the hay had been picked up.

I came in at the dam end of the pond, and started casting with a white boa yarn leech and a black furl tailed leech. I let the flies drop a foot or so and then started bringing them in. I know that there is a drop off about 12 feet from shore, and I wanted the flies to come in over that. Start shallow and go deeper is the way I do it.

When I let the flies drop to about three feet I started to find some fish. I would get gills on the black fly and crappie on the white boa fly. I would get a fish or two at each spot and then need to move. All the strikes came when the fly was coming in perpendicular to the shore. A little off that and no fish. So I did not move far each time. As I reached the end of the dam and moved up the pond I found the fish to be farther out. Three feet down still seemed to be a good place to find fish. Then the curiosity bug got to me. I wondered if the fish might hit some other flies.

I tied on an olive damsel fly pattern with a marabou feather tied on to form the tail. The remainder of the marabou feather is wrapped around the tying thread and wrapped up the hook shank. I tie this with a small bead head. I also had a new nymph patter that I wanted to try.

I cast the damsel out first. It had not moved far and was hammered. It is rare that I fight a fish on the reel but this was one of those. The fish swam all over the pond before I got any control of it. It turned out to be a large channel cat. I had hooked the fish just behind the teeth and the bend of the hook was over the teeth. If this had not happened the fish would have swam free. I retrieved the fly and released the fish, but the fly was destroyed.

I cast with the other fly and got a nice crappie. After a few casts I moved and tried again. I got another crappie on the nymph, but I tried several more casts and did not get anything. I decided to tie another fly; a woven wire nymph fly I had tied up. I cast it out and had a gill take it with gusto. It was still a few fish at each spot. Then move a few feet and do it again.

I was not paying attention to where I was on the pond, since the fish were biting. Suddenly I realized I was near the end of the pond. The end is a very muddy flat and not the place you want to walk. Before going around I made a cast up into this area. There was a big swirl as the fish took the fly. It turned out to be the biggest crappie I have ever caught in this pond. I made three more casts in that area and got large crappie on each of them. What those fish were doing in the shallowest water during the warm part of the day I don't know, but I can only assume they were looking for nymphs. I fished down the other side of the pond getting a few fish at each place I stopped.

I decided to take one rod and went back to the shallow end. I made a cast and had another big swirl. I set the hook and had a bass go nuts. It jumped several times and ran all over the end of the pond. It was great, great fun, and after I landed her I released her back into the pond.

I went back to where my other stuff was, and realized that I was at a good place to leave the pond. I had used up my drinking water, I had fish to fillet, and I doubt that any more fish would have made it any more fun. It seemed to be time to go.

I had a nice mess of fillets after getting done, and I ad fillets to share.

Hope you can get out on the water.
Rick