Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz

It certainly is relieving after a stressfull week to go out, fish a spot that treated you well last year, and to catch fish a couple of weeks earlier. Not just any fish, but the biggest largemouth of your life (even though its not terribly impressive, it was a solid 2-3lbs). On a popper.

Sort of an odd angle but he was big enough for his teeth to take some skin off of my thumb.

I caught a few more largemouth, all fat, healthy, and strong. They were stuffed full of minnows that were being blown around the bay we were fishing.

At one point I had a largemouth come up out of a weed bed to grab my offering. He wasn't a brute but was decent, and I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to land him from the dock instead of walking back to dry land before trying to pick him up.

Wrong. I lost the butt section of my rod into the lake, ended up wrapped up in fly line and with a nasty tangled mess of a leader. I was like a clown.

Catching Fish in the Sun is Better Than Not In the Rain

The weather gods have smiled on us, and I've been fortunate enough to take advantage. This past weekend was beautiful. Saturday was warm, warm enough to bring the shallow parts of lakes up to spawning temperatures and to bring the minnows in shallow. Where the minnows stay, the bass will play.

I went out on Sunday for a very much needed escape from work. I went back to the place that had been pretty good for me already this year and saw what I like to see - bait busting the surface, swarms of V's ripping across the water, and the gah-loops of large mouthed fish taking things off the surface. It was noon and I was crazy enough to tie on the only small popper I brought with me. It was beat up, having been chomped on by many smallmouth the previous season, but still chugged along in the water just fine.

It was one of the very first casts of the day that a bluegill proved to me that sight fishing is a lot more fun than blind casting. He came up and slapped it once, either missing the fly or trying to stun it, and finally inhaled the thing after pushing a V any Esox would be proud of. My suspicions were confirmed - it wasn't just any bluegill in spawning, the big boys were here to play. This lake is known for a large population of small sunfish, but this spot that I fish is known to be the haven for the biggest, meanest bluegill in the water. It is.


While gently trying to work that popper out of the fishes mouth, the balsa splintered apart and out came the body, sans hook. Not wanting to damage the fish, I let him have the hook and tied on one of the only other poppers I had with me - a 1/0 bass popper. After a few short grabs of these slab fish with tiny mouths pulling the fly under water by its feathered tail, I got a big splashy hit. Thinking "Yes! Largemouth!" Only to then realize the runs straight across in front of me signified a slab-sided fish. But what slab sided fish would be able to fit that popper in its mouth?

Once the fish started running away from the monstrosity I was slapping down on the water, I figured it was time to switch to something smaller. Way smaller. It worked and several smaller fish came to hand. These are the most colored up ones - check out the nearly black one. He looks like a rock star.

The sun fell behind the trees and the wind died down, and I heard a massive explosion of water. Thinking some kids had just jumped in the lake (or thrown an M80 in), I stopped fishing long enough to see minnows exploding out of the water as something bigger cut through an apparent bait ball - a large one, close to 20ft in diameter.

Popper time again. Seeing larger fish roll on the surface out past where I could cast the fly, I tried to draw them in making loud pops and gurgles. It worked, and the prize fish of the day came to hand.

Urban Trout Fishing and Blasphemy Go Hand in Hand

I'm a fly angler. You all know that. Right? Right. I've never caught anything on spinning tackle except through the ice, so bear with me here.

I met up with a friend, after a nearly worthless eye exam (I need new glasses and need a script to get them), to fish an urban pond that is stocked with way too many fish for its size (plus holds resident sunfish, pickerel, and largemouth). I fished for 2+ hours with flies watching him catch two of the freshly stocked brook trout, while I couldn't even buy a follow.


I hadn't ever really caught anything on spinning gear. I mean, the jig rods I use through the ice are spinning gear and I've caught stuff on those, but not in open water at all. I made a few casts and had a few tangles and generally felt awkward using his stuff. We walked around and looked for rising and splashing fish. I even had one come right up to my feet to take something off the surface (it was a leaf, but must have looked like a pellet). Once we found rising fish, I'd make a cast out and reel in... far too fast. He left to get another light spinning rod he had in his truck and I continued to cast. As soon as he got back, he noticed I was going too fast, so I slowed down... way down. Thump. Raise the rod to set the hook... and my first brookie and first fish on spinning gear came to shore with a surprising fight for a fresh stocked fish. It went into the bucket for my friends dinner. We managed to catch 6 on the day, one was thrown back because it was only about 6" long and we figured that a young kid would be estatic about catching it. The rest were baked.

Before you say anything about keeping the fish, its either people keep them or they float around on the surface in late June for the birds to eat. A tiny, shallow, urban pond is not some place for brook trout longevity.

I'm not a zip gunner. I'm not a zip gunner. I'm not a zip gunner. Does that absolve me?

Small Stream Photos

I don't have much to say here. The roads to my mountain brook trout streams are open so I visited them, in the rain. I half heartedly drifted and swung dry flies and sunk dry flies through just about every little piece of water I could get to with no bites and no fish seen. I wasn't really prepared, wearing my dressy work shoes and khaki's, but I was short on time anyway and could spend an entire day exploring this area. Here are the photos - sorry for the quality, I took them with my cell phone.

 

Fishing a Lake From Shore Has its Perks and Downfalls

I spoke about it last year. I have a spot, near a family members house, that allows me to fish a some-what exclusive part of the lake... at least regarding shore fishing. In the spring it is known as the spot to go for big bluegill and even some largemouth bass and pickerel. I'm not one to be picky about what I catch, especially this early in the year, so I decided to try it. I know it is hot with sunfish in May but hadn't heard anything about April.

A lot of folks float by and tell me its too shallow and that nothing is biting yet anyway, while I stand there and catch fish after fish in front of them. Unfortunately, this lets them know that its a good spot - fortunately, it lets me make friends with people who know the rest of the lake better than I do, and who give me tips on where to take the Kayaks for some fishy action.

It is productive in April, even before the ice is completely off the lake. The first fish of the season this year were caught there on small nymphs and now that the ice is off, small streamers are doing the trick. I've landed a few small largemouth (small, but chunky and well fed) already, and had hoped on this day that my luck would be the same. It was.

I arrived to slight wind but warm, sunny skies and the start of under water vegetation. Thats a good sign. My roll cast is quite a bit better this year, thank god, because there is no back casting here. I tied on a small yellow marabou streamer and stripped it quickly through an area to get it wet and make it sink and suspend like I want it to. I had a few boils around it so I knew I was on to something. The next few casts were uneventful but when I began fishing it like a wounded minnow instead of a fleeing minnow, the strikes came. He was a little largemouth but that was ok - it was a fish in the net. Two more, about the same size, came to hand next, as well as a good sized bluegill that I didn't take a photo of. It was starting out  to be a good day.


My yellow marabou fly, already beat up from last year, flat out fell apart. There wasn't much left on the hook but a little bit of thread and some tufts of yellow marabou. I tied on a small, grizzly streamer of my own design and had no strikes. I sat, letting the area rest a minute, when sure enough I began seeing fins, heads, and tails pop out of the water as fish were starting to agressively go after the minnows that were just starting to come in shallow. I changed up to the only other yellow thing I had, a mickey finn, and cast towards tailing or boiling fish. Unfortunately, I think Mr. Finn was too large as I kept getting some short strikes. I cast over the deepest part of this shallow section and had a hit and miss. I immediately roll casted again and had a solid  hook up. It was a pickerel. Though small and not really my favorite thing to catch, he put up a great fight on the 3/4 and relinquished the fly easily enough. Often I have a problem with pickerel swallowing the fly, never to be seen again or resulting in a belly up fish.

It was then that a few bait anglers floated over and asked how I was doing. They were looking to fill their dinner plates with bluegill. I told them I was seeing a lot of activity near a fallen tree to my right. That I couldn't really get out there, but that they should try it. They ignored what I said and continued to try to get closer to where I was. There is a small bay to my left that I can't really fish with a fly rod from shore but is known for its large bluegill. I guess that is where they wanted to get. There was enough activity to my right that it prompted me to try despite the adversities, so as I walked over they promptly paddled into the bay. It was nice of them to wait and they even offered me some of their catch to bring home since I was nice enough to let them have the spot. I guess I let them have it, they more like took it, but whatever.


I side arm acrobatic roll casted and eventually got my fly - still Mr. Finn - to land in the middle of the tree immediately after a boil. I got a quick strike and it fought like a decent crappie. This would've been a great sign, because crappie coming in means a great amount of fun catching huge ones on a neighboring lake. This was no crappie though - despite an initially lazy fight, once he saw the shore getting closer he bolted straight back for the tree. It was a smallmouth. A surprise not only because of where it was (they usually hang out across the lake from where I was), but because of its decent size and strength for being a lake smallmouth. There was tragedy, though, in that as I fought the angry bronzeback, my 3/4 broke in the butt section. Not just cracked, but snapped. The tip section floated down to the fish as I hand lined it in as you would on a tip up. It was a nice surprise and after the photo I released him as gently as I could, where he swam right back into the tree and continued to make boils and noise. No more fishing after him, but that was ok. It was a good day anyway.

Albright is warrantying my rod, and when I called I actually spoke with the owner, who also emailed me the return information. Its a $19 fee but thats ok - The rod only cost me $20 when I bought it and it retails for $50 so I'm still less than the MSRP.

Maybe the next post will have some trout content. Who knows?

The 2009 Season has officially started... three weeks ago.

I've been slow at writing blog posts. Its been a combination of being busy with the house, with work, and with things like weddings, that has kept me from sitting down and writing an actual post about anything.

This years start has been a significantly more eventful one than last year. I got out with a local friend on April 3rd and, though our original plan of chasing mountain brook trout was dashed when we ran into some road closed signs, we eventually found somewhere to go. Though he ended up getting skunked, I caught my first few fish of the season. They're just bluegill, but its a fish, its slimey, and I came home smelling like it. Thats what matters. I also got the skunk off of my new Albright Topwater 3/4 rod and Bugati reel, and started the open water fishing season almost exactly one month earlier than I did last year.

I've fished my usual spot and it isn't quite ready yet. The water temperatures are there and came up quite a bit earlier than last year but the under water vegetation hasn't caught up yet. I expect, though, that within a week I'll start seeing some of my favorite redbreasted sunfish (see last years photo at the right) splashing around and spawning, and the large smallmouth will be in shallow looking to dig nests and eat the baitfish as they move in as well.

I haven't had much opportunity to go after trout yet. Because of my surgery early in March, I've been side lined from a lot of things - training and wade fishing included. I'm nearly 100% at this point and its just a matter of getting up my courage to go out and wade for some of the freshly stocked brown, brook, and rainbow trout in the local streams and rivers. Something tells me that this weekend might be it, but we've been getting a lot of rain this week and, though the weekend is supposed to be sunny and warm, I think the rivers might be a tad high to fish safely at this point in time. Who knows, though, I've been wrong quite a few times before. 

This is an awkward, but good time of year. One day the fishing (and the weather) can be great, when the next could be absolutely terrible. It may be raining now, but when its 70 degrees on Friday, you bet I'll be out slapping the water, trying to get something to bite.

Hatchesmagazine.com Writing Contest

I've never claimed to be late breaking or on time for anything, with anything, so you shouldn't be surprised that I'm late announcing this. The truth is, I have a valid excuse for not posting this one - I was in North Carolina enjoying the sun, waves, and friends when I got this message and forgot by the time I got back.

hatchesmagazine.com, a great online magazine and host of many excellent forums such as flytyingforum.com, talkflyfishing.com/, and rodbuildingforum.com/, is hosting a contest called "2009, The Season". From their website:

Hatches Magazine is excited to announce it’s first annual “The Season” Contest!

“The Season” is for anyone who enjoys sharing their fishing stories and pictures with other people. It’s a contest for anyone who keeps a journal, or has wished they would have; chronicling their fishing trips to look back on during the long, cold tying season or 20 years down the road with their grandchildren.

How To Enter


To enter, all you have to do is create a blog on the Hatches Blog Network and start recording your adventures during the 2009 fishing season. Writing a blog is easy. In fact it’s no more difficult than writing a post on an internet message board. (Persons already part of the Hatches Blog Network are already entered.)

You can tell your story through: words and pictures, just words, just pictures, long posts, short posts, whatever- It’s your season, so you can tell your story however you wish!  When the snow falls in December, you’ll have a great memoir to read through, reminding you of all your triumphs and lessons learned from the past season on the water.

Only reports and photographs taken between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009 are eligible.

You’ll also have the chance to win some excellent prizes…
A panel of judges will award prizes for best photography, writing and the best overall season. In addition, Reader’s Choice Awards will allow the public to vote in a variety of categories. Voting and prize details will be announced as they’re confirmed.

This doesn’t mean that the entrant who catches the biggest or the most fish wins, this is a contest meant to encourage you to share your adventures with your friends & family, or the rest of the fly fishing community.

So, consider starting a blog if you don't have one already (hatchesmagazine.com offers free blogs, so there's no excuse!) and have a chance to win what will be, undoubtedly, exceptional prizes.