4-29-09 Went out today and tried for bass.  I started with a Frenzy crank bait with no luck.  Switched to a swim bait, a shad colored paddle tail, again no hits.  Went to a Zoom worm, pumpkinseed color, again, no takers.  No hits at all! 

Went back to the fly rod with one of my new bead head muddler minnows and started catching some small crappie.  On my other fly rod I tied on another new lure, the new Zoom swim minnow.  It is the same as a swimmin minnow but the color is a light mint green and white.  I caught some more small crappie and then hooked onto one of the channel cats shown, a nice 2 1/2 lb fish.  A few minutes later, in the same area I caught another 2 1/2 lb cat but on the muddler minnow.  Moving on down the lake shore I managed a few more crappie alternating with my Zoom worm and the Zoom minnow and caught a few more crappie and a small bass on the worm but I missed him at the boat.  Further on I caught another channel cat on the Zoom minnow.  I did catch a nice bluegill on the Zoom minnow as well.

All in all I managed to put twenty three fish in the boat in about 4 hours time.  Better that the last time but no really big fish.  My guess is that the bass aren’t ready to get on their beds as yet and for the most part they have lockjaw.

Tight Lines

Jim

Larry Tegtmeyer and I went on our second fishing outing this last Friday, the 24th of April.  The wind was a BIG problem and boat control, especially in my little two man boat, was a real problem.  Larry was using his white muddler bead head fly and a black leach fly most of the time.  He managed to catch a 2 1/2 lb channel cat on the leach pattern and I believe the count of 13 small crappie and a couple of nice bluegill, 9", for the day.  Not bad for fishing in a windstorm.  I tried for bass at first with my spinning rod using a zoom worm and a yum baby craw.  No luck at all.  I reverted back to my fly rod and went for the crappie using the white muddler that Larry so graciously gave me on our first outing.  I ended up with 11 small crappie.  So Larry got the better of me again with the biggest  and the mostest!  We still had fun and enjoyed each other’s company.  Oh yes, Larry gave me a small fish counter to use.  I believe he doesn’t trust my counting ability except when he’s catching the most fish, (ha, ha)!  Well, next time, maybe I’ll catch the most and  the biggest even with the fish counter!  Larry is a fine fisherman and fly fisherman and I’m looking forward to our next outing.

Tight Lines

Jim

  If you haven’t caught a big catfish on a fly rod you’re missing some great fun.  This one weighed 7 lbs even (according to my fish de-liar anyway) and believe me not many fish fight as determined as they do.  I managed to hook up with this channel cat using a Yum alive black and silver shad.  It looks much like the swimmin minnow that I do so well with and it will remain a part of my fishing arsenal.  The difference between the two is that the swimmin minnow has a ribbon tail and the yum shad has a forked tail.  The yum also is sold wet in packages containing fish attractant.  I sometimes use a spray on attractant on my swimmin minnow when fishing with it is slow.  The scent spray will usually improve my catch rate but now always.  As I mentioned in a previous entry, Larry, my newest fishing buddy, gave me some bead head muddler flies.  They worked well when my swimmin minow did not. 

   I did miss another big fish that went straight into a sunken trees branches. I never did see the fish but it was BIG!  And, by the way, the fly rod I was using, was my new St Croix, 6 weight.  So, you don’t really need an 8 weight to land bigger fish if you have the patience to work the fish in.  I got him to the net three times and each time, except for the last, he made a long dash to get away.  Of course, I release the fish right after taking the picture.

I managed to catch another 25 crappie, including a 13 inch crappie, but most were in the 7-9 inch range.  I also landed 3 nice size bluegill with the swimmin minnow.

Some people ask me, "why don’t you use the swimmin minnow on a jig with a spinning rod"?  Well, if you watch the swimmin minnow or the Yum minnow hooked throughthe lip as you would a live minnow, you will see that it really resembles a wounded minnow.  When fish see it, including channel cat, bass, bluegill and crappie, the see an easy meal, and often as not, go for it.  On a jig the minnow doesn’t have that realistic wounded look.  It really works best when using it on a fly rod and without the weight of the jig. Fish it slowly with several pauses in your retrieve.  If you try spin casting a swimmin minnow or yum without weight is goes nearly nowhere.  It does work on a jig, but in my opinion, not nearly as well.

I’ve also used them (swimmin minnow, yum shad) on a beetle spin type spinner and have had some luck that way too.  Changing tactics is often the key to a successful fishing day.

On Wednesday, April 1st, Larry and I met to go fishing in the "pond".  As it turned out Larry is a fine gentleman and an expert with the fly rod.  Larry wrote me a few weeks back after viewing my web site, Perchbugs .com and asked me if we might get together some time to go fishing.  I’m glad that I responded to the positive; Larry is a true sportsman and a fine fisherman.  The weather was windy and chilly with a new cold front coming in and, to our consternation, had a somewhat negative affect on our fishing.  We did, however, manage to catch a few crappie and the drum shown.   We also managed to catch a few small bass.  I was using my favorite crappie lure, the "Swimmin Minnow", and Larry was using a white "Muddler Minnow".  He made me a believer in the "Muddler Minnow"  as Larry out fished me by several crappie and the fairly nice drum to boot.  And being the gentleman that Larry is, he gave me a few of the Muddlers to try out myself and sure enough I managed to catch a few more crappie that I might not have had he not done so.  We had a good time and I’m looking forward to fishing, especially fly rodding, with Larry again in the near future.  Larry did keep a few of the crappie to take home for a meal of those fine tasting crappie. 

My wife, Patty, had prepared a fine meal of macaroni salad, fried chicken, beans, and a wonderful homemade apple pie to finish the day and , by the way, she is a wonderful cook.  She is also the best wife a man could have who understands my passion for fishing.  And,again, by the way, we will be celebrating our 52nd wedding wedding anniversary on April, 6th.  God blessed me with her from the early age of twelve when she was the," Girl Next Door".  I didn’t have to go far to meet, "The Girl Of My Dreams".