Went out again today.  The wind was very strong out of the North and the air was chilly, about 58 degrees; not the best day for fishing by most accounts.  These bass weight about 3 lbs.  I didn’t measure them or weigh them so, I’m just guessing.  It appears that some bass are now on their beds but most bass, on a day like today with the cold front, would probably not be.  I caught these in a small sheltered cove where I usually catch a few bluegill on the fly rod, which I did and a few fairly good crappies as well.  After I was sure that there were no more bass interested in the worm I switched to my fly rod with a clouser minnow fly in olive and silver.  The fly got me the bluegills and crappie.  I did catch a nice crappie in that same area using a Yum craw dad.  I used the crawdad to see if I could interest some bass with it but only caught the one crappie.  I didn’t have too much time to fish today because I had to pick up my 6 year old. grand daughter, Evie, at the bus stop.  But, on the way in I managed to catch a nice drum on that chartruse grub pin spinner.  I showed these pictures to my grand daughter and now she wants me to take her with me, (I’ve got a fisher girl in the making).  If the weather is good I’ll take her out this weekend.

Tight lines

Jim

Today I went out in the pond to finally get a bass and “Bingo”  I got this one on a Zoom trick worm.  This beauty was 5 1/2 lbs and is now still swimming.  I got my pictures and let him go, “pronto”.  I hooked him in the upper lip so no real damage was done.  I also caught two other bass of about 1 1/2 lbs each.  I had decided to fish a part of the pond where I hadn’t had much luck at all this season.  There’s a little brush in the water but not much else for cover.  A neighbor had placed the brush there to try to attract some crappie just out from his lawn about twenty feet and there the bass were laying in waiting to ambush whatever came along. 

I did catch a few crappie and a couple of 10” bluegills as a bonus.  I first try to catch bass in an area and if the bass don’t cooperate I switch to my fly rod.  There’s a method to my madness.  I was using a clouser minnow, size 6, in green and white and hoped to catch a bass with it too, but no bass.  Then I’ll move to another likely area and try for bass with the worm and Shaw’s baby craw… no luck?…fly rod.  I did use the pin spinner with a chartreuse grub combination too as I caught some nice crappies with it and a small bass a week earlier, but didn’t get a tick with it today.

I  took out my canoe this time because I was going to stay near where I keep my boat; the forecast was for thunderstorms  late this afternoon and I didn’t want to get caught in that.  And sure enough, just after landing the bass I heard thunder.  I just finished putting my gear in the car and drove into my driveway, about 100 yards away, when there was a downpour.

How’s that for luck?

Tight lines

Jim

If you’ll recall in my posting, “two more cats…”, I mentioned that I missed another big crappie in some brush.  Well, I went back to that spot yesterday evening, in the very same spot, and caught the crappie above.  He wasn’t the giant that I thought he was but 16 1/2 inches is good enough for me.  And just after I put it back into the water  I cast again, in the same spot, with the same wooley bugger fly, in black/olive/crystal, #6 and caught this channel cat of about 4 lbs.  It was just getting dark when I caught the cat and by the time I  landed it it was dark.  I’ll tell you again, these channel cats just won’t give up and On the light fly leader that I use, 6 lb test, you just can’t force them.  They are fun to catch.  Incidentally I purchased the above fly through “Anglers Dream Fly Shop” on the internet for $.64 (64 cents) you can’t beat that!  And the flies do hold up even after catching several crappies and bluegills on this outing. 

I should mention that I caught 10, 1/2 lb bluegill and about the same number of smaller crappie on that fly during this outing that lasted three hours.  They are all still swimming in the lake so that I might catch them again and, hopefully,  when they are a little bigger.

I haven’t been able to find the bass in my last few outings except for a few small ones.  I’ve tried all my tried and true lures and some other lures like cranks to no avail.  Where are they or what do they want or when are they going to feed…  I’ll keep trying.

Tight Lines

Jim

Catching cats on the fly rod is really fun especially when you’re fishing for crappie and, bluegill and bass.  I did manage to catch a few of all of them on this trip to the pond.  These cats were both about three lbs each and very strong.  Of course using the fly rod and a 4 lb tippet force  to  play the fish or get broken off.  I try very hard to get them off the hook, get my picture, and set them free as soon as possible.  “Catch and release” is my game and I’m sure that I have caught one or two of these fish before.  As you can see I catch a lot of fish on the “wooley bugger” fly.  The fish today were caught on the black/green/crystal bugger; they wouldn’t touch my white wooley bugger at all today.  I purchased these flies  from “Anglers Dream Fly Shop”  another less expensive shop on the web.

I also hooked up with another giant crappie in some brush on this fly.  I saw him loud and clear but he got off as I got him to the surface trying to get him away from the brush.  They don’t call them “paper mouth” for nothing.  I’m sure that by trying to force him out of the brush that I tore the hook out.  Well, I know where he lives and just maybe he’ll be willing to bit on another day.

Tight Lines

Jim

Shown are some of the fish that I’ve been getting so far this spring.  The crappie and the bass were about 13 inches long and were caught on the white wooley bugger fly.  The larger channel cat was also caught on the white wooley bugger fly, the other cat was caught on a rust/chartreuse mini tube when I found a small school of crappie and they weren’t  biting on flies.  I will say once again, “If you think that trying to learn  to fish with a fly rod is not worth it, you are wrong, it’s a blast especially when catching the larger bass and cats.”  Try it you’ll love it.  I don’t mean to take away the fun with bait casting or spinning or spin fishing, they’re all fun, but with the fly rod it’s even better.  It took 15 minutes to bring the cat to net where it would  take only 3 or 4 minutes with a spinning rod.  The fishing has been on and off due to the cold fronts warm fronts constantly changing.  The wind has been a big factor too.  The fish are still pretty much scattered but as the weather warms…

Tight lines

Jim