Went out on the pond with Ivan, my fishing buddy.  Ivan is trying to improve on his fly casting skills.  I advised him on what lures I’ve been using to catch Crappie, the small black and silver minnow.  Ivan has not been fishing for a while and his flycasting was not up to par but…he did catch a few crappie.  I noticed that his back cast was not correct and his wrist action and coordination when false casting was not timed correctly.  He did however, show some improvemnt toward the end of the day.  It wasn’t the best day to be flycasting as the wind was fairly strong and impeded the back cast.  We did catch about 25 crappie in all but no bass, bluegill, or catfish.  We’ll try again soon.

I went out again yesterday and did fairly well:  21 crappie and 3 bass.  Mostly all small.  Started out at 2:30 P.M. but didn’t do well until around 4:00 P.M.  That’s about the same thing that happened on my last entry.  Just a very few bites until later in the day.  Again I ended up in the same place I started to get the most bites where earlier I couldn’t buy a bite.  I haven’t caught a single female fish that I could tell…none carying eggs.  So, it must be the males settling out to find the best nesting areas.  I have found three such places which should hold most of the nests when they do start to spawn.  All of the bites were lip hooked except one and I don’t think I hurt that one either being careful not to damage the one I cahght in the gill area, no bleeding but the hook was wrapped around the gill.  I don’t keep fish unless it will, without doubt, die.  No one in my family likes to eat fish except me!  We have our grand kis over today so it’s playtime and no fishing.  See you next time.

On Monday the 7th of April wwe had another one day break in the weather.  I took out my two man boat on the sub-div pond thinking that the bass aught to be hitting.  I tried first with a zoomworm, pumpkinseed color… no luck,  tried a roadrunner with a curlytail grub…no luck.  I did bring some live nightcrawlers with me which I do not usually use for bass because of the possibility the bass might swallow them if they bite, I do not keep fish and I was actually trying for some channel cat.  No cats but I did catch two bass and they were not hurt… lip hooked them, but no cats.  I put the nightcrawlers away.  I fished for almost 4 hours with hardly any luck using spinners, grubs, and spinner/grub combinations.  At about 4:oo P.M.  I was back to nearly where I keep my boat.  There’s a small area of downed tree branches there.  I went back to my fly rod and tried the plastic black and white minnow.  Again I connected…28 small crappie, 6- 1 1/2 to 2 lb bass and one 2 lb channel cat before suppertime at 5:30 P.M.  That small plastic minnow is a real winner.  The weather has been bad ever since or I have been to busy to go.  I don’t fish when there’s a chance of me catching pneumonia!  That’s it for now, waiting for another break in the weather to…

Went out yesterday for two hours again using my fly rod but this time I brought along a spinning rod, a new Papala reel and the new Ugly Stick 61/2′ light spinning rod.  A great combination.  You don’t have to spend a lot to get a great combination.  For the average fisherman this combination is excellent.  The fly rod with the plastic silver minnow was not the best combo today so I switched to the spinning rod.  I first tried a in-line spinner, chartuse with red and caught two crappie but after many casts.  I switched to a beetle spin combo, gold, with a blue 21/2″ ribbon tail grub.  I got several taps but only two hookups.  The crappie were hitting short, probably grabbing the tail of the grub.  I then switched to a silver beetle spin but with my small black and white plastic minnow.  That was the ticket.  I started catching fish but SUPPERTIME!  Had to stop so as not to create a problem in the household.  Well, I’ll leave you now, happy fishing!

We had a bit of warmer weather a few days ago so I went out again to where I caught those six crappies that I last reported.  It was phenominal!  I used my fly rod again and caught at least 30 crappies (I lost count after 15).  Again I used that black and silver plastic minnow and was catching a crappie on almost every other cast.  Because there is a lot of wood debris and logs in the water where I was fishing I tried using a heavier leader and I read in one of my magazines to try fluocarbon leader.  As you know fluocarbon lines sink so I tried the new P-Line, a mono with a fluocarbon coating, 8 lb test.  This slowed the sinking rate and the 8 lb test  leader was apparently as invisible to the fish as the usual 4lb test that I use in clear water for pan fish.  It proved a wise move because I will usually lose my fly, popper or plastic minnow when I get snagged on wood.  Not this time; I was able to pull off the snags without breaking the leader and losing my lure.  The hook gets a bit straightened but is easily put back into shape.  Try it, you’ll like it!

A few days ago we had some good weather.  In fact the ice just left the lake the day before so, I tried out my new fly fishing tackle.  I worked great, I’m very satisfied.  I was using an inch long plastic minnow with a black top and a silver bottom.  I caught 6 crappies in about an hour.  But that’s o.k. because I was restricted to a small area where I could make my backcast.  I also got my boat ready to go fishing as soon as the weather permits.  The weather once again is bad here; temps in the upper 30’s and a cold rain.  That’s all for now, see you on the water.