5/27/11 - "Friday Night Fishing...Gills and Grassies"

Friday evening found me in the middle of a six day work stretch that would continue right on through Memorial day to my dismay. On my drive home it seemed that every vehicle I passed was towing a boat or travel trailer and headed to the lake / river for the start of their 3-day weekend. They say misery loves company and it must be true , these holiday weekends are the ones that I hate to work most , when it seems that everyone else is off playing. A quick call home to the wife had her rounding up something that we could throw in the cooler and cook on the grill out at the barn while I made a quick stop by the liqour store to pick up some adult beverages. During the nicer weather months it's a Friday night routine of ours to hang out at the barn with friends , we get a couple of grills going and indulge in a few refreshments while sitting around relaxing. I always enjoy it but with the discovery of a secret little fishing hole just down the road I've got a little more reason to get excited about going these days.

As if on cue, the previously gray day began giving way to breaks of sunshine as we pulled into the gravel lot at the farm. A couple of our friends were already there working on their Friday night attitude adjustment , we unloaded the truck and popped the top on a couple of cold ones while catching up on the weeks events. With one beer down and feeling better already I asked Jim if he was up for heading to the pond for a little evening action before dinner , he was game so we loaded up the fishing gear, grabbed a couple cold ones for the road and took off around the corner.

As soon as I laid that first section of line out on the glassy surface of the water the weeks issues and the thought of work just vanished , this was my element , what I look forward too when everything else seems to be working against me.
Even the fish themselves were a distant thought right now , the bullfrogs chorus along the weedy shoreline , the buzz of cicadas in the trees , the constant conversation of a small flock of canada geese and their goslings on the far bank , all of these sounds along with the serenity of the pond itself were putting me in that "happy place" we all look forward to each trip.

For the first time in several days I was where I wanted to be, doing what I wanted to be doing....life was good once again. Just like my last trip the pond didn't dissapoint this night either, the big gills were still taking flies as if they hadn't eaten all winter.


Our biggest issue was trying to keep the 12-14 inch bass from taking our offerings before the bluegills. After changing out the second chewed up bugger pattern and catching more chunky little fish than I could count something caught my eye over on the far side of the pond.
At first I thought it was a muskrat playing in the shallow water but after walking over and looking closer I realized there were two large fish working the weedbeds over , apparently feeding. It took a few moments for me to come to my senses and figure out the mystery...Grass Carp and big ones at that!! I know that they're practically impossible to catch but I was excited to have the opportunity at these fish and quickly put on my favorite carp pattern and began the stalk. They were so intent on feeding that getting close enough for a cast was the easy part ,getting them to eat any of my flies turned out to be an entirely different story though. I worked those fish with every pattern in my box to no avail , they just weren't going to be tempted this night. As the sun was setting over the horizon I gave in to reality and decided to give up on these grass eaters and finish out the evening with something I knew I'd have a little better luck at.



This is the way friday nights are meant to be I thought as I made my way along the bank...friends , food , fishing and a fine cigar to top it all off. A few hours like tonight and the weeks troubles are a distant if not nonexistant thought and all is right with the world if only for a short time.....

5/23/11 - "Chasing Tail..Carp on the Fly"

Lately I've found myself with this driving obsession for catching carp on my flyrod. Last year I gave it a little time and found some areas where I had success but the majority of my results were less than stellar for sure. That being said ,a big part of my lack of success was simply due to the fact that those damn fish just outsmarted me. No matter what your ideas are about carp, in my mind they're one of the more difficult species to catch on the fly in my area of the world. They're spooky beyond belief when encountered in shallow water and I can't count the number of times my poor casting has cost me shots at fish. After all that, once you do fool one you've got the equivalent of a mack truck attached to the other end of your line , if that doesn't sound like fun then I can't help you.

I've already had a couple of unsuccessful outings this year but still felt the urge to give it another go yesterday. The wife was at work and after a gray start the day turned out to be a sunny calm one , my favorite conditions for chasing carp.

I threw a rod , a flybox and a couple spools of tippet in the truck and Joe and I were off for the day. We hit several locations ranging from small city lakes to large reservoirs and a couple smaller creeks and spillways that I've fished previously as well.



Some places we saw fish and others we didn't. At Hillsdale I found a few fish up in the weeds but they were obviously starting to spawn and had no interest in anything else than each other. One of the creeks produced a small fish but it wasn't until late in the day that I found the spot I'd been looking for. A shallow flat on a point with a long rocky shoreline. I couldn't see any fish actually feeding actively but for some reason there were single fish passing through this spot with some consistency.

I tried several flies with no success and then finally on about the second cast with an olive pine squirrel sculpin I got a taker. The water was just clear enough to make out the fish changing his direction and checking out my fly hopping slowly across the bottom and then it was on. Not a big fish by carp standards but man what a fight!


I ended up catching two more fish at this spot including my first ever mirror , I was stoked to say the least. Just goes to show, persistence (and a little luck) actually does pay off. With a busy work schedule through memorial day I won't get another opportunity to fish for a while, but when I do you can bet I'll be back out chasing those "golden bones" again just waiting for that one shot that makes all the effort worthwhile....

5/21/11 - "Big Bull Bluegill"

It was a beautiful Saturday evening and as usual I had fish on the brain. Ginger was riding Chestnut around the pasture and Joe and I were kicking back in the shade with a couple cold ones just relaxing.

I knew of a couple ponds close by that I thought looked great but I'd never asked permission to fish before , no better time than the present I figured. After obtaining permission and getting the word from the owner that the pond fished well and was full of big bluegill and crappie I was more than a little excited to get on the water. I still had a #8 olive bugger on my rod and I didn't see any reason to change it just yet, so off I went. The first couple fish were small bass coming from along the dam , nothing special. I could see some submerged brush just inches under the water on the far side of the pond so that's where I headed.

My first cast off to the side of the visible brush brought a jolting strike , I figured a nicer bass until I felt that dogged tugging that told me I was into one of those nice bluegill.

A big (larger than my hand) bull bluegill full of fight , for once maybe the stories I'd been told were actually true. I proceeded to catch fish after fish around the various submerged brush piles for the next hour and a half , all of them nice big bluegill with a couple of 12" crappie thrown in for good measure.



I've caught a few bluegill in my day that were as big as these but never have I seen a pond where every fish is so big you want to pull out the fillet knife. Needless to say one of the rules is catch and release only , which I totally understand and respect. Man those gills would taste good rolled in cracker crumbs and fried in butter though...mmm..mmmm.


I'd told Ginger that I wouldn't be gone long...what kind of time frame that meant I wasn't sure but I figured I was probably pushing it. Off to the West storm clouds had been brewing all evening and they were getting ominously close anyway.

I stopped and thanked the owner on the way out and was told to come back anytime , an offer I plan to make good use of. My only problem will be not to wear out my welcome before the summers over , I'm already wanting to go back and try to find a few of those "monster" crappie that I heard talk of. Until next time.....

Bugs from the Bench...."Caddis Crazy"

Between the ever prevalent spring monsoon season and the price of gasoline I havn't been making as many trips South as I'd like to recently it seems. So This Friday night I found myself planted at my tying desk filling up empty rows in fly boxes instead of sitting around a campfire along a meandering stream somewhere , which is where I'm wishing I was. I really didn't have much motivation to be honest , lately I havn't been tying like I did through the winter months, too much daylight and other commitments I suppose.

After a quick inspection it was apparent that the caddis section of my nymph box was showing the most signs of use , caddis nymphs work it's as simple as that. Some of my favorite patterns are the simplest , consisting of nothing but a thread or yarn base..a wire rib..and a dubbed thorax. Simple yet effective. After whipping out about 6 each of my simpler patterns I was lacking I decided to try a new pattern I'd seen in a magazine somewhere. I couldn't remember which magazine but I could still picture the fly in my mind , that was close enough to turn out a few of these cased caddis nymphs.

Will they work...I don't know , but I hope to find out before too long if I can save up enough cash for the gas it takes to make it to the nearest trout stream. Maybe I should try and pawn some of my best hackles off on young women as they walk into the beauty salon , kind of like a hackle scalper. I could sell individual feathers for an exorbitant price to help fill up the truck with gas..I wonder if I'd need a permit for that??
All of the flies I tied are very simple and can be figured out from just looking at them , but just in case someones interested I'll put the recipes for 2 of the 4 flies down below.

Here's the recipe for one of my favorite caddis nymphs in green , it can be tied with varying colors of thread base to imitate just about any aquatic insect though.

Hook...Mustad C49S Curved Caddis Hook (sz 14-18)
Body...Chartreuse or lime green floss
Body...Clear Hollow Tubing wrapped over the Floss Base
Thorax..White Egg Yarn
Head...Black Thread

Next , here's the recipe for the cased caddis nymph :

Hook...Long Shank Stonefly Hook (sz 12 -14)
Bead (optional)...Black Tungsten
Thread...Black 6/0
Tail...One turn of Partridge Feather
Abdomen...Caddis Green Vernille / Black Vernille
Front Abdomen...Ice dub and Hares Ear mix
Head...Black Thread

Good Tying.....Jeff

5/17/2011 - "An Afternoon of Pond Jumping"

After a fun filled Monday consisting of lawn mowing, errand running and several other less than desirable tasks , I needed a break from yard work and chores. A quick glance at the to-do list reinstated the fact that none of this shit is life or death important, it'll all wait until tomorrow (or next week!) so I grabbed a couple of rods and a few boxes of flies and Joe and I took off to see what fun we could find.


My first thought was carp on the shallow warming flats of one of my favorite reservoirs... I saw 2 fish and didn't get a cast off to either one of them before they spooked. I was still batting o for 2 and stalking the shore when the wind came up and made sight fishing damn near impossible.
The water was still chilly after the weekend cold front moved through with highs in the upper 40s and I wasn't really in the mood for anything too serious so I decided to hit a couple farm ponds on the premise that they might be a little warmer and therefore have some fish in a more active mood.



Not a bad choice , I didn't slay the fish or anything but I ended up catching a half dozen crappie...several bass...and more bluegill / sunfish than I could count. A couple of the sunfish had the most brilliant orange fins I think I've ever seen on a fish , nice hand sized fish that were real scrappers. A good number of the smaller panfish came on a black popper but the bass and the bigger gills all fell to an olive WB fished slowly around structure.





The warm Spring sun was shining , my best friend was at my side and the fish were hungry...not a bad way to spend a lazy Tuesday afternoon.