After pounding one of my local ponds really hard for the last month I have decided to let it go for a while:
The carp have started to spawn, bass are in a funk after this last cold front, and pickerel are not yet ready for the big topwater bite. Farther than that, I don't like putting in to much pressure, so the next time I visit this pond will be towards the end of the month. So from this point on I am replacing carp and largemouth for stripers and smallmouth as target species, and yes, I will be back on the small streams because of the renewal all the rain has brought. And this weekend, I'll be exploring some cool new stomping grounds to the South. Who knows what I'll find?
But here are the last three outings on that local pond:
Yesterday morning: I got one mediocre shot at a tailing carp, a loner cruising through the pads who didn't even sniff the fly. I switched to a new popper and caught plenty of nice bluegills. Also, a big bullfrog. Through most of the rest of the day we were hit sporadically by thunderstorms.
I went back in the evening and as darkness rapidly approached I was hoping for some good catfish. They tend to get very active after big storms. All I managed was one perch.
Today I spooked one carp, saw feeders that were well out of range, and generally got frustrated. It was cold. Eventually persistence paid of and I got one of those just plain head shaking, giggling lucky moments. A decent bullhead took my fly. Had I caught one last night I wouldn't have been nearly so surprised. Also, last night was going to be sight fishing if the were around at all. The only other times I have caught any catfish species on the fly were sight fishing or trailing worm peices off the hook of a Clouser. This one was blind casting with a plain old woolly bugger. COOL!
Wooley buggers sure do catch just about anything that swims! Look forward to seeing the striper/small stream posts coming soon. I am glad we had this cold snap with some rain as things were already looking like late june on the small streams...guess this makes up for the spring we never had. Despite the summer conditions, I had luck this past Sunday morning getting quite a few brookies interested in the bomber. Water was still fairly cool surprisingly.
ReplyDeleteChallenge excepted! Marlin would probably require a pretty big bugger, huh?
DeleteThings should be very good for a while.
The woolly bugger has probably been taken for more things than any fly out there.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably right!
DeleteGlad you got some rain. That will make the stream fishing better. I caught bullheads as a kid in local farm ponds and they always gave a good fight. Those front fins drew blood many times. Thanks for the adventure.
ReplyDeleteTie, fish, write and photo on...
They have strong heads, I think that's the reason for their name.
DeleteRM
ReplyDeleteCatfish on the fly is a blast, carp is even better!!! Thanks for sharing
Not the typical fly query but fun indeed.
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