Yesterday the pattern was all about depth and minimizing horizontal movement as much as possible, which can be tricky when the float and fly method seems to come up short. But get that retrieve and fly weight just right and...
In the mix with tons and tons of crappies, there were a few other species.
Late in the day, after fishing out the first spot and blacking in a second, a third spot showed signs of life in the form of rise rings. I tied on a black beetle and promptly caught a few bluegills. Then I hooked into a real surprise... a brown trout! After a couple more fish it got too cold to bear and we called it a night.
Nice variety and there should be a Pickerel in there somewhere. The slabs have a great coloration.
ReplyDeleteTie, fish, write, conserve and photo on...
This system does have some large pickerel, I'd have to believe they should be in that particular place too. There are also pike in the same system.
DeletePond fishing and you found a brown trout out of season? Haha!
ReplyDeleteJigging off a bobber? That's tricky. I should try that--except that bobbers are alien egg sacks to me. I only caught one fish on one--last fall. Most every time I've ever tried it I end up with tangles or snags in the back cast or on the roll up in a branch. (We never heard of bobbers on flyfishing growing up and pathetically I never fished with a bobber and worm as a kid--well maybe once.)
You can't really think of indicators as challenging when stillwater fishing, it allows you very easy depth control, and when the fish are demanding an action lacking in significant horizontal motion it is a necessity. Late and early season bass fisherman often makes use of "float and fly", and that's just in spin fishing. Works just as well if not better with a fly rod and any kind of indicator that can detect an up-bite.
DeleteThat's interesting--thanks for the ideas.
DeleteWhen comes to eating fish, the crappie is in a league of its own, no fishy taste when eating this fish, by far the Cadillac of the dinner table. I know you had a blast landing those---thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteWe have two saltwater species that beat it but a couple of these would most likely have been coming home with me if it weren't for the polluted nature of where they were caught.
DeleteSaltwater I assume you mean the sea bass and the blackfish?
DeleteI caught and tried to eat a calico out of a particular pond in MA last year and I had to spit it out. Tasted like gooseshit smells.
Fluke are very good eating as well. Freshwater fish, any fish for that matter, often taste like the water they were in. That's why I didn't keep a couple of the average sized fish I caught on this trip- they came from a heavily industrialized location with lots of pollution.
DeleteA brown trout in a pond with largemouth and crappies? I don't know if I've seen that before. Fresh off the stocking truck?
ReplyDeleteI have in ponds that I already knew were stocked, this one could be but it has stream flow through too so it could have come up or down from some other location.
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