When the Opportunity Arises...

...fish!

It may be short. It may be rainy, windy, snowy. It may be on water you know nothing about. But when the opportunity arises, take it.

On Friday the opportunity arose and I find myself on a small urban stream I poke around on from time to time. It isn't the cleanest stream out there, nor the dirtiest. It doesn't have a wild trout population, but stocked fish and rogue browns and brookies are around from time to time. The fish are plentiful, but not as easy as they might seem. Being stealthy is smart no matter what your query. Even a bluegill will run to cover in the skinny water of a small stream. Besides, I'd seen just about everything from big largemouth to pike to carp in here and I took no chances. I wanted to see how many species I could catch in the tiny window of time I was presented with.

The first six fish I caught were all different species. How's that for variety? I could easily have caught two or three more without getting a duplicate. I believe to date I've caught a dozen species from this stream and seen a half dozen others. 

Micropterus dolomieu

Ambloplites rupestris

Semotilus corporalis

Lepomis auritus

Lepomis macrochirus

Lepomis gibbosus

Though as many more fish were brought to hand I failed to catch a seventh species. All were duped by a simple shad fly: Pearl crystal flash tail, chartreuse hare's mask dubbing, black lead dumbbell eyes,  2x long size 8 mustad. Simple and effective. 

It really doesn't hurt to carry a rod and small box of flies in the vehicle for all opportunities that may arise. And although panfish, fallfish, carp, bass, snapper blues, or other common species may not be your favored targets, they are darned good practice. The more you come to know them and the little spots they reside in, the more you may come to enjoy them for what they are. 

If you enjoy what I'm doing here, please share and comment. It is increasingly difficult to maintain this blog under dwindling readership. What best keeps me going so is knowing that I am engaging people and getting them interested in different aspects of fly fishing, the natural world, and art. Follow, like on Facebook, share wherever, comment wherever. Every little bit is appreciated! 

Thanks for joining the adventure, and tight lines.