Monday, September 28, 2015

Iowa Smallmouth Bass, 9-26-2015


I headed up to wade and flyfish a river for Smallmouth Bass on Saturday morning.  Fished from @ 8:30- noon.

The water in the river has been high to very high most of the summer.  The water level has been falling, but it was still a bit high and fast and not very clear.  The high water all summer seems to have scoured the river deeper, and there are lots more trees in the river, including some biggies that have fallen off the bank and nearly blocked the entire width of the river!

Wading in the deeper water wasn’t much fun, and the whole experience seemed a lot more like WORK than enjoyment.  But I really wanted to make one more trip up there this year, and this was my opportunity.  I saw 8 Wild Turkeys fly over the river, which was pretty cool.

I caught 8 Smallies, 2 Creek Chubs, and 1 Striped Shiner.





I waded out into the river in one spot, went up over my navel, and decided to back up before I went even deeper.  I walked back up onto the sandy tributary creek delta I’d just walked out on (had maybe 4” of water flowing over it), and the surface sand gave way and I went thigh deep into the sand, which instantly locked up solid around my leg and ankle.  It was weird.  My other foot was calf-deep in it.   At least when my deeper foot went down, it seemed to stop at a fairly solid subsurface.  Wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get out of that mess, but I wasn’t in a hurry.  Somehow I even managed to get out and still keep my shoes on!


I waded down to the next tributary creek, and saw another fly angler wading just downstream of me.  I saw him catch a decent smallie, so figured he knew what he was doing.   I got out and left.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Reservoir Carp

I owe my first flyrod carp of the year to my buddy Jay.  I was starting to think I wouldn't get one this year!  Its been a weird year locally...carp have been nearly absent from their usual shoreline feeding areas.
Jay was out at a local reservoir looking for White Bass yesterday.  Nothing going on, so he switched to his fly rod and tried for carp.  He made 5 casts with his fly rod, and caught 3 nice carp within 45 minutes!! Epic battles on his 5 wt!  He said he never had to wait long for a strike!  He also caught one the previous day.  His were decent sized fish....he estimated up to the 28"-30" range.
I made it out during lunch today. I managed to get one (and a bluegill), but not nearly as big as Jay's.

We were both just floating an unweighted white woolly bugger (fly) under an indicator! When they hit, they just...swim off.  Not super-fast, but the takes weren't subtle.  Pretty fun!
I had two carp try to eat my indicator, and watched another one eat something that was floating on the surface.  If I'd had more time, I would have switched to topwater, and probably would have been able to catch one that way!