Late March 2017 Update

I've been out flyfishing a few times in the past week or two.
Weather has stayed cool, compared to February.  We've gotten rain, and its been cloudy quite a bit.  So, the waters haven't warmed appreciably since that 2nd round of iced-over lakes we had earlier in the month.  I would guess the local waters are currently sitting around the mid-40's F for temperature.

Compared to previously, the bass haven't been as active.  I haven't caught any more Hybrid Sunfish or Pumpkinseed Sunfish.  I've caught a few, smaller bass, a fair number of bluegills, and also a good number of crappies.  All on a chartreuse microjig about 18" beneath an indicator.

I saw a fellow angler catch a really BIG bass one day.  After getting some pictures, he released it back to the pond, which I was VERY happy to see.  After his group left, I fished my way over to where he had been fishing.  I discovered he had been using a Pumpkinseed Sunfish for bait. The bait was dead in the water next to shore with a huge hook hole through its back.  The angler may have been trying to target a big catfish?  At any rate, it was good to see a big bass getting released back to the pond.  I thought it looked substantially bigger than the 20-inch bass I'd caught earlier this year.  Hopefully I will have a chance to catch that fish this year and see just how long it is.  Maybe its the 22-incher I thought got harvested?  Or a new fish I haven't yet caught?  ;o)

This crappie was caught during my lunch hour...it wasn't very big, but I thought the perspective was interesting....showing how their eyes are set and why they like to strike upwards.

March 19, 2017

Its like February and March switched places this year.  February was unseasonably warm, and ice melted off the local ponds about 3-4 weeks earlier than usual.  March has been a roller coaster....warm days and cold days....more snow than December-February combined.  The local ponds actually refroze for a few days, before melting away once again.  Then, Monday was really nice...windy, but temperatures in the upper 60's F.  And today the temps are around 40, and it was just snowing an hour ago...around 11:30am.

Fortunately, I was able to get out and do some flyfishing locally on Sunday afternoon.  It was really windy.

I caught a fish on my first cast!  And on my last cast!  And on some casts in-between!  ;o)

Tried to keep the wind at my back or side for much of the time.  But fishing slowed, and I decided to try the downwind side of the pond...and attempt to cast into that brutal wind.  Well...the fish were definitely there, and in better numbers and more aggressive than on the upwind side of the pond.

I ended up landing/releasing 2 Largemouth Bass, 1 Hybrid Sunfish (Pumpkinseed x Bluegill), 4-5 Crappies, and well over 20 Bluegills.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon.  Although I tried for Largemouth Bass with a larger fly for awhile, I didn't have any strikes on it.  Everything was caught on a chartreuse microjig about 18" below a strike indicator.

Last Week of February, 2017

Still seems crazy that we even have OPEN WATER right now.  It has cooled of a bit since our week of unseasonably warm weather....but we've still had some warm days and cooler days.

I flyfished on Monday during my lunch hour.  The previous week I was catching lots of crappies, but this cooler week, I didn't catch any crappies at all.  Just a couple bluegills and a 9.5" Hybrid Sunfish:

Then I flyfished again that evening, for about an hour before it got too dark.  Caught a few more bluegills from a different pond, and a Pumpkinseed Sunfish:

On Tuesday, temps hit @ 60 around noon, but then started cooling off into the low 50's a couple hours later after the wind shifted to out of the north.  I started fishing around 2:30pm.  My buddy Jay caught a couple crappies, but I couldn't get any decent strikes.  I put on a bass fly I call the Jerkbait Fly, because its foam underbody allows to nearly suspend high in the water column.  I've tied it in various colors.  Here's some I tied last night:

I ended up catching 3 bass and missing 3 others.  Biggest was a beautiful 20"!

Here's the smaller ones: