Monday, September 28, 2009

Sunday White Bass/Wipers 9-27-09

My buddy Phil calle to invite me fishing with him at Saylorville on Sunday. We trolled along a good drop-off area...that went from about 9' to 16' deep, and also a little bit of trolling on top of the 9' flat. I used a white Bomber crankbait. I had something big on…felt like a wiper…it just peeled drag going straight away from us…until the hook pulled out. Awhile later, Phill got a 19.5” wiper.
He also got a “double” white bass and wiper on his “hillbilly rig”.

I generally only keep fish to eat maybe once/year, except when fishing in Canada or out-of-state for walleyes. I kept some white bass in the 13”-15” range and cleaned them, cooked them up last night. Still have some leftover, but my daughter Kennedy and I were LOVING IT! Good stuff!!

Lunchtime Catfish on Fly Rod

I hadn't fished during lunch in quite some time. I did on Sept 24, 2009, however. I fly-fished a public pond not far from work. This is the pond that got hit hard this past winter by ice-anglers, which decimated the bluegill population. I tried for bluegills anyway. Didn't catch any.
I did catch a 21.5" channel catfish, which was really fun. Good healthy fish, excellent fight:


It was kind of a long fight, but I had time after releasing the fish to make some more casts. That's when I hooked this next catfish. Its a personal best for me, at 31" long. I ran the length through a complicated mathematical formula to come up with an approximate weight, which suggested just slightly over 12 pounds. What a brute! The pics don't do it justice...but it sure makes the fly reel look small! Awesome battle on a 5wt.


It was caught on a silver-ish boa yarn leech pattern tied on a #8 streamer hook.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Night Fly-Fishing 9-10-09

Had family activities after work last night. Got home from those around 8:20pm. It was such a nice night, even though it was dark already...So, I decided to go fly fishing at a local public pond.Used a yellow Boa Yarn Leech, and did pretty well. Fished for 2 hours, and stopped when I reached 40 crappies. Also caught 4 bluegills, and 1 channel catfish.The bluegills were smallish. The crappies were "medium-sized"....averaging around 9", but I measured one bigger one that went 11". The catfish was 20.5".







Wednesday, September 9, 2009

September 6, 2008 - White Bass

Went to Saylorville Lake one afternoon during the Labor Day weekend. Waded the Sandpiper area first...two different spots. Used spinning gear, hoping to find some White Bass action.
Nothing going on at those spots. Tried a 3rd spot, which we just fished from shore.

Success! The fish were very active in this area, and there was some good-sized whites around. Biggest I caught were 15".