Evening Fly Fishing Report, 5-24-2012

I had 2 separate fishing outings this evening.  The first was at a public pond in a nearby town, while my son was at one of his activities.  Tough conditions with a front that moved through around mid-afternoon.  Fish weren't very active.  Weeds were also pretty thick along shore.

I decided to try the Bass Gurgler on this pond, just to see what I could come up with.  It is extremely rare for me to catch ANY bass at this pond.  I ended up catching at least two bass (nothing big), and had several others on that managed to not get hooked or quickly freed themselves.  About the time I had to leave, I found a spot that had probably 100 bluegills in a small area.  I'm sure I could have switched flies and caught a bunch in short order, but decided to let them be...this time.

The second fly-fishing outing of the evening was after we got home.  It was a little after 8pm, and the sun was still above the horizon.  I went a public pond not far from my house.

I still had the Bass Gurgler on my line, so I stuck with it pretty much the entire night.  I ended up landing 8 Largemouth Bass on it, had about a 1/2 dozen decent fish (bass) that managed to shake free before I landed them.  I also landed 2 bluegills on the Bass Gurgler.  The biggest fish of the evening was this 16.5-inch bass.  It looks recently "spawned out".

I also watched a "tail" waving on the surface right near shore.  I slowly fished my way towards it, and it was still there.  I was hoping it was a grass carp, but as best I could tell in the fading light, it was a channel catfish that was VERY intently feeding on the bottom.  I can't know for sure, but I suspect it may have been feeding on fish eggs?  I spooked it away several times, and it returned to the same spot several times, but eventually seemed to disappear.  Then again, it was VERY dark by this time.

The foam on this Bass Gurgler is getting "chewed up" by bass teeth.  "Badge of Honor" and all that...Its still working very well.  I need to tie up a few more spares, because this pattern is WAY outperforming the foam bass poppers I was previously using.