Fishing Report and Ramblings, 8-8-2012

Flyfished for a couple hours late yesterday evening after the storms passed. Landed 1 bass and 15 bluegills. The bluegills are still going bonkers for topwaters. I tried a nymph with no takers. A Chernobyl Ant/Hopper got the best action on top. Did catch a few fish on a yellow Boa Yarn Leech closer to dark.

A young teenager arrived at the pond as it was getting dark, and prepared to do some catfishing. He came over to ask how I was doing. He told me all the big fish are on the bottom. And that he had recently caught a couple nice catfish using grass frogs for bait.

I wanted to explain to him that baitfishing isn't fun for me. I'd rather actively pursue fish with artificials than to sit and wait for a fish to wander by a stationary bait. Plus the whole advanced skill requirements when choosing the "fooling fish vs. feeding fish" thing. And how I'd caught EVERY species of fish in the pond (Largemouth Bass, Bluegills, Crappies, Hybrid Sunfish, Green Sunfish, Grass Carp, Channel Catfish, Bullheads) on flies, and all but one species had been caught at least once on topwater flies. And how I've caught a fair number of larger specimens on the fly gear (bass to 19", catfish to 27" (same fish multiple times even), crappies to 13", grass carp to 29".

But I didn't say ANY of that. I could have expounded on how he is likely fishing below the thermocline much of the time, and how most of the food in the pond will be in the shallows and along the weedline drop-off.

Instead, I decided that we were obviously both quite happy to be fishing and catching in our own ways. I just acted impressed and thankful for his information, and he left me to go chase down some more grass frogs to use for bait.

Would any of you have handled that situation differently? I keep thinking about it, but keep concluding it was best to hold my tongue because I probably would have come across as too serious, or a "know-it-all", or elitist, or preachy.  I may have missed an opportunity to share a lot of good information, but I strongly suspect this fellow wasn't ready to hear all that, and doubt he could conceive the of the massive amount of experience behind my observations.  In the end, these are just my opinions, and we all have the right to have our own.