November 26, 2016

Weather in central Iowa recently has been unseasonably AWESOME.  Daytime highs in the low- to mid-60's (F), light winds, sunny.  The end to this great weather was in sight, so I picked the best day of the remainder of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to go flyfishing.  It was a slightly cooler (highs in the mid-50's and breezy), but still a good day for this late in the season.

I hit a couple local ponds.  The first one I drove by was hosting thousands of geese, ducks and seagulls (FYI, it always cracks up us Iowans when we see seagulls....we can't hardly get any farther from the ocean than we are!).  Waterfowl don't bother me much...they keep their distance, but they DO muddy up the water considerably by their activities along the shallow margins of the ponds.  So, I knew the pond would be pretty much ruined for fishing due to the waterfowl mud.  I proceeded to another pond.

The water was fairly clear.  Only a couple ducks around.  No fish were spotted in the shallows.  So, I set a microjig about 3' beneath an indicator and began fishing.  I'd fished nearly 1/2 way around the pond before I finally got a strike, but it was the first of many.  I ended up catching @ 15 Crappies and 6 Bluegills.  There is another pond just 20 yards from this one so I fished that one as well.  I caught some nice Bluegills to 9" in this pond, and 3 Largemouth Bass. The biggest bass measured an estimated 16".  I also briefly set the hook into something that really didn't move much, before the hook came free.  Was it a snag?  Giant bass?  Jumbo catfish? I'll never know, but it was an exciting second of a heavy weight on the end of the line!

Anyway, it was an enjoyable late-season day of flyfishing.

First Week of November, 2016

The weather in central Iowa has been unseasonably warm.  Excellent fishing conditions for this late in the year!

Largemouth Bass have been hitting poppers, shallow/suspending baitfish, and unweighted black nymph/leech patterns.
15.75":

16.5":

17.5":

Hybrid Sunfish:

Crappies:

9" Pumpkinseed Sunfish:

Late October-November 1, 2016

The Iowa DNR did their Fall Urban Trout Program fish stockings in one of the nearby lakes.  I fished it 3 days.  Water in the lake was higher than normal, so the fish seemed to enjoy touring/feeding over the shallow shoreline flats, where historically it was too shallow for them to feel comfortable. Consequently, the beadhead patterns we have become accustomed to catching lots of trout on did not work nearly so well so far this season.  Small unweighted and even floating flies have been far more effective.
Some fog on the lake early in the morning:

Here's my buddy Jay with a feisty topwater trout:

I would usually fish from @8:20am-11:30am.  The fish would seem to take a nap about then, probably gearing up for a big afternoon blitz.  I would head to some local public ponds to pass the afternoon.
12.5" White Crappie:

And a decent Pumpkinseed Sunfish:

On Tuesday, November 1, I finally went fishing during lunch again.  It had been at least several weeks since my last lunch-hour outing.  It started off slow, but then picked up for the last 10 minutes.  Ended up catching @ 7 Bluegills, 3 Crappies, and 1 Largemouth Bass.  The bass measured 16", but seemed bigger.

It hit an unweighted black mylar chenille "bugger".