Bullhead on Fly

I flyfished a local public pond with a buddy on Saturday afternoon from 1pm-5.30pm.  This is rarely an ideal time to fish, but it was a time I had available, so I didn't squander the opportunity.  I'm not sure, but I believe the air temp was in the low 90's F.  There was a bit of a breeze, which helped.

Fishing wasn't great.  Bass and Hybrid Sunfish were chasing young-of-the-year shad, but were extremely picky when presented with a variety of fly patterns.  I caught some bass, hybrids, and a bluegill, but it was slow, tough going.

Believe it or not...the highlight of the trip was catching a big Black Bullhead on a fly!  I've caught a few bullheads on flies in the past, but none this big.  This one was guarding a depression in the muddy shallows.  I don't know if there were eggs there or not, but it was definitely guarding it.  I dropped the fly in that depression (lets call it a nest?) several times, and the fish would turn and inpect it, then return to its favorite guard post at the edge of the nest.  About the 5th time I dropped the fly there, it turned and appeared to have taken the fly, but I wasn't totally sure.  I set the hook, and sure enough it had it in its mouth!   I would have guessed that fish to be @ 10" long in the water....so I was very surprised at how big it truly was when I lifted it from the water.  15"!!  Huge mouth on it!

The fly I was using was a black-bodied Bow River Bugger.  I had put it on because I had seen some baby bullheads in the shallows next to shore.  At one point, I reached down and grabbed a handful of them, then opened my hand and let them swim away again.