Another year of flyfishing has wrapped up. It was a good year! Here's the overview and highlights:
Species
I caught 22 species on flies this year. They are:
Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Rock Bass, Bluegill, Hybrid Sunfish, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Green Sunfish, Redear Sunfish, Black Crappie, White Crappie, White Bass, Channel Catfish, Black Bullhead, Common Carp (and Mirror Carp!), Bigmouth Buffalo, Smallmouth Buffalo, White Sucker, Creek Chub, Hornyhead Chub, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, and Rainbow Trout.
13 of these species were from Ankeny public ponds!
18" Fish
I've arbitrarily chosen 18" as the length of fish that I keep track of. I mainly keep track for data to provide to folks who might think flyfishing is only for small fish. (In my own opinion, 18" is a satisfying-size fish of many species, while also being challenging in that it pretty much discounts all panfish species such as bluegills, redears and crappies. Crappies can exceed 18", but that size is pretty uncommon. I've never heard of an 18" bluegill...but can you imagine if they grew that big??)
Anyway....I caught 60 fish on flies that were 18" or longer (plus some more while icefishing), a combination of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, carp, catfish, brown trout, bigmouth buffalo and smallmouth buffalo.
Master Angler-sized fish
I caught 10 MA-sized (20"minimum) Largemouth Bass on flies (plus another one while icefishing), 1 Bluegill (10" min.), 1 Carp (32" min.), and 1 Brown Trout (18" min.).
Carp
I caught fewer carp this year, only 10.... but one of those was my Personal Best at 35" long, 22.5" girth, and calculated weight of 22 lbs.
Catfish
I caught far fewer catfish this year...only landed 3 Channel Catfish on flies this year, plus 3 Black Bullheads.
Bass
Here's the big story. 2019 was by far my best year of 18"+ bass on flies. I caught 43 (plus 2 more while icefishing)! These were caught from 10 separate bodies of water, which is a very positive sign of the future of the local fishing. 10 of these bass were 20" or bigger (plus another one while icefishing). These 20"+ bass came from 4 different bodies of water, another good sign, as opposed to being from just one or two ponds. 6 of the 20"+ bass were caught between Oct. 3-Nov. 9. Unexpectedly, two 20" bass were caught in July. The monthly breakdown of 18"+ bass looked like this:
February-2 (icefishing)
March-2
April-3
May-8
June-12
July-6
August-2
September-2
October-3
November-5
I carry way too many flies with me...I don't USE that many!
Here's what those 18"+ bass were caught on, and how many were caught on that style of fly:
Gamechangers(and all variants): 17
Howitzer Head Popper: 11
Microjig: 7
Blockhead Popper: 6
Foamhead swimmer: 1
Woolly Bugger variant: 1
So...carry Gamechangers, Microjigs, and some good big Poppers....and you'll be set. And the Microjigs only came into play starting in the month of October. So, the rest of the year is Gamechangers and Poppers. There it is....the secret of my success!
Other
Jay and I made 3 trips to NE Iowa streams this year. This added 7 or 8 species to this year's list. I don't think I can remember all the streams we visited....so I'm not going to try to list them. Despite the weather (very hot, very cold, rain), it is always fun and the surroundings are beautiful.
All fish were C&R'd.
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I'm very thankful for all the nice fish caught this year. I hope your year of fishing was as enjoyable, and your 2020 is even better!
Dave
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to 2020 season, you have a fishing paradise there in Iowa. Those ponds have to be loaded with fish. Does the game and fish stock and fertilize all the ponds you fish. Congrats on a great 2019 fishing year! Thanks for sharing
Bill, thanks!
DeletePerhaps I make the local waters appear to be better than they actually are? ;o)
My local public ponds were designed to be stormwater detention basins. After they were constructed, they filled with water and were stocked JUST ONCE with bass, bluegills and channel catfish. Then they are left on their own. No supplemental/maintenance stockings. The fish are not artificially fed. The ponds are over-fertilized with chemicals from lawn run-off and and overabundance of waterfowl poop. Nearly all of the ponds have way too much nutrients in them, which causes horrible algae blooms. It often gets so bad, the City has to spray chemicals to kill the algae. In addition, there are sometimes summer fish kills, winter fish kills, stress kills caused by a combination of heat and spawning stress. And then there are folks that make poor harvest choices that have destroyed good ponds in a single day. It takes many years for ponds to rebound from that. Some never do. But there are enough ponds around that I can find fish to catch somewhere. Despite all of the above, I DO feel like I have pretty good fishing here. :)
I'm doing an informal survey,maybe call it "Big Fly-Big Fish"? What is the best length (in inches,not hook size) for bass? Is there a happy medium where you catch both 12-16 inchers and 18+ inchers? Elsewhere I have heard most strikes on 3 inch long flies.
DeleteWhile I've caught a good number of big bass on small (1/80th oz) microjigs, slightly bigger ones catch more bigger bass. Depends on time of year, it seems. Small flies catch big bass when the water is really cold late in the year. During the rest of the year, I'd say 3"-3.5" length flies catch a lotta fish for me...especially the 18"+, but some of the smaller ones as well. You will miss strikes from 12" or smaller bass, though.
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