Flyfished an urban creek.
Caught my first Goldeye of the year:
Also caught 9 Freshwater Drum, pretty nice ones, up to @ 20" long.
Showing posts with label Freshwater Drum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Freshwater Drum. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Lunchtime Drum! 9-27-2012
I went flyfishing during lunch today. I visited a spot I hadn't fished since Spring. I spotted some Common Carp and/or Smallmouth Buffalo near shore. I put a conehead-weighted black nymph near them. I think I had some looks, possibly a subtle hit..but no hookups.
I switched to Missouriflies.com's "Black Ops" fly that I had tied to be weedless with his monofilament "Y" technique. Check out his blog/website if you want to see the fly pattern (and lots of other great ones), video instructions for tying the weedguard, ...and some fantastic videos of him catching Grass Carp, Common Carp, Gar, and other species on flies. Really GREAT stuff!
Within a few casts, I had a "pecking" type strike. I set the hook and watched what I thought to be a small crappie come to the surface. Not a crappie, though. A small Freshwater Drum!!
If you've been following along and paying attention, you've probably heard me say several times this year that I'd really like to add Freshwater Drum to my list of species I have caught on a fly rod. Even though it was a small fish, I was really excited...it made my day! This was it...the first one!
I made a few more blind casts around (having spooked the Carp / Buffalo). Next fish was a small but chunky Largemouth Bass. Something was chasing shad around...could have been this guy! I didn't take his picture.
A few casts later, I got a nice strike, and a really nice fight out of this Channel Catfish:
Very nice! Almost time to go...but I had to make a few more casts. Another strike! And another Freshwater Drum!! Still small, but larger than the first one. I'm guesstimating 10.5"-11".
Been looking for Drum throughout the year...and FINALLY got a couple! Excellent lunchtime flyfishing trip!
I switched to Missouriflies.com's "Black Ops" fly that I had tied to be weedless with his monofilament "Y" technique. Check out his blog/website if you want to see the fly pattern (and lots of other great ones), video instructions for tying the weedguard, ...and some fantastic videos of him catching Grass Carp, Common Carp, Gar, and other species on flies. Really GREAT stuff!
Within a few casts, I had a "pecking" type strike. I set the hook and watched what I thought to be a small crappie come to the surface. Not a crappie, though. A small Freshwater Drum!!
If you've been following along and paying attention, you've probably heard me say several times this year that I'd really like to add Freshwater Drum to my list of species I have caught on a fly rod. Even though it was a small fish, I was really excited...it made my day! This was it...the first one!
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| This one has pretty yellow pelvic and anal fins. |
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| A Weedless Black Ops does the trick! |
I made a few more blind casts around (having spooked the Carp / Buffalo). Next fish was a small but chunky Largemouth Bass. Something was chasing shad around...could have been this guy! I didn't take his picture.
A few casts later, I got a nice strike, and a really nice fight out of this Channel Catfish:
 |
| Yeah...I guess he WANTED it! |
Very nice! Almost time to go...but I had to make a few more casts. Another strike! And another Freshwater Drum!! Still small, but larger than the first one. I'm guesstimating 10.5"-11".
 |
| That weedguard worked fantastic. In fairness, it really didn't get tested by weeds or snags (since I was fishing over a sandy/silty bottom)...but it hooked fish perfectly! |
 |
| Notice the shoe? What...you don't go fishing in your office shoes?? :) |
Been looking for Drum throughout the year...and FINALLY got a couple! Excellent lunchtime flyfishing trip!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Fishing the Des Moines River, 9/12/2012
After flyfishing the Des Moines River recently, I decided to try fishing a different segment of the river. The area I most wanted to fish was a LONG trek upstream from the nearest parking area. Years ago, we used to catch Flathead Catfish there in the Fall...on LURES. That is what I hoped to try this time, and I convince my buddy Jay to go along.
Originally I had planned to take along both spinning gear and flyfishing gear. But I ended up paring down a bit and at the last minute decided to leave the fly gear in the car. This decision would pretty much preclude me from fishing for carp and gar. A poor choice, but one I'll live with. As it turned out, there seemed to be a gar population in one area we fished, and at one point during our trek I spotted a couple carp rooting in the shallows, and was able to walk right up within 6' of them and wave my spinning rod over their heads without spooking them. With the fly rod, those fish would have been about the easiest carp targets I've ever witnessed! Oh well.
During our trek upstream, we spotted a Bald Eagle, several hawks, Goldfinches, a number of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Canadian Geese, and some sort of tiny shore/wading bird.
Although we spent a fair bit of time fishing the "Flathead Spot"...we didn't catch any Flatheads. I lost at least 5 lures. Jay had caught a small Wiper on the trek upstream, and added a NICE Bigmouth Buffalo (hooked in the mouth!) near the Flathead Spot. I eventually caught a Smallmouth Bass and at least a dozen small White Bass and one small Wiper there.
On our way back downstream, we stopped and fished some sandbar drop-offs, and several other "fishy-looking spots". Jay caught several nicer White Bass and a couple Channel Catfish...and I can't remember what else.
I caught 4 more Smallmouth Bass, more small White Bass, one Largemouth Bass, and a nice Freshwater Drum. I also had a Channel Catfish on my line that broke/cut my Nanofil line when it thrashed at the surface. All my fish were caught on an inline spinner.
All in all, a fun day.
The spot in the picture below looked great...rocks, a log, and current. I caught 2 Smallmouth Bass next to that log!
(this is the same fish, different angle):
I had just caught a couple White Bass out of one spot, when I got a solid strike, and then an awesome bulldogging and drag peeling battle. I was sure it was a nice Wiper. Turned out to be a decent-sized Freshwater Drum. Fantastic!
My last fish of the day was also the biggest Smallmouth Bass of the day. A great strong fight, it didn't want to come to the surface at all! It measured a good 16.5", and was very thick-bodied!
I ended up catching at LEAST 17 White Bass, one Wiper, 5 Smallmouth Bass, 1 Largemouth Bass, and the one Freshwater Drum. This trip pushed my "total fish caught for the year" to over 2,000. Hopefully there will still be many more fish caught before the end of December!
Originally I had planned to take along both spinning gear and flyfishing gear. But I ended up paring down a bit and at the last minute decided to leave the fly gear in the car. This decision would pretty much preclude me from fishing for carp and gar. A poor choice, but one I'll live with. As it turned out, there seemed to be a gar population in one area we fished, and at one point during our trek I spotted a couple carp rooting in the shallows, and was able to walk right up within 6' of them and wave my spinning rod over their heads without spooking them. With the fly rod, those fish would have been about the easiest carp targets I've ever witnessed! Oh well.
During our trek upstream, we spotted a Bald Eagle, several hawks, Goldfinches, a number of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Canadian Geese, and some sort of tiny shore/wading bird.
Although we spent a fair bit of time fishing the "Flathead Spot"...we didn't catch any Flatheads. I lost at least 5 lures. Jay had caught a small Wiper on the trek upstream, and added a NICE Bigmouth Buffalo (hooked in the mouth!) near the Flathead Spot. I eventually caught a Smallmouth Bass and at least a dozen small White Bass and one small Wiper there.
On our way back downstream, we stopped and fished some sandbar drop-offs, and several other "fishy-looking spots". Jay caught several nicer White Bass and a couple Channel Catfish...and I can't remember what else.
I caught 4 more Smallmouth Bass, more small White Bass, one Largemouth Bass, and a nice Freshwater Drum. I also had a Channel Catfish on my line that broke/cut my Nanofil line when it thrashed at the surface. All my fish were caught on an inline spinner.
All in all, a fun day.
The spot in the picture below looked great...rocks, a log, and current. I caught 2 Smallmouth Bass next to that log!
(this is the same fish, different angle):
I had just caught a couple White Bass out of one spot, when I got a solid strike, and then an awesome bulldogging and drag peeling battle. I was sure it was a nice Wiper. Turned out to be a decent-sized Freshwater Drum. Fantastic!
My last fish of the day was also the biggest Smallmouth Bass of the day. A great strong fight, it didn't want to come to the surface at all! It measured a good 16.5", and was very thick-bodied!
I ended up catching at LEAST 17 White Bass, one Wiper, 5 Smallmouth Bass, 1 Largemouth Bass, and the one Freshwater Drum. This trip pushed my "total fish caught for the year" to over 2,000. Hopefully there will still be many more fish caught before the end of December!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Interesting evening - 6/3/2010
After the most excellent Central Iowa Anglers meeting last night, my buddy Jay and I headed out to Saylorville Lake to practice casting...and hopefully get lucky and catch something. When we got there, the wind was blowing pretty strong into shore. We decided to use spinning gear, and left the fly gear in the car.
Short story is, Jay caught a white bass... I caught a white bass, walleye, and freshwater drum.
Ok...back to the fishing. It was SLOW. I threw up on a shallow flat that was maybe 3' deep, and eventually had a huge hit. It was peeling line and fighting well, shaking its head....I figured it was a good catfish. But it was a 26" Freshwater Drum, the biggest I've ever landed.
Big mouth on this dude...and it easily sucked in the MFBB:
Wasn't much long after that, and I landed the walleye. We didn't measure it, Jay guessed it at 14", I was gonna guess 15". Didn't matter, he went back in the lake too.
And now I don't remember who caught the first white bass. The one I caught was probably 11"...and surprisingly fat and healthy-looking. Actually, we looked at it pretty hard to figure out if it was a white or wiper...and we just weren't sure. To our eyes, it had features of both.
Didn't take a picture of that fish.
We left before it got dark.
Short story is, Jay caught a white bass... I caught a white bass, walleye, and freshwater drum.
Longer story is....as we were fishing along the shore, I found this nice arrowhead!
Although I often look a bit when fishing out there, this is the first time I've actually found anything worth picking up. I'm still pretty excited about the find.
Ok...back to the fishing. It was SLOW. I threw up on a shallow flat that was maybe 3' deep, and eventually had a huge hit. It was peeling line and fighting well, shaking its head....I figured it was a good catfish. But it was a 26" Freshwater Drum, the biggest I've ever landed.
Big mouth on this dude...and it easily sucked in the MFBB:
Wasn't much long after that, and I landed the walleye. We didn't measure it, Jay guessed it at 14", I was gonna guess 15". Didn't matter, he went back in the lake too.
And now I don't remember who caught the first white bass. The one I caught was probably 11"...and surprisingly fat and healthy-looking. Actually, we looked at it pretty hard to figure out if it was a white or wiper...and we just weren't sure. To our eyes, it had features of both.
Didn't take a picture of that fish.
We left before it got dark.
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