Saylorville Lake, Evening Fishing 9-4-2013

I fished Saylorville Lake last night from around 6:20pm-8:10pm.

There were many boaters up on the flats...in water less than 3' deep, and within 30' of shore.  This is extremely unusual...but it was a good sign that the fish weren't out in deeper water.  I avoided the stretch of shoreline the boaters were working.  I walked around "the long way", checking the shoreline for signs of carp in the shallows.  I didn't really see any until I got to the point, but they were spooking before I could get near.

So, I tossed a surface plug with my spinning gear.  It was slow going, but within a few casts I caught a decent white bass, and then a couple more.  The biggest was this 15-incher:

I moved around the point a little further.  Saw some more carp, and decided to try flyfishing for them.  Once again, I couldn't get near the fish that were visible in the shallows near shore, but there was some swirling going on just beyond them, so I tried blind casting for awhile with a beadhead mylar chenille bugger.  Jackpot!

I could have kept fishing for carp, and probably caught a few more, but it would have been slow and tedious since I couldn't really sight-fish for them.
So, I resumed chucking a topwater plug for White Bass with a spinning rod.  I found 'em, and caught one on nearly every cast for the next hour or so.  I also caught a largemouth bass.  As the sky started to get dark, the action slowed, but I was still catching them when I decided to leave.