July 30, 2022

We had record rainfall early in the week, followed 2 days later by another very substantial rainfall.  Flash flooding, etc.  The creek rose fast and dropped fast.  By the time Saturday rolled around, the creek was nearly normal water level, but faster current and a bit muddied up...but not terribly so.

 I didn't catch many...about 14 fish in 7 hours of fishing.  7 species, though.

2 Grass Carp, 2 Shortnose Gar, 4 Largemouth Bass, 2 Green Sunfish, 2 Kentucky Spotted Bass, 1 Channel Catfish, 1 White Bass.

One of the Shortnose Gar turned out to be a new Personal Best for me.... 26":

Last Fishing Outing of October, 2013

With today's lunchtime flyfishing success (see previous blog post), I decided to visit a different local public pond after dinner.
The numbers were lower than I'd hoped for, but I did manage to catch at least 5 Crappies, 4 Bluegills, and 1 decent Largemouth Bass on flyfishing gear.

Like the pond I had fshed earlier in the day, this pond's water was as clear as I'd seen it all year, possibly from the influx of rainwater from the previous day...or possibly despite it?

Nesting Pumpkinseed Sunfish

Spending most of June getting ready for and then GOING on our fishing trip to Canada, I'd forgotten my plan to visit the local pond that has Pumpkinseed Sunfish in it, while the fish were spawning.  I wanted to see them in their full nesting/spawning colors.

So, I fished the pond yesterday evening.  The many clouds didn't make it the best opportunity to take good photos, but I gave it a shot.  The pond was horribly choked with weeds out 25'+ from shore, plus the shoreline was ringed with tall, tough weeds that were sporting seed pods that were grabbing and holding my fly line.

I ended up finding some Pumpkinseeds on nests.  Bluegills, too.  And also caught a decent bass.
Here's some pics of the Pumkinseeds.

5 Species Suprise! 4-7-2012

Our incredibly warm weather in March has given way to more seasonally normal (cooler) weather in April.  I woke up Saturday morning, looked outside to see a good breeze, clouds, intermittent drizzle.  Dreary conditions.  I asked myself, "If I were going to go fishing today, WHERE would I go?"

That really warm March weather warmed local water temperatures FAST.  A nearby lake, Lake Petocka, that had been stocked with trout during the winter offered up some good trout-fishing immediately after ice-out, but the fast-warming shallows caused the fish to drop to waters further from shore...difficult to reach with fly gear.  I thought maybe this cooler weather might encourage some trout to come back in near shore again.  So...Lake Petocka is where I thought I would try.  I mentioned this to my wife, and she said, "Go."  I had to be home around Noon.  I arrived at the lake a little before 10am.  Total time fished was 2.25 hours.

Wind was from the South.  I fished from the North shoreline.  I started at a spot that produced a fair number of trout when I last fished the lake.  I didn't get any strikes there.  I moved down the shoreline a bit further, and got something on my line!  It wasn't a good sign that the first thing I happened to catch was...a clam shell!

 I worked my way down the shoreline.  While at one spot, I noticed a large area just a bit further down the shore that looked like a bunch of fish or baitfish just crashed the surface.  So I moved down to that spot.

I saw a silvery fish slash across the surface.  I started casting.  I was using a beadhead woolly bugger.  After a few casts and a few missed strikes, I got a solid hookset.  A fantastic battle ensued on my 5wt.  I was surprised when the fish came in that it was a nice White Bass!  I shouldn't have been so surprised...My friend Dale G. reported that had caught some on his last trip to the lake a few weeks back.

Let me take a step back here and explain that in all the times I've fished this lake, I have caught MOSTLY Trout (Rainbows and some Brookies), maybe a half-dozen or so Bluegills, a couple small Green Sunfish, and a few small Largemouth Bass.  Without the trout, there really aren't enough fish in this lake to make me want to pick this lake over the dozens of other choices I have closer to home.

Back to the fishing.  I measured this White Bass at 14", and it was a nice healthy fish.

I decided to switch to a Clouser.  I selected a gray-over-white one from my fly box.  I was so excited to get back to fishing, I dropped the fly and started casting.  I quickly realized I hadn't actually ATTACHED the fly to my line!  Total Rookie mistake!  :)

I thought I had chucked the fly into the water, so I didn't look for it, I just dug another one out of my fly box.  The next one I selected was a chartreuse-over-yellow version that was sort of large...in the 3"-4" range.

I caught another white bass.

 I love catching White Bass, so I was pretty excited already (obviously).

Next, I hooked into a different fish.  It looked like about the size and shape of a trout, but the flash was yellow.  Couldn't be a brown trout, they've never been stocked here.  I got it closer to shore.  Yellow Perch!  No way, this couldn't be happening!  It measured 10.75"

That Clouser was a big bite for this fish!

This spot died...so I continued on down the shoreline.  Next fish was the species I had come here targeting, a Rainbow Trout!  I measured this one at 12.5".  

The Clouser was a pretty big bite for this fish too, even though trout DO have large mouths.  Nevertheless, I was still sort of surprised.

I continued moving along the shoreline.  At one spot I got a couple missed strikes, had a nice fish on briefly, and then lost the Clouser to another good strike.  I switched to an unweighted deer hair streamer in a similar color scheme to the Clouser I had just lost.

 Next fish was a Largemouth Bass.  Nothing big, but it fought well.

Next fish was another White Bass.  I didn't measure the last two, they probably weren't quite as big as the first one, but they were nice fish, probably more like 13"+/-.

I quickly fished my way back to the spot I first caught fish.  On the way, I caught another Largemouth Bass.  It wasn't much different than the first bass.  No picture.

I got to that first spot again, and it seemed pretty dead.  I did get a couple small strikes, and then caught a little Smallmouth Bass!

It was time to head home.  I was really excited to have caught 5 Species from this lake in one trip...3 of them were species I had never caught from this lake before, and the White Bass and Yellow Perch especially were nice fish.  I had some excellent battles with fish today.

I had the lake to myself the entire time, with the exception of the last 20 minutes, when another angler with spinning gear arrived, but was fishing a good distance away from me.

I have to wonder if this combination of species has ever been caught before on a fly rod from one lake on one trip?

Crappies vs Bluegills, 3/30/2012

I got out for a late-evening of flyfishing on Friday.  I fished from 7:45pm-9:45 pm.

For those who have been following my blog, I will mention that Mark, April, and a co-worker of Mark's were flyfishing this public pond when I arrived.  It was good to see them.  They reported they had caught a LOT of fish (crappies and bluegills), but no catfish this time.

I started out cathcing several bluegills and a couple of crappies.  I decided early on that I wanted to try to catch MORE crappies than bluegills this evening.  So the contest was on.  I'd catch several more bluegills, then a couple crappies.  I'd get close with the crappies, then catch a several more bluegills.  I  was starting to think it wouldn't happen this night.  Then, I was able to TIE at 28 fish each.  Then I caught one more bluegill.  Then 2 crappies.  That made it 30-29 (crappies to bluegills).  I figured I'd catch one more fish to make my evening total an even 60 fish.  It was a crappie...HOORAY!  31-29.

I was tired from catching so many fish, and ready to head home.  I cast all my line out so I could reel it all back onto the reel (this works better than just reeling up the loose line piled on the ground at my feet)...and I couldn't even believe that as I started reeling in FAST, a fish was on my line again!  Bluegill.

Final tally 31 Crappies, 30 Bluegills for the evening.  I didn't take any pictures.
Does anyone else play these silly games while fishing?  Just for the record, several years ago it was normal to catch about twice as many crappies as bluegills from this pond.  Then the past year or so it switched heavily in favor of bluegills.  This year has been more bluegills, but some days the crappies have been pretty aggressive...so it IS a challenge to catch more crappies from this pond on any given day, but it is also a definite possibility.  The fun thing is to try to locate where the crappies tend to congregate.  And while I COULD switch to a larger hook size to put the odds in favor of hooking more crappies...but I haven't gotten that desperate!  :)

Fly-Fishing Lunch Report - 3/13/2012

I visited a pond reasonably near work (ok, I had to drive by at least 3 others to get to this one...) to fly-fish during lunch today.  Wind was about 12mph out of the SSE, and it was sunny with a balmy March temperature of 65 degrees F.

Water was very clear, but fish weren't visible near shore.  I used a black microjig about 4'-6' below an indicator.  Nothing was happening for the first several casts, so I readied myself for disappointment.  Soon, my indicator ducked under the water, but I missed the fish.  DRAT!

Things slowly picked up after that, as I worked my way downwind along the shoreline.  I ended up catching 9 Bluegills, 1 Green Sunfish, 4 Crappies (biggest measured 11"), and I grabbed a HUGE crayfish that was marching beneath the water near shore.

Ended up being a pretty good lunch-time fly-fishing expedition!  Plus, it was so nice out that this was the first fishing outing of the year where I got to comfortably wear a short-sleeve shirt, and there was "No Jacket Required"!

Ok...now the fish porn:

Tough to Create Fly-Fishing Converts

I've taken the exerpt below from a post I made on our local fishing club's website.  Its a multi-species fishing club in Central Iowa.  There are a fair number of anglers in the club who have admitted to OWNING fly-fishing gear already...but they don't use it.

Its frustrating. What are you gonna do? Have you ever tried OVER AND OVER to convince other anglers of something that catches fish really well, but they just won't listen? They just keep doing what they've always done, with the same results? Kind of like Doug Stange of In-Fisherman experience with touting large swimbaits for big walleyes and muskies...


I wasn't ALWAYS a fly-fisherman. I'm still fairly new to it. I'm trying to completely get away from using live bait...but otherwise I will do whatever is most effective at catching lots of fish and have the most fun doing it. Believe me...if fly-fishing wasn't so effective and fun, I wouldn't be doing it.

You'll never convince everybody, but I figured after 5 years, > 7,300 fish caught, and 23 different species on fly gear, more of our local fishing club's progressive anglers would start to take note and at least give it a serious try. At least to be prepared to have it as an additional fish-catching tool and technique to add to your arsenal. Its like sporting the attitude that "Spinnerbaits, plastic worms, plastic frogs, and crankbaits catch lots of bass, but I'm never going to learn to use THOSE." Or that "Vertical jigging is a great way to catch walleyes on the Mississippi River, but I'm just going to troll." Really?

Kudos to those who HAVE tried it. And for those few sitting on the fence who still need a little nudge...just ask the questions and you'll get the answers.

Copper Creek Lake Fishing Report, 10-23-2011

I fly-fished at Copper Creek Lake from 4pm-5:15pm.

It was a really nice sunny day, temps in the low 70's, reasonable breeze.  Two other people were fishing when I arrived, and they soon left without catching anything.

There was one fellow taking casual laps around the lake in a kayak.  Lots of folks walking and jogging around the lake.

I used microjigs under an indicator.
These are the ones that were working best:

Springbrook Wunder variant with Olive Mylar Chenille

Springbrook Wunder variant with Gold Metallic Chenille

I only used one microjig at a time, but I went through 4 or 5 because I was getting snagged up on a brushpile. Throughout the fishing time, I also had to stop and retrieve my jig out of the trees behind me. Occasionally when I set the hook, there would be no fish there, and the microjig-and-indicator would come flying up out of the water and lodge in the trees. Sort of embarrassing, but at least it was because I missed a fish.


I was pleased with the fishing. I caught 10 nice Crappies ( 10"-12"; a mix of White Crappies and Black Crappies), 3 Largemouth Bass, and 2 Bluegills.  The Crappies were healthy, chunky fish, and really fought well!

 

---------------

A couple of times I caught fish just as there were parents walking behind me with there young children.  I'd hear them say, "Look, that man just caught a fish!"  So, I'd unhook the fish, set my rod down, and walk over to see if they wanted to see the fish.  The first child was in a stroller.  She just sort of grunted and looked a bit scared of the fish.  The second child was walking and talking.  She touched the fish, and when they went on their way, I could hear her repeatedly exclaiming loudly (and proudly) that SHE had just touched a big CRAPPIE!  She obviously thought that was pretty cool! :)

Fly-Fishing Report, 10-9-2011

It was once again my turn to drive the carpool of teenage girls to their Iowa Youth Chorus rehearsal in Des Moines.  I had 1 hour 15 minutes to fish at nearby Copper Creek Lake before I needed to pick them up again for the return trip home.

It was a sunny day, unseasonably warm at 85 degrees, and rather windy at 15-17 mph, with gusts to over 20mph.  The area of the lake closest to where I like to park was also the end of the lake that had wind blowing directly into it.  This should make for good fishing, but also a bit more work for fly-casting.

I've noticed over the past week that the algae mats and weedbeds have nearly disappeared, as they do every Fall.  Its been really warm and sunny lately, so it must be an "angle of sunlight" thing?  As the weeds die off and start decomposing, the water clarity diminishes a bit because of the release of nutrients back into the system.  Then the water clears up again as the water temperatures continue to drop for Winter.

Anyway...so the water clarity was noticeably worse than my last visit to this lake 2 weeks ago and this was no doubt worsened by the churning of the wind & waves over the past several days.  I could still see down at least 12".

In this lake, darker colored fly patterns have been good to me, so I used a black microjig with a black dry-fly hackle collar.  I tried it at various times both with and without an indicator about 3' above the microjig.

I caught a decent, but skinny, bluegill right away, and then nothing for awhile.  I eventually caught 5 very small largemouth bass, and 2 more bluegills.  I moved up and down the shoreline, trying some different areas before I left, and found one spot where I caught 2 crappies.  The first one was the bigger of the two, very deep-bodied.  I'd guess it was close to 12".  Then I had to head out.

Right before I'd left the house to start the carpool, I looked out on the back deck and saw a gray female Praying Mantis working on something in a spiderweb.  I grabbed the camera and went to see what was going on.  She was feeding ravenously on SOMETHING.  Judging by the size of her abodmen, she will be depositing her egg case soon.  I could't positively identify what she was feeding on, but I strongly suspect it was the funnel-web's owner, a large spider.  The Mantis seemed quite comfortable walking on the web without getting stuck.  I checked later and it was gone.

Evening Fishing Report, 10-6-2011

Went back to Prairie Ridge South pond last night to fly-fish.  We had a pretty good SSE wind all day, but it seemed to be more ESE while I was fishing.

I used a black microjig with some turns of dry fly hackle just behind the head. I had figured the wind might require me to use a strike indicator, but I never did put one on the line.  My first 5 casts resulted in 4 Bluegills landed.  Then that spot sort of cooled off, so I moved down the shoreline one way and would stop and make casts along the way. I picked up some more Bluegills.  The fish seemed to be suspended a couple feet down, about 10-15' out from the near-shore drop-off.  Most strikes were really aggressive, and the fights were excellent.

I was fishing shorelines that get fished a lot, and I noticed the average size bluegill I was catching last night was a bit smaller than bluegills I caught during the previous trip to this pond.  But all the fish were healthy fish.

I eventually moved back the other direction around the pond, still fishing periodically along the way.  I ended up catching at least 15 Bluegills in about 75 minutes.

9-30-2011 Lunch Report

I decided to fly-fish a public pond during lunch, one I'd visited only a couple of times this year.  I got there, and there was a car parked near the sidewalk entrance to the park.  I looked down the walking path, and could see 2-3 kids and a mom/babysitter playing and enjoying the sunshine.

There was a decent breeze blowing, so I wanted the wind at my back if possible.  These folks were where I wanted to fish.  I left them to their spoils, and decided to try a second nearby public pond that I've only ever fished a couple times, ever.  I also have never had much success at Pond #2.  The water is usually stained, seems shallow, and no shoreline cover to speak of.  It can also get a bad case of algae mats along the shorelines.  In short...I wasn't too excited about it, had extremely low expectations.  But at least I wouldn't have kids running around behind me while casting!

I walked by the narrow shallow end where water enters the pond through a culvert.  There wasn't much more than a steady trickle/drip entering, so no current to speak of.  It was WINDY, however.  The water was clearer than I'd ever seen it, which isn't saying much...I could probably see some features on the bottom in water less than 18".   I saw one bluegill right near the culvert as I passed by.  I headed to another corner where a secondary culvert was slowly dripping water into the pond.  Theres a tiny bit of rip rap here I hoped fish might forage around.

I made a dozen casts with a chartreuse microjig.  Nothing.  Something about the water color made me decide to put on a dark-colored pattern, so I selected a black #10 Boudreaux from my fanny pack and attached it to my line.  I moved around the corner and started walking along the side of the pond.  I spotted 2 bluegills darting away from a thin strip of shoreline algae mat.  I also saw a couple of rings on the surface out away from shore.  With my polarized sunglasses on, I could see 2 bluegills feeding near the surface. 

I cast a bit further than I should have...closer to the furthest bluegill.  The near one started chasing the end of my fly line, then sunk out of site.  The further one also sunk out of site.  I picked up my line and cast back to the same spot.  Strip strip STRIKE!  Fish on.  Of course it was a bluegill.  It was 7.5"-8" range, and very pale in coloration, most likely due to the stained water.

I saw no more bluegills away from shore.  I caught one near shore from that area, then moved on down the shoreline to a smaller culvert.  I picked up a third bluegill near that one, and moved on down to yet another small culvert.  I caught another bluegill there.  It darted out from beneath some floating algae and hammered the Boudreaux.  I cast down along the shoreline and had another strike but missed it.

I began walking back towards my car to leave, looking along the shoreline for signs of fish.  I got back to the spot where I'd caught the first 2 bluegills, and saw one bluegill and one small largemouth bass near shore.  I cast near them.  The bass slunk towards deeper water.  The bluegill followed but didn't hit.  I cast again, and a small bass I had not seen darted out and hit the nymph imitator.  It too was extremely pale.  Its lateral line was nearly invisible.

I cast from 2-3 more spots on my way back to the car.  I caught 2 more bluegills and a slightly bigger bass near the shallow end of the pond.

Well...despite my low expectations...that was actually sort of fun!  There are a good number of ponds I'd rather go back to than that one, but at least it provided a good challenge and some action during my lunch hour.