Early November 2018

Feeding carp were located, but I could not detect any strikes when I presented them with flies.

I tied up these on a "chartreuse whim"...a Gamechanger, and a Howitzer Popper:

In one pond, at least, bass were still hitting topwater fly patterns (bass poppers) thru the first week of November...in fact, one day they were charging top-speed from up to 30' away to smash the fly on the 2nd pop!

Feathered Gamechangers were still working as well:

As I write this on November 14, we've had some rather cold weather in central Iowa so far this month.  This past weekend, I visited 5 ponds....2 were 100% ice-covered, 2 were 65%-75% ice-covered, and one pond was completely ice-free.  I fished the ice-free one, and one of the partially-open ponds.  I only caught fish out of the ice-free pond.  Over 25 Crappies, plus 4 bluegills and a bass in a few hours of flyfishing.

Throw Some Curves at the Fish

It had been very windy for several days.  I waited later into the evening before trying to flyfish for bass, hoping the wind would decrease.  I tried the single-jointed GameChanger-style flies that have been working well for me.  I may have had a bite or two, but no hook-ups with fish.

The fish are throwing me a curve ball here.  Well, I threw one right back.  Since the bigger fly didn't work, I went small and slow.  I put on a 1/48th oz microjig under an indicator.  I caught 5 small crappies, but did also get one bass.  And it was a beautiful 20-incher!

Iowa Flyfishing - March 2018

Wow, what a month!  Weather ups-and-downs...mostly downs.  I've been flyfishing when time/family/work/weather allows.
Bass fishing has been very hot and cold.  Mostly cold.
But when its good, its good!

Biggest ones have been this 18.25-incher:

..and this 17.25-incher that hit on the very next cast:

Bluegills have sometimes hit well, other times not at all.

Crappies have been good in some ponds, especially on the windier days when they seem to congregate on the downwind side of ponds.

Never catch enough of these beautiful Pumpkinseed Sunfish!

My buddy Jay and I flyfished a couple ponds yesterday (3/28).  We caught bluegills and crappies at both, and I also caught 2 or 3 bass at the first one.
Biggest crappie I measured was 11.5".

Jay went home, I tried another pond...got SKUNKED.
Went by 2 other ponds that already had anglers fishing, so I kept driving.  Tried one more pond (did I mention the town I live in has over 20 public ponds?).  Fished for crappies/bluegills, but was blocked by this:

(I couldn't decide which pic I liked better...dorsal fin up or back a bit... so I put them together in one photo below....it's the same fish, obviously.)

Carp on Fly

33"... I just achieved one of my goals for the year by catching a 10th Iowa Master Angler species on the fly rod. Gold Award! The current DNR Master Angler program was started in 2011. You achieve the Silver Award once you catch Master Angler-sized fish of 5 different species, and the Gold Award once you catch Master Angler-sized fish of 10 different species. So far there are only 20 people in Iowa that have achieved the Gold Award distinction...I'll be #21. I suspect I may be the first one who has done it entirely with a fly rod!  How cool is that?


Based on length and approximate girth measurements and plugging those into a formula....I calculated the weight of this carp to be @ 18.5 lbs. For the first several minutes it was sluggish like it didn't know it was hooked. Then it took off! Long battle, probably around 20 minutes or so. Was so happy (and worn out) to finally land it! Beautiful fish!