Mid- to Late-May 2018

After a long cold spring that saw ice on local waters into April, we had some record high temps in the middle and latter part of May....temps that reached into the mid 90's F.

Flyfishing the local public ponds has been at times excellent, and other times rather slow.  But that's fishing.

Channel catfish have often been sighted, but they aren't as aggressive as I wish they were.  I'm struggling to get them to strike a fly. Did catch one.

Carp were going strong, but have recently slowed down.

Bass are finishing up their spawning and are starting to feed more aggressively, even taking topwater with regularity.  These are the 3 largest ones in the past couple weeks.

18"+:

17.75":

17":

Lucked into a nice crappie that hit my bass popper one evening.

Some hybrid sunfish are guarding nests, and some seem to be feeding over open water.

Pumpkinseed Sunfish are nesting.

Lunchtime Report 7-18-2017

Got to a pond during my lunch hour.  The end I start at was pretty much devoid of visible fish or even bubble trails.  Fished for a bit there anyway, then went to the opposite side of the pond.  Saw some bass.  Had a strike or two, but didn't hook them.  Caught 5-6 Bluegills, then started looking for bigger fish.

Cast to some "carp bubbles"....a catfish intercepted the fly on the drop.  16":

Looks happy to play:

Saw a few bubbles closer to the outside edge of the weedline.   Cast into that area, set the hook into a heavier fish I thought was gonna be a carp, but ended up being the biggest catfish I've seen in this pond so far.... 22":

It was 'bout time to head back to work...finally saw a few mud clouds and bubble trails on the far side of the bay....made some casts.  The line finally jumped, I set the hook and was into a good fish.  25" Carp!

I didn't have high expectations when I went fishing during lunch today....I was pleased to even get some bluegills.  The cats and carp were welcome bonuses!

First Channel Catfish of 2017

I'd flyfished during lunch yesterday and had a HUGE bass on for quite a while before it finally spit the hook.  So, after work I decided to try another pond to see if I could entice any bass there.  I didn't see any bass.  But I did have a strike that smashed the fly, making a huge boil, and then it took off like a freight train!  I was several minutes before I even got to see what the heck this fish WAS.  Then I saw the tail...Catfish!  Great fight!  28"...a conversion table I found suggests a weight of 10.6 lbs.

The fly I was using was a #2 mostly-black Zonker.

First Flyrod Catfish of 2015!

Caught during lunch today, after we got a BUNCH of rain over the past couple days.  The ponds are high, and waters are running!  This one hit a microjig under an indicator.
What a fattie!

Carp & Cats!

Flyfished last night for a couple hours at Saylorville Lake.  Northern Iowa has gotten a BUNCH of rain in the past few days, and the reservoir is expected to rise as much as 30 feet!  It was supposed to rise just 4' yesterday!

My buddy Jay and I headed out, and the water is moving up into vegetation that has grown up along the normal pool shoreline this year, but we could still walk along the shoreline easily.

We started out searching for carp to target with flies.  We didn't see any in the shallows, but we decided to fish an area where the wind was blowing into shore, and there were some rocks and gravel in the water.

Jay alternated fishing with a fly rod for carp (he caught a couple carp on flies earlier in the week!) & spinning rod for anything.  He caught the first fish (and the biggest of the night) on an inline spinner...a 26" Channel Catfish!

The wave action from wind and boats was substantial, and I was blind casting, there are a lot of small fish fry/fingerlings in the water right now...so I decided to use a beadhead woolly bugger under an indicator.  The indicator would give the fly plenty of action and keep the fly off the bottom, plus make strike detection easier.  I caught 2 Largemouth Bass while trying for carp, but finally got my target species.  I was happy!

Not a huge carp, but it was a good fight.  I imagined it probably spooked other carp in the area.  I decided to put on a shad-imitating fly pattern and practice casting it with my 12' 5wt Allen Olympic switch rod.  I wanted to determine whether this would be a viable option for the White Bass blitz later this Summer/Fall.  I think it will be.
Here's the fly pattern I was using (I think it was the top one below):

I got 3 nice surprises while doing my testing.  I caught 3 Channel Catfish...23", 24", and 25".  (Corresponding weights according to a conversion table for catfish suggests these would be @ 5.5lbs, 6.3lbs, and 7.3 lbs.)  GREAT FIGHTS!

I was worn out after that, so we left.

As we were walking out, we saw a lot of these big caterpillars...Hawk Moth/Sphinx Moth caterpillars, I think?  I was sad to think that they will be drowned within the next day or so.

Edit: Turns out both caterpillars above are likely color morphs of the White Lined Sphinx Moth.

Evening Flyfishing, 5-29-2014

5-29-2014
Public city pond
Temp: 84 F
Sunny, Wind @ 7mph from S
Fish caught: 30+Bluegills, 15+Crappies, 6 Largemouth Bass, 3 Green Sunfish, 1 Channel Catfish

Flyfished last night at a frustrating pond.  This year it has been really good one day, horrible the next.  Last night was GOOD, at least for me.  I was surprised at the lack of weeds growing around the edges, but I'm sure it will happen soon enough.  Bluegills and a few crappies were on nests in the shallows.  Grass Carp were working an area in the shallows...I suspect they MAY have been trying to eat fish eggs, since they were in amongst the bluegill nests...but it could be they were foraging on the few plants they could find.

Busy place...there were 5 or 6 other people fishing, using anything from nightcrawlers under a bobber to baitcasting gear for bass.  The guys fishing for bass got skunked.  One bait fisherman caught 2 bluegills.

Most of the panfish were caught on a chartreuse microjig worked just under the surface over the nests.  The 20" Largemouth Bass was caught on an olive mylar chenille bugger while I was casting to some Grass Carp.  Really nice fish, and quite a stubborn battle on the fly rod....a nice surprise, but I was somewhat disappointed it wasn't a Grass Carp.  I knew it was a bass by the way it would go deep, then charge straight up for the surface....but each time I eased pressure slightly so it wouldn't throw the hook, the bass always decided not to jump.  The fish was so thick and stout, it didn't look all that long.  But the tape measure didn't lie.  The tail fin seems worn down some too.  I'm guessing it would have weighed 5+ lbs.

The 26" Channel Cat hit an unweighted chartreuse Woolly Bugger near shore.  It was a sudden strike and splashing mayhem followed by a run to deeper water and bulldogging.  It was some time before I even got to see the fish.  This fish was healthy, but not as fat as some I have caught here...so it probably weighed 8lbs or less.

Beautiful evening, and some good fish were caught too!

Addendum..Another Catfish!

After catching a couple catfish on flies yesterday during lunch (see previous blog entry), I had some time in the evening to kill while waiting for my kids to finish their extra-curricular activities.  So, I flyfished a public pond in a town @ 20 miles from home, from about 6:50pm to 8:20pm.

The weather was cold (@44 degrees F), breezy, cloudy, and rain drizzled periodically.  Because the bluegills and crappies still seem to be hitting light, I used a microjig under an indicator.  I ended up landing at least 18 Bluegills, 2 Crappies, 1 Largemouth Bass, 1 Hybrid Sunfish, and 1 Channel Catfish.  The catfish was a big surprise, I'd never caught one in this pond before.  And it was a DANDY!  I measured it at 28.5" long.  According to data provided by the State of Pennsylvania, that lenght approximately correlates to a weight of 11.2 pounds.

The catfish was a GREAT fight.  Fortunately I had confidence in my line/rod/reel.  The weak link was the microjig.  It has a small, thin-wire hook than can straighten out under pressure.  I was afraid to put too much pressure on the fish because of that hook.  Big fish hate being in shallow water, so every time I'd get the fish near shore, it tried to run back for deeper water.  The hook was in the soft but tough corner of the mouth, which is the perfect spot, and allowed me to turn the catfish's head when it ran.  Once I got it into the shallows, I had to step into the clammy cold water to grab the fish.  Man, that is exciting stuff!  :)

Wouldn't you just know that the catfish layed nice and still on the ground while I measured it, but while I was digging out my camera, it decided to do some barrel rolls on the ground, tangling it in the line and covering itself with debris.

Early Season Catfish Plan

I love it when a plan actually works like I hope it will.
Its been a couple weeks since the ice finally melted off the local ponds/lakes.  We've had a few warm days over the past week, finally.  Last night and this morning, we got our first decent RAIN of the season.  The rainstorms didn't last long, but the rain came down hard when it did.
I thought...hey, the runoff should bring some much needed water into the local ponds.  One fish that really likes water flowing into a pond is Channel Catfish.
So...my hope was to try and catch some catfish on flies during my lunch hour today.  I had the pond and the spot picked out in my mind.
Admittedly, the deck was somewhat stacked against me...There USED to be some large catfish in this pond, but I had not even SEEN a catfish in this particular pond during the past 3 years.  And...catfish LOVE warm water, and the local ponds are still pretty cold.  Add to that this storm front is bringing cold weather back.  They've even put possible SNOW in the forecast two days from now!
Sometimes, catfish can be extremely picky about what they will strike.  Sometimes they'll hit anything.

Today...well...Although I was dreaming of catching a catfish, I was flyfishing for crappies and bluegills like I usually would.  The area of the pond I had decided to target did have a trickle of water running in, was very muddy, and the water in the pond was high enough to cause some current from its outflow.

I used a chartreuse microjig @ 18" below an indicator.
I missed some lazy strikes.  The first solid hookup with a fish turned out to be...a Channel Catfish!!!  Hooray!!  At 14"-15" range, it was probably the smallest catfish I've ever caught in this pond.  But it looked very healthy.

I was hoping I was onto something...but it could VERY easily have been a fluke.  Maybe a dozen casts later, the indicator sank again.  Fish on!  And...  Another catfish!!!

It was roughly the same size as the first...so I'm guessing they are the same year-class of fish...and may have either been spawned in the pond, or stocked by the City or other interested parties.  Regardless, I was VERY happy to find some catfish in this pond again, and catch them on my fly rod.

Well...that was it for catfish, in the short time I had available.  I did miss a few more strikes, and landed two more fish.
One was this nice 11" Crappie:

And the other was this NICE 8" Green Sunfish...which had just a HUGE belly on it:

All things considered, I was pretty excited about today's lunchtime flyfishing excursion.  :)

Thursday Evening Fly-Fishing, 7-26-2012

I had about 45 minutes to kill while waiting for my son's activity to finish, so I stopped by a public pond in Urbandale, Iowa.  Surprise!  The City had rip-rapped the entire shoreline, and also did some minor grading work.  I couldn't tell for sure if they had also dug out some of the shallow areas along the shoreline or not, since the water was rather murky.
I tried a microjig under an indicator.  Had some strikes, but nothing hooked.  Switched to a mohair leech with a tiny beadhead.  Caught 2 bass and 1 bluegill on that.

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After we got home, I went flyfishing at a public pond not far from my house.  It had rained 3/4" the previous night...the first decent rain we've had in nearly 2 months!  I wanted to see how much the fish activity had picked up.  I found a small group of large fish working the shallows.  I assume they were grass carp, but could have been catfish...or both.

You could tell where the fish were from the surface disturbances, but could only see the fish if they stuck a fin above water.  For some reason, they seem to be able to see me MUCH better than I can see them!  I stayed about 30'+ away, and made long casts to these fish.

Bill Trussel at "Fishing Through Life" (blog entry here: http://btrussell-fishingthroughlife.blogspot.com/2012/07/experimenting-with-scent-attractors-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FishingThroughLife+%28Fishing+Through+Life%29 ) recently posted about using fish attractants for flyfishing.  I wanted to see if adding scent to the fly would make any difference in my success on either Grass Carp or Channel Catfish.  I had 2 old bottles of fish attractant...one was Chompers G garlic-scented attractant that I had bought years ago.  I have a buddy that has excellent success using Chompers plastics for Largemouth Bass and Smallmouth Bass.  Not sure if there is a shelf life on this stuff?  The other bottle was just called "Bass", and supposedly had pheromones in it.  One of my Sisters-in-Law had bought this for me a number of years ago for my birthday.  Never tried it before.  I put a little of each in separate small spray bottles that our optometrist gives us eyeglass cleaner in.  These were compact and fit nicely in my fanny pack along with all the usual stuff I carry with me when flyfishing in the evenings.

I started out with a deer hair pellet fly.  I had some good takes, but didn't set the hook on any of them.  I couldn't tell WHAT was taking the fly.  The fish were around, but it was starting to get dark.  I chummed with some bread (the good, healthy multi-grain stuff!) to get the fish to feed near me.  Several nice fish eventually worked the bread.  I switched to a large white woolly bugger and swam it through the area.  I caught one nice WIDE-BODIED 23" Channel Catfish on that (pictures below), and lost 2 more really nice fish that hit.  Also caught 3 Bluegills and a Crappie.

I couldn't reach across this fish's back to lift it from the water.  I had to use 2 hands!  It seemed oddly short for its width....or oddly wide for its length.  Healthy fish!!

It was a really strange fight with this catfish.  It went on a couple very good runs, but then always came back to the surface.  It didn't seem to want to stay deep.  Very unusual.  Normally its a big struggle to get them to come up!

My preliminary assessment of using scent/fish attractant while flyfishing for catfish and grass carp is this:  It bothers the "purist" in me.  I don't enjoy using bait or live bait for fishing.  In this situtation, I'm using artificial flies that I have personally tied, but they have a taste or smell to them.  The distinctions are certainly debatable, but debating is not my goal here.  I've caught catfish and grass carp on flies without using scent.  I've seen what appears to be fish shunning my fly after getting close to it.  What is putting the fish off?  Could be my scent, so it is smart to try and conceal or cover that scent.

When I catch a grass carp or catfish from this pond, it is nearly always just ONE large specimen on a given evening.  From the one evening's experience using scent/attractant, I'm not sure there is a lot of difference in my success.  I landed one and had 2 others on the line, which would seem to be a bit of an improvement.  I'll probably try it again and see what happens.

Post-Storm Fly-Fishing, 4-15-2012

Saturday I didn't go fishing.  Weather was PERFECT for it.  Light breeze, overcast, humid, big storms moving in later in the day....all these things usually add up to EXCELLENT fishing.  Well...I missed out this time.

Saturday evening gave us high winds that knocked over utility poles, snapped trees, and blew over road signs.  Winds were 39mph with gusts to 56mph.  And rain.  HEAVY rain.  From Saturday evening to Sunday morning we got between 2.84" and 3.43" of rain.  A couple public ponds I drove by showed evidence that they had gone up nearly 2' above normal, and had since receded but were still high.  Water clarity had gone from relatively clear (~2.5') to MUDDY (4").

I headed out to fish after supper for a couple hours...from 5:45pm-7:30pm.  Winds were still high...and gusting.  Horrible conditions for fishing, and probably the main reason I decided to go...because nobody else would be!  Full disclosure...another reason to go was because with all the influx of water into the ponds, I hoped the catfish would be actively feeding in the shallows.

I drove to a nearby public pond and headed to the most wind-protected spot to start fishing.  I started with an unweighted black woolly bugger.  I caught several nice bluegills on it.

...and then broke it off on a submerged log.

I tied on a microjig under an indicator, but didn't catch anything.  I removed the indicator and put on another black woolly bugger.  I caught some more bluegills and a largemouth bass.  By this time I had worked my way around to the side of the pond that the wind was blowing into.  I had a great strike and had a nice fish on for about 7 seconds.  It took my fly with it.  BUMMER!

The wind was really strong here.  I had 2 or 3 casts that didn't reach the water!  I put on an indicator again, and tied on a Black Ops fly http://missouriflies.com/all-products/carp-flies/black-ops-carp-fly .

I caught a bluegill or two on this, and then BAM!  Another nice fish on.  This felt bigger than the one that got off.  As usual, I was hoping for a Grass Carp, but several minutes later when I finally got my first glimpse of the fish, I could see it was a good-sized Channel Catfish.  The battle raged quite a long time.  We strolled together back and forth along the shoreline.  It didn't want to come in! With the water high, there was no good place to land it.  After several failed attempts, I finally did get it to come into the shallows, and as I reached down for it with one hand, my line broke.  Fortunately as the fish turned, it paused for a second and I was able to drop the rod and jam both hands into the muddy water and I luckily found its pectoral fins to grab onto, and lifted it onto shore.  WHEW!

It stayed still in the grass as I took a quick measurement (24") and a couple pictures.  2 websites I found suggested this fish weighed 6.3 pounds.  As thick as this fish was, I'm sure it was ALL of that!

I released her back to the water, and she swam away immediately.  I resumed my fishing, and caught another dozen or so bluegills before I called it quits.  Man...that wind can beat you up!