May 16, 2022 Flyfishing a Creek

Had a bunch of gar strikes while flyfishing today.  Several were hooked, but none were landed.

I did land a Grass Carp, White Bass, and Channel Catfish.

 

Late June, 2020

Continuing to catch unusual and (sometimes) colorful fish species from the local public ponds while flyfishing:

Goldfish!

A Pumpkinseed Sunfish:

Hybrid Sunfish:

Green Sunfish and Hybrid Sunfish:

White Crappie:

Largemouth Bass

Channel Catfish:

Black Bullhead:

Mid June 2020

Completely different waters yield completely different flyfishing rewards.
I'm catching some common fish species that aren't commonly caught on flyfishing gear, and that has been pretty interesting.  The local public water even produced 8 different species last night!
I caught Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, Green Sunfish, Hybrid Sunfish, White Crappie, Black Bullhead, Channel Catfish, and Goldfish!

Here's some of the fish I've caught since my last blog entry.
This Comet Goldfish...at 13.5", its my 3rd new Personal Best Goldfish this year.

The one below could just be a Common Goldfish in natural coloration, or it could be a Crucian Carp or Prussian Carp.  I haven't been able to figure it out.  Maybe somebody with more experience with these things will provide some guidance.

Channel Cats:

Black Bullheads:

I took a picture of this small Green Sunfish just because it was almost completely black:

Late July, 2017

It's been hot, humid, low winds.  Fish pulled from the water feel 1/2 cooked already.  That's an exaggeration, sort of.  Relief is in the way later this week, which should be great for the fish and fishing.

In the meantime....my lunchtime forays have yielded no carp lately...they must be staying cool in deeper water, because I haven't even seen any lately.  I've been catching some bass and bluegills mostly...and still mainly on topwater flies.   The best fish lately have been Channel Catfish.  Most have been hitting a gold-bodied Hybrid Carp Fly, but the biggest one (24", 6 lbs) hit a bass popper after dark.  THAT was pretty fun!

Here's the 24-incher:

And a 20-incher from a lunchtime outing:

Just a couple Hybrid Sunfish have been caught recently.

And one surprise Crappie:

Mulberry Hatch, 6-26-2017

Jay and I took our kayaks and fly rods to Blue Heron Lake. I'd hoped for gar, but never really spotted any. The wind was minimal, which usually means the carp won't be in the shallows ...but fortunately for us, a few were there, as well as a few catfish.

I'd caught a couple fun, hardfighting carp (watched the first one chase down my swimming fly and eat it), and then got pushed in too close to shore...looked over the side of the kayak and could see a few smallish carp and a NICE catfish swimming between my kayak and shore. I got back out withing casting distance and anchored up. Then pulled the hook out of 2 carp (one while trying to land it next to the kayak without a net, one while trying to steer one away from the snags along the shoreline), and had 2 nice consecutive fish break my 11.8lb tippet during the hookset. I feel one might have been a big catfish. And then hooked a big fish near where I'd seen that big catfish earlier...but it took me into a snag and freed itself.

Lots of excitement with only a few fish to show for it. I settled down, took some deep zen breaths, and pressed on. Caught a small catfish...

... then a nicer one (19"), and another carp. The catfish was a heckuva fighter....it bulldogged deep, and did NOT want to come to the surface at all!

Jay also caught a decent catfish...he really seemed impressed by how strong the fish was!

Action slowed there, so I moved along, looking for maybe some Orangespotted Sunfish, but caught a bunch of small bluegills and a bass instead.

Hit one more spot for carp, and managed to get a decent one...while I was fighting it, his buddy swam next to him for awhile, and came almost all the way to my kayak before finally sinking out of sight. I've seen that behavior many times...where one carp will swim along with one that is fighting on the line. With bass/white bass, they'll often do that, ...like gulls hoping to steal the baitfish from another...but carp don't appear to be trying to steal anything...just kind of buddy-ing up and seeing what's going on. Smart? Social?

3rd Week of June, 2017

As others have noticed, Carp (and catfish?) seem to hit flies better when its WINDY....like today during lunch...3 cats and a carp, all on a John Montana Hybrid Carp Fly (variant).