Late March 2017 Update

I've been out flyfishing a few times in the past week or two.
Weather has stayed cool, compared to February.  We've gotten rain, and its been cloudy quite a bit.  So, the waters haven't warmed appreciably since that 2nd round of iced-over lakes we had earlier in the month.  I would guess the local waters are currently sitting around the mid-40's F for temperature.

Compared to previously, the bass haven't been as active.  I haven't caught any more Hybrid Sunfish or Pumpkinseed Sunfish.  I've caught a few, smaller bass, a fair number of bluegills, and also a good number of crappies.  All on a chartreuse microjig about 18" beneath an indicator.

I saw a fellow angler catch a really BIG bass one day.  After getting some pictures, he released it back to the pond, which I was VERY happy to see.  After his group left, I fished my way over to where he had been fishing.  I discovered he had been using a Pumpkinseed Sunfish for bait. The bait was dead in the water next to shore with a huge hook hole through its back.  The angler may have been trying to target a big catfish?  At any rate, it was good to see a big bass getting released back to the pond.  I thought it looked substantially bigger than the 20-inch bass I'd caught earlier this year.  Hopefully I will have a chance to catch that fish this year and see just how long it is.  Maybe its the 22-incher I thought got harvested?  Or a new fish I haven't yet caught?  ;o)

This crappie was caught during my lunch hour...it wasn't very big, but I thought the perspective was interesting....showing how their eyes are set and why they like to strike upwards.

Follow-up to yesterday's entry...I flyfished last night (5-6-2014) at the same pond I fished on 5-5-2014 for 1.25 hours.  I began at the same starting point, then I moved along the shoreline in the opposite direction from yesterday, so that I would fish a different stretch of water.  Another angler had just fished this stretch moving towards me, leapfrogged me, and continued on around the pond.  Nothing unusual about this...these ponds get fished multiple times every day.  He worked his way around to the shoreline opposite me, and got to watch me fish where he had already been.  I caught 12 decent Crappies to 12", 1 tiny Largemouth Bass, and 7 Bluegills.

same fish below as above

I caught 3 females, all had fat bellies.  The one below was the largest at 12":

This one appeared to have been caught before and released:

Short Evening of Flyfishing, 5-5-2014

I did not get out of the house to go flyfishing yesterday evening until 7pm.  Fortunately there were few clouds, so the sky stayed somewhat light until nearly 9pm!

I visited a local public pond.  A couple things I noticed.
1. The bluegills are getting a lot more active, and starting to look for nesting areas.
2.  The crappies have settled into nesting areas, and won't chase a fly very far.
3.  The crappies have not spawned yet.  I caught one female that was still fat with eggs (I released everything, so I'm really just guessing that they were eggs).
4.  The male crappies are wearing their spawning colors.

I ended up catching 7 Crappies and 17 Bluegills.

The male black crappies are now sporting their spawning colors of darkened cheeks, throats and bellies.
I caught fish on the red & chartreuse microjig above, and also on an all-chartreuse version.  I suspended them about 18"-20" beneath a strike indicator.

This is the female.  Notice the white cheeks and belly, and the belly is fat (sorta hard to tell in this picture...but it is).  The dark spot on the back is just a reflection or shadow of my fly rod.

Here's another nesting male.

Flyfishing with Jay, 4/18-4/19/2014

We met up during my lunch hour on Friday to flyfish a public pond.  Jay caught a bunch of fish, mostly small crappies.  I caught just 2 small crappies and then spent much of the remaining time trying to entice one of the fairly numerous nice bass into striking.  I was unsuccessful.

Jay spend the afternoon fishing Saylorville and Big Creek.  He can comment on that if he wishes.

Friday evening I talked Jay into flyfishing some local ponds again.  The first one we fished, I was the second angler there.  But soon there was something like 14 people around a fairly small area of the pond!  Busy place!  We didn't stay long.  I caught 3 Crappies, 3 Hybrid Sunfish, and 4 Bluegills.

Then we drove to a different pond and resumed flyfishing.  There, I caught 6 Crappies, 1 Largemouth Bass, and 7 Bluegills.  My biggest 2 crappies were 12" and 13", both REALLY fat.  I assume they were females with eggs.
This is the 12-incher:

This is the 13-incher:

And here's the bass (with Jay in the background):

Saturday evening, I coerced Jay into flyfishing with my again, and we hit that last pond again.  No biggies this time.
I caught 9 Crappies, 3 Largemouth Bass, and 9 Bluegills.

All these fish were taken on a chartreuse 1/80th oz microjig about 18" below an indicator.

Lunchtime Flyfishing, 4-11-2014

After getting skunked during lunch yesterday, I returned to a more reliable pond, and the microjig/indicator pattern is still working well.
It was bright sun, warm, with just enough wind to put a decent chop on the water.

In 40 minutes of fishing, I caught 7 Crappies, 3 Bluegills, and 2 Hybrid Sunfish.

Lunchtime Flyfishing, 4-9-2014

4-9-2014
Public Pond
60 degrees F
18 mph wind from SSW
Fish Caught: 7 Crappies, 1 Green Sunfish


Jay and I met up during lunch to flyfish. Casting into the wind was a challenge.
Jay did about the same as I did...I think he also caught a Bluegill or two.
Used a 1/80th oz microjig under an indicator.

Allen Olympic Switch Rod - Trial Run

I wasted a bunch of time on Sunday (March 30, 2014)...but when 4pm rolled around, I finally decided to visit a local pond and try to figure out how to cast with the new 12' 5wt Allen Olympic switch rod I got.

For those that don't know, a typical Single-hand fly rod is usually less than 10' long.  A Spey rod is a long fly rod, generally over 12' long, and is designed to be cast with two hands on the rod.  Spey rods make use of specialized lines to make longer casts possible with heavier flies.  They are especially popular for fishing saltwater and for fishing larger rivers for salmon and steelhead.  A Switch rod is sort of between these two types of rods.  Switch rods are usually between 10' and 12' in length, and can be cast using single-hand or two-hand techniques.  I got one with the idea of making longer casts in lakes for white bass, wipers, and trout.

So anyway, it was very windy.  And I had visited another local pond the previous day and found it to be muddied by waterfowl and with globs of decomposing organic material floating up from the bottom.  So, I didn't expect to catch much, if anything.

I arrived, rigged up the rod, and started casting.  I tried a Snake Roll cast, a Snap-T cast, a Switch Cast, and maybe one or two other 2-handed casts, as well as a single-hand Roll cast and Overhead cast.  I'm totally new to this, but I thought I was doing reasonably well.  Next, I figured I may as well try to catch something, to see how the rod feels when hooking, fighting and landing a fish.  I knew I might not catch anything at all.  But then I proceeded to have one of the best days I have EVER had at this pond!

I ended up landing at least 13 Bluegills up to 9", and 33 nice Crappies up to 13"!  What a blast!  I was very happy to discover that these fish put a very nice bend in my Switch rod!

Below is the 13" Crappie.  BEAST!  Fought like a bass!

Below is a 9" Bluegill.

What a GREAT evening!!!

I should mention that I used a 1/80th oz chartreuse microjig set about 18" below an indicator.  I tried slowly swimming some flies through the area, but didn't have any takers.  The indicator allowed a slow presentation, while the wind and waves pushed the indicator slowly along and gave a nice vertically jigging motion to the fly.

Plan "B"...and Last Day of Open Water, 2013?

This might have been my last open-water fishing trip of 2013.  Local lakes and ponds are starting to lock up with a covering of ice.

I took the day off work on Friday.  Trout had been stocked the previous day at Ada Hayden Lake in Ames.

I knew it wouldn't be a very enjoyable day.  It had snowed.  The air temperature was 18 degrees F, and I was driving farther NORTH.

Visions of frozen line guides and frostbitten fingers were circulating in my mind.
I dressed for the weather.  I tried putting vaseline in the rod guides to prevent water from freezing them closed.  This didn't seem to work appreciably well.

I walked around the entire north basin of Ada Hayden Lake, stopped to fish at a few spots, but didn't see a single sign of fish.  No jumps or swirls.  I talked to a fellow who was present the previous day during the stocking.  He had caught his limit (5 trout) the previous day, but also hadn't caught/seen a fish this day.

I DID see 2 wild swans fly over and land on a far corner of the lake.  So, THAT was pretty awesome.  Its the 3rd time I've ever seen wild swans flying.

Anyway, I had a "Plan B" in mind for such circumstances as this.  I drove back to Ankeny and visited a pond I had only visited once before this year, back in May.  The water was still open, although the shorelines were covered with snow.

I put on a red/chartreuse microjig under an indicator.  Didn't take long to start catching crappies!  Most were pretty small.  Biggest of the day measured 10".  It wasn't super-fast fishing, but I ended up landing 76 Crappies and 1 Bluegill in 3.5 hours of flyfishing!

I salvaged a very cold day and the possibility of getting skunked, and ended up finding a good way to end the open-water season!

Crappie Time of Year

Well...sort of.  The spring spawning season probably provides the hottest Crappie action of the year.

But don't overlook the Fall!  For folks in the northern parts of the U.S., crappies will strike flies and lures all the way to ice-up.  They seem to move in close to shore again in the Fall, and hang around the last bits of green weedbeds and brushpiles.  Its a good time to try catching some of the larger female crappies that were hanging out beyond your casting reach during the spawning season when the males were sitting on nests.

A slower presentation is often in order for this cooling water season.  For folks using spinning gear, a 1/16, 1/32, or even 1/64th oz jighead tipped with a crappie-sized plastic tube jig body suspended under a small bobber is all you need. Adjust the distance between the bobber and the jig to fish over the top of the weeds and brush.  Snagging on underwater obstructions is annoying, and crappies usually prefer to move up to strike anyway.

Fly anglers can use a microjig (1/80 or 1/100 oz) under a small strike indicator.  I prefer the football-shaped indicators with the rubber core that holds the line in place.

I did really well late last fall with catching some nice crappies on flyfishing gear. I tried it during lunch today. Conditions weren't ideal, but I managed 3 crappies and a bluegill.  I think its just going to continue to get better from here on until ice-up!

Lunchtime Flyfishing Report, 4/25/2013

Conditions:  Sunny, 55 degrees F, 10mph wind from the West.

I didn’t get out of the office until about 12:15, which shortened my fishing time.  I arrived at this particular public pond, and a lawncare crew was just finishing up mowing/trimming.  I finished eating my meager lunch while they packed up their equipment and left.  Grass clippings on the pond maybe?  I thought…HMMMM, MAYBE THE GRASS CARP WILL SHOW THEMSELVES!

Maybe.  Something big swirled/rolled/took off from the same spot 2-3 times.  Within casting distance.  But I couldn’t see the fish.  I did, however, see a large white GOLDFISH.  It was sort of hanging around, so I put on something tiny and goofed around half the remaining time trying to get it to strike.  I couldn’t see it clearly enough to make out which was the head end…I could just see a murky “white spot” that would move around the area, then stop for awhile.  But I knew what it was.   At any rate…no detectable strikes from the goldfish.  I WANT TO CATCH ONE OF THOSE ON A FLY!!!

It was really weird…I didn’t catch a single bluegill, although I’m certain there were a few around.  All I caught was 3 decent Crappies, 2 were probably in the 10”-11” range, and all fought EXCELLENT, which you don’t often expect from a crappie.

Here are pictures of 2 of the crappies.  They had nice bellies on them!

Fishing in the Rain - 4/22/2013

It is Spring, after all.  And its hard to complain about the rain after the very dry conditions we experienced last year.  So...I just put on a rainsuit and go fishing.
I had about 40 minutes to spend fishing last night, and it just so happened to be raining during that time.

The public pond I chose to fish was clearer than some of the other ponds, but noticeably murkier than it usually is.  I flyfished, using a chartreuse microjig under an indicator.  I fished quite awhile before I hooked my first fish, a decent Bluegill.

Fishing was extremely slow and I really can't explain why, unless the fish were just not in the areas / depths I was targeting.  I ended up catching just 4 fish total...3 Bluegills and 1 Crappie.  But the Crappie was a very strong 13-incher, so I was every excited about that!

Evening Report, 3-6-2012

Yesterday during lunch, I barely had enough open water to fish since the local lakes and ponds had all iced over during the night.  Still got it done.
Today was very warm (upper 60's) and windy.  The ice disappeared during the day.  It was still sort of windy by the time I got home from work, but do-able.  It was too nice and warm to NOT visit a local public pond!

I started fly-fishing at around 5:45pm, and fished for one hour.  I used a chartreuse microjig under an indicator. I had a couple strikes at the indicator, and all the fish caught were either near shore or right at the edge of the first drop-off.  Based on these clues, I should have switched to an unweighted pattern without an indicator, but I can be a lazy fella sometimes.  I did ok with the technique I was using...I ended up catching 6 crappies and 2 decent bluegills.