Well, Fall definitely knocked on the door here. Up until Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013, I'd been fishing in shorts and t-shirt still. For Sunday, I decked myself out in jeans, t-shirt, long-sleeve T-shirt, and heavy hooded sweatshirt. Mostly I was comfortable, but I did start shivering a few times, and my hands were cold and fingertips half numb.
I hoped to find some crappies in one pond, but never did. One shoreline I thought they might be hanging out along was taken over by a hundred or more Canadian Geese. I could have scared them off and fished that shoreline, but chose to let them have it. I've learned that geese like to drop bombs to lighten their load when taking off...and I had no desire to be bombed this day. As it was, a bomb got dropped into the water about 5' in front of me when some geese from a neighboring field circled over the pond.
I fished my way around 1/2 of this pond, with only a couple bass and one or two bluegills to show for it. There's a smaller pond next to this one, and there were far fewer geese on it, so I gave it a try. I found fish, and found a fly they would hit regularly (red & chartreuse 1/80th oz microjig under an indicator), and started to catch fish. I ended up catching a few more small bass (< 12"), well over 40 Bluegills that probably averaged 7.5", and one 8" Green Sunfish.
Here's the Green Sunfish:
A few of the Bluegills still had decent color on them:
