Hybrid Sunfish

Caught some 8"-9" Hybrid Sunfish this weekend while flyfishing at a local pond.  There seems to be 2 varieties of Hybrids here...a Green Sunfish x Bluegill Hybrid:

...and a Pumpkinseed Sunfish x Bluegill Hybrid:

They are all gorgeous fish, and fight really hard!

Flyfishing for Florida Redfish, 9-16-2013

Redfish have been on my "flyrod wishlist" for awhile.  I finally got an opportunity to hire a guide and pursue them in Florida this past Monday.
The guide was Bryan Pahmeier of OrlandoFlyFishing.com ( http://www.orlandoflyfishing.com/ ).
Bryan is a pleasure to fish with, and certainly knows the fishing in the area, since he's been fishing it since he was a kid.
We hit the water before sunrise.  The relatviely flat water made it easy to spot the schools of mullet, and the alligators.

The Redfish didn't show up right away.  Bryan explained that 95% of the water in the HUGE area we were fishing was actually 3' deep or less!

A couple small groups of Redfish went by.  I caught the Redfish in the first picture of this blog out of the first group.  The fish was aggressive, and it was a strong fight.    A couple line peeling runs, then just bulldogging back and forth.  Amazingly similar to a carp fight on a fly rod!

I also hooked up with a Redfish from the second group.  After the first run, the fly shook free.  That Redfish continued to pursue the fly, which surprised me.  I had already given up on that fish and was getting ready to cast to the rest of the passing group...I pulled the fly away from it.

We saw plenty of Spotted Seatrout, but I only caught one of the smaller ones.

During the slow points in the action, I joked that I was going to catch one of the Hardhead Catfish that were swimming around.  Eventually, I did catch one!

We sat down to rest from the heat and drink some water and eat lunch, when another group of BIG Redfish went by.  They spooked at our boat and turned 180 degrees and swam away.

After that, we pretty much saw only single smaller Redfish, and they were VERY SPOOKY!  The closest I got was one that put his chin on the tail of my fly and followed it for a few yards without striking.

I saw a few BIG Blue Crabs.  Also a number of Stingrays.  I cast out near a few of the Stingrays.  I've caught them before on spinning gear.  Most didn't go for the fly, but I had one swim right over my fly, so I set the hook.  It was foul-hooked, but still put up quite a strong fight on its first run.  I got it to boatside, and Bryan unhooked it while it was still in the water.  Just got this picture of me fighting the Stingray.

We saw dolphins, including this mother working hard to keep her not-so-small baby upright in the water.  But it was floating like a cork and stiff, so it had been dead for awhile.  Sad.

We saw manatees, and actually drifted right over the top of one feeding on the bottom.  I neglected to take a picture.  We also saw alligators.  We drifted over the top of this large one.  We spooked it and it swam off underwater.

And at the end of the day...this little treat tasted really good.  Its a brew we don't often find in Iowa, yet.
I didn't drink and drive, I just photographed one of the full bottles while I was in the car after purchasing it.

Grass Carp Flyfishing Videos

There were more video clips....these two are pretty representative of the relentless back-and-forth battle.

Finally! Fly Rod Grass Carp #4!!

I finally FREAKING did it!!  After 2 seasons of not being able to land any Grass Carp (hooked yes, landed no)., I finally got fly rod Grass Carp #4 last night!  Total surprise, too.

My son had gymnastics last night, and my daughter went along for the ride.  After dropping him off, and the remaining two of us eating a nice healthy Taco John's dinner, I drove us to a nearby city pond.  My daughter stayed in the car to work on some schoolwork she had brought along.

I had 3 fly rods in the vehicle...a 5wt, a 6 wt, and a 7wt.  In general, this pond is good for catching some smallish panfish.  I had never seen a grass carp in this pond.  So, naturally, I selected the lightest of the 3 rods.  I was catching a few bluegills here and there, nothing major.  I was trying different fly patterns, hoping something would excite the fish.  I had put this fly on:

It was unweighted, and pushed quiet a bit of water, and sank very slowly.  It also made a good little "splat" when it hit the water.  I think all of this played a part in causing the Grass Carp to strike it.

I worked my way along the shoreline, and cast towards a small clump of floating algae that was floating about 30' off shore.  Something swirled on the fly.  I set the hook and missed, and suspected the fish was just a bluegill.  I immediately tossed the fly right back into that spot.  A fish lunged, grabbed, and darted to the side with the fly.  I set the hook, saw the fish, and knew right away I FINALLY had another Grass Carp on.  I was so excited!

Once I decided the fish was hooked well enough to stay on the line for awhile, I started trying to find a place to land the fish.  I had no net with me.  When a shore angler hooks a big fish and doesn't have a net or partner to help with landing the fish, the best situation you can hope for is some shallow water that you can drag the fish into so that it has to turn on its side.  Once on its side, it loses its advantage in the water, and can be landed at that point.  At this pond, the shoreline is limestone rip rap, which dropped almost straight off into knee-deep water.  There was just once spot that was a little bit shallower (but not shallow enough to "beach the fish")...where I could at least stand in the water and maybe try to land the fish while in the water. So, I got in the water.  The fish was constantly going back and forth.  I had collected some clumps of floating algae on my fly line, leader, and tippet.

 I checked the time on my phone.  I figured I was in for a long battle.  I was very skeptical that I would ever actually land this fish.  I continued fighting the fish.  Mostly it was the constant back-and-forth, with the occasional darting for deeper open water.  My daughter was in the car just 50' away, but since I was down the bank, standing in the water, she probably couldn't see what I was doing.  She was still working on her homework or reading a book.  I called her.  She answered, knew it was me, but couldn't hear me.  So, I just started waving my hand towards her, beckoning her to come to the shoreline.  She saw me, got out of the car and walked over.  I explained what was going on.   I told her I wasn't sure I could land this fish, and I wanted her to see it, and maybe she could take some video of the battle with her iPhone.  She did.  After 5-10 minutes, I told her the fish was tiring, but we seemed to still be at our stalemate.  So, she stopped taking video and went back to the car.

While she had been shooting video, I had been trying keep lifting the fish towards the surface and get its head up.  After my daughter got back to the car, I tried it again, and this time the fish let me KEEP its head above water.  So, I dragged the fish towards me.  It came, without spooking or thrashing this time, so I guided its head straight towards the rocks along the shoreline, and got its head up on a rock.  It still didn't thrash, so I dropped my rod in the water and grabbed the fish and carried it up onto shore.

No doubt about it, I was a VERY HAPPY GUY!

Chunky Fish.  It measured 30.5", with an (probably under-)estimated weight of 14 lbs.

After the photos, I got it back in the water to revive it, and within a couple of minutes, it swam out of my hands.

Hopefully I can get the videos added to this blog soon.

Saylorville Lake, Evening Fishing 9-4-2013

I fished Saylorville Lake last night from around 6:20pm-8:10pm.

There were many boaters up on the flats...in water less than 3' deep, and within 30' of shore.  This is extremely unusual...but it was a good sign that the fish weren't out in deeper water.  I avoided the stretch of shoreline the boaters were working.  I walked around "the long way", checking the shoreline for signs of carp in the shallows.  I didn't really see any until I got to the point, but they were spooking before I could get near.

So, I tossed a surface plug with my spinning gear.  It was slow going, but within a few casts I caught a decent white bass, and then a couple more.  The biggest was this 15-incher:

I moved around the point a little further.  Saw some more carp, and decided to try flyfishing for them.  Once again, I couldn't get near the fish that were visible in the shallows near shore, but there was some swirling going on just beyond them, so I tried blind casting for awhile with a beadhead mylar chenille bugger.  Jackpot!

I could have kept fishing for carp, and probably caught a few more, but it would have been slow and tedious since I couldn't really sight-fish for them.
So, I resumed chucking a topwater plug for White Bass with a spinning rod.  I found 'em, and caught one on nearly every cast for the next hour or so.  I also caught a largemouth bass.  As the sky started to get dark, the action slowed, but I was still catching them when I decided to leave.

Big Green Sunfish

Apparently it doesn't take much to get me excited...
I've caught countless Green Sunfish over the years.  Most of them were small...like 2"-5"  range.
In the past couple of years I've been getting some larger and larger ones in a few places.  I've caught some 9-inchers this year, with the biggest I've measured being 9.25".
Today during lunch I caught another 9-incher.  This one was SO DEEP-BODIED...it just seemed even BIGGER.  I had to measure it.

 It takes a 10" Green Sunfish to qualify for an Iowa Master Angler Award...which seems crazy...I've NEVER seen one that big...yet.  I really kind of suspect that many of these "Green Sunfish" people catch that are 10" or better may actually be Hybrid Sunfish.  But maybe not?  If not, that means that these fish DO get bigger, so hopefully within another year or two one of my local spots will produce one that big.

Anyway, I also did catch a crappie, a couple Hybrid Sunfish, a couple more Green Sunfish, and a couple small Bluegills, all on a gold microjig under an indicator.

Back to the Schoolyear Grind

My kids have been back in school for a few weeks now.  After school activities have resumed as well.  To me, that means its back to being difficult to find time to go fishing.

But you gotta do what you gotta do.  So, last night I dropped my son off at one of his activities, and then flyfished for about 75 minutes just before dark.  It was a public pond in a nearby 'burb.  I fished a variety of flies, caught a few bluegills, before I finally settled on what the FISH wanted, rather than what I wanted to use.  The fish wanted something that floated on the surface.  I ended up catching 15 Bluegills (biggest was a nice 9.25" fish), 1 Hybrid Sunfish (a big chunky 9-incher), and 1 surprise Crappie.

Both of these fish fought really well.  The bluegill in the bottom picture..I seriously thought I had a 13" bass on the line..it even took line out of my hand!

U.S. Stream Mapping

If you are interested in finding streams, knowing what is upstream or downstream of your favorite fishing spots, or whan to print stream maps...this is a great website (I learned of it from the MidCurrent flyfishing e-newsletter).
This is the link...check it out!

National Atlas - Streamer

Evening Fishing, 8-21-2013

I fished Saylorville last night from @ 5pm-8:30pm.  

I spent the first hour trying to fool some carp with my fly rod.  I missed the hookset on the few strikes I got.

Then I walked up to the tip of the point, and tossed a Pop-R around it for the rest of the time.  I caught 8 Largemouth Bass up to 17.5”,  and at least 25 White Bass up to 14.5”.  Most White Bass were in the 12”+ range…best average size I’ve experienced so far this year.  About 8:15pm, the action shut off abruptly.

Birthday Fishing, 8-19-2013

It was my birthday.  Who wants to work on their birthday?  I took the day off and went kayak-fishing with my buddy Jay.

It was a SLOW fishing day, but we didn't try many spots either.  I'm guilty for wasting a lot of time trying to catch carp on the fly rod.

We put in at a Cherry Glen gravel ramp.  I caught a bass from shore while waiting for Jay to show up. 

Then the first bay north of there, I caught a Wiper on a Pop-R. 

As gulls and osprey would fly over, carp would scatter from the shoreline, so I beached the kayak in that bay (while Jay drifted down to Oak Grove), and tried stalking carp, but it was cloudy and they spotted me first.  I chucked the topwater from the rocky point on the south side of that bay and caught a couple largemouth bass, biggest was a nice 17.5-incher. 

I caught a white bass in that bay before I left there.

We drifted on around the corner towards the beach.  I marked a lot of fish pretty much everywhere, but the schools of baitfish were generally 5'-10' deep, and not near the surface.  So, there was very little surface activity to direct our efforts.  We beached near the 2nd rocky point NE of the Oak Grove beach.  I caught 2 bass there, the biggest was a skinny 19-incher that had one bad eye.  I slowed my Pop-R down so he could catch up to it. :) 

I also spotted a number of carp there, but once I got my fly rod out, I didn't see anymore.  Bastiches!!  I caught a white bass there as well.

We continued on down the shoreline past some Turkey Vultures hanging out along the shoreline:

Then we went back to the Marina Tower.  We knew it wouldn't be pumping...but the wind was blowing right into it, so we had hopes something would be going on there.  We saw a few tiny bust-ups.  Turns out...not much was going on there.  I caught some big shad on a fly...yeah, they tried to eat it!   That's a new species for my fly rod list!  I'm sure I could have caught more if I'd used a smaller nymph!

I caught one carp on a fly, had another bigger one on that broke the line after rubbing it on something rough.

We actually resorted to using shad..or chunks of shad...for bait, and Jay caught at least 3 nice bass on that, and a Drum. I caught one bass on the shad.  That was pretty much it.  We saw one big bust up north of Oak Grove beach as we were making our way back, but it was done before we could get to it.

Flyrod Fish Species Life-List Update

Yep...its a "slow news day".  So, I was perusing my Fishing Log.

After adding a couple of new species earlier this year, I have now caught 30 species of fish on flyfishing gear, 25 in Iowa.

The Iowa species are (my Fly-Rod Biggest of each species is in parentheses):

1.Largemouth Bass (20.25")

2.Smallmouth Bass (16")

3.Bluegill (9.75")

4.Redear Sunfish (9.5")

5.Green Sunfish (9")

6.Pumpkinseed Sunfish (7")

7.Hybrid Sunfish (9")

8.Black Crappie (13")

9.White Crappie (14.5")

10.Wiper (18.5")

11.White Bass (15")

12.Yellow Bass (7")

13.Yellow Perch (10.75")

14.Walleye (19")

15.Channel Catfish (31")

16.Yellow Bullhead (13")

17.Common Carp (32")

18.Grass Carp (36.5")

19.Shortnose Gar (26")

20.Bigmouth Buffalo (28")

21.Smallmouth Buffalo (22.5")

22.Freshwater Drum (11")

23.Rainbow Trout (14")

24.Brown Trout (14")

25.Brook Trout (12")

And the following species were caught in other states:

26.Northern Pike (24")

27.Peacock Bass (18")

28.Oscar (13")

29.Spotted Tilapia (10")

30.Mayan Cichlid (10")

I have also caught Steelhead and Chinook Salmon on flies...but since I was using spinning gear to cast them, I can't count those species yet.

Lunchtime Flyfishing Report, 8-6-2013

I haven't flyfished during lunch for awhile.  Tried one of the backwater ponds below Saylorville Lake dam.
Only caught one fish, a Freshwater Drum.  Iowa's only relative of the highly desirable saltwater Redfish.

Saylorville Lake, 8-4-2013

I love it when my expectations are exceeded.

I didn't have high hopes of catching much of anything...IF anything.  But, I headed out to see what was what at the lake.  I ended up fishing from  about 6:15pm-9pm.

I had a spinning rod and a fly rod with me.  First stop, I did a lot of casting.  I finally had one hit, which turned out to be a really nice 15" White Bass:

Apparently he was all alone, because I didn't get anymore.

So, I started slowly walking up the shoreline hoping to spot some carp in the shallows.  I saw one.  I got my fly rod ready, I made one cast.  Well, I put the fly in the water about 3 times before I was satisfied and actually started a retrieve.  I couldn't see my fly, but saw the carp turn and nose down about where I suspected the fly was.  My line tightened, I set the hook and FISH ON!  I tell you, times like that make you feel like a HERO.  After all the times when the fish ignore my offerings...or I just never spot the fish before they spot me.  It isn't easy...but sometimes it FEELS like it is!  :) 

Anyway, I landed the carp after a nice strong battle.

I didn't see anymore carp after that, except a few that took off away from shore before I ever spotted them.

I switched back to spinning gear and continued fishing for whatever would hit.  I was joined by my buddy and his wife.  I ended up catching 4 Largemouth Bass up to @ 16", and one surprise Bluegill.  We saw fish crashing schools of shad near the shoreline, within easy casting distance.  Only a couple fish were caught by casting to them, though.
The ending was a nice sunset.