Bluegill before work

I've been trying to discipline myself to wake up early to go fishing before work (I have to be there by 8).  It hasn't been easy though.  I made it one morning this week to my favorite little secret pond and tried out my new to me Orvis Superfine 6'6" 2 weight rod.
To my delight, the big bream were still there.

This 9 1/2"er put up quite a good fight.

And another. 

I usually don't catch that many bass from here but this one was looked to be quite healthy.

The cast before this fish I hooked into a HUGE bass (yeah, yeah, another 'one that got away story...).  She pulled out line for about a five seconds with two attempted jumps and finally spit my little size 12 Bead Chain Bream Killer (that's what I've decided to call one of my flies in a previous post) out. I say attempted jumps because in my experience catching bass above about 6 pounds, they usually can't get air born very easily, around 5 pounds can sky rocket out of the water with relative ease - bigger fish can't do it that well (that I've experienced).  I was very shaken and my return cast to the same spot brought me the nice bass above.  After that fish I just stood there and looked at the water shaking.  Yet another fish to haunt me.

I've never even seen a HINT of large bass in this little one acre pond so this was a big and pleasant surprise.  

I now have a little more incentive to wake up early to begin my day the way God meant me to start it.

Musical fly tying

Something I have noticed over the past several months about re-learning how to tie flies is it's similarity to playing an instrument. As in tying flies, in playing music there are practically no original ideas only repeated notes arranged differently. I have been doing a lot of tying lately trying to come up with something that works that came out of my own experience and brain. I think I finally found it but the more I look at it, the more familiar it looks. I think I've basically taken an idea and expanded on it, just like when I try to compose a tune on the guitar. So is it original? Maybe, maybe not. The fish seem to like it.

Here are a few flybox photos:

Not long ago I caught several bluegill that threw up something that looked like what is in the bottom row.

These represent one of my all time favorite 'catch anything, go to' flies, the Briminator.

Yes, I have a beadchain addiction. Preferably black ones. They look buggier to me and they help the fly to ride hook point up. That gives me more confidence to fish the flies in heavier cover without getting hung up as often.

Here's a very slow sinking idea that I got from a friend of mine.

It's got a squirrel tail 'wing' that helps it to ride hook point up and serves as a weed guard. Sometimes it just sits in the surface film and the leggies (technical term) move a little and trigger strikes.



I have no idea what to call any of these so for now, I'm just calling them 'one of them' as in, Passer by says: "hey man, what are you catching all of those big fatties with?" I say, "Oh me? I'm just using one of them." Get it? 

Texas fishing in April

This past weekend Will and I took another epic trip this time we went down to my homeland: East Texas to fish with on a private lake with an old friend.

 It was one of those get off work, drive through the night and start fishing when you get there sort of trips.
On the way there, almost to our secret destination, we hit a cicada storm.  Those things are juicy!

 The forecast for Saturday basically said "90 degrees and windy". I thought, "okay we've handled some wind before so we'll be fine." It turned out to be some very serious wind. Wind with a capitol C. Sustained winds of 25mph gusting in the 40's. Not exactly hospitable to the long rod and feathery hooks. We fished anyway. Will had just completed my 4wt 'heavy hitter' - a 9' MHX blank that I was planning on being my bass rod. That thing is sweet and fits the role perfectly. My first cast with it hooked me into a nice bass but I lost it after a jump because I was also trying to control the boat. Will fished his newly finished 5wt 'glass rod and his 3wt Lami. I also fished my 2 and 3 wt Superfines. All of our equipment did well in the winds but it was certainly a challenge to get the flies to the fish and detect strikes. The first day was frustrating partly due to lack of sleep and partly due to the wind. We coped and were determined not to let it get in the way of our fish catching though.

 Will with a healthy little bass.

 The second day brought more fish. We found an old abandoned dock that harbored some huge coppernose bluegill.

 We caught dozens of them and at times had doubles.

One of my goals for the year was to catch a 10" bluegill and most of our fish hit that mark or surpassed it. My best for the day was a 12" bruiser.

 Will caught a very nice spawned out 5 pound bass that he fought like a pro.

It nailed his streamer when he was retrieving it in and that fish put up quite the fight with several jumps and dives for the brush and weeds.

 Later in the afternoon we went back to the abandoned dock to see if we could catch a few more fatties.

We did. (the one that got away alert) After catching a few more fatties and some warmouth I hooked into the biggest bluegill I've ever seen. I fought him for a few seconds but he broke me off. We both got a good look at it and confirmed it wasn't a bass but a bluegill. It was about the size of a serving platter. I was in shock and I needed to sit down and recollect my wits. I was shaken. That fish was BIG and I am now haunted by it. I have a mission now.

 We fished several flies that I tied for the trip and I was able to mentally tweak the designs a bit (I'll do a post on those soon too). Along with some VERY healthy fish, the lake was filled with lots of brush and lily pads so we lost an amazing amount of flies.

We ate better than on any of our trips due the generous hospitality of my friends. We stayed in more luxurious accommodations than ever before. We will definitely be back.

Texas March extravaganza

Several weeks ago my family took a trip down to Texas to enjoy the finer F's of that wonderful state: family friends and food. Oddly enough, Texas also holds some very nice fishing opportunities so I decided to add that to the list of F's and fish at every moment I could.
My Mom (and sister with her family) lives north of Austin near some great sections of a beautiful creek that I enjoy fishing when I'm in town. This creek holds largemouth bass, Guadalupe bass, bluegill, redear, redbreast, Rio Grande Perch and many other species. My goal was to catch as many of these as I could.

 I woke up early before family activities to get an hour or two in the water and would take a few hours in the afternoon while others were resting. I caught dozens of fish each time. None were huge but it was fascinating to me to learn how each species would take the fly and and fight. I began to learn what kind of fish I had on before I saw it. There were also dozens of carp swimming in the waters that I tried sight casting to. None of them were interested in what I offered but it was a lot of fun watching them feed and chase each other around. I was using my Superfine 1wt and I wasn't exactly thrilled about getting spooled by a carp so I was happy to catch my targeted bream and bass. The water was pretty clear so I imagine the carp saw me but several times one of those 2 foot monsters ran into my shins then would slap me with their tail as they sped off. Made me laugh.

Of all the sunfish out there I think the redbreast is on the top for me. For some reason I just love them - their aggressive feeding and fighting and their natural beauty really stand out. I'm on the hunt for these here in Missouri but haven't found them yet.

After a few days in the Austin area we went up to Dallas to visit my mother-in-law, brother-in-law (and his family) and several friends. I arranged an opportunity to fish with two guys I know from the Ultralight Forum. Les and Jerry are two guys that i have enhanced my gear acquisition abilities with and are both outstanding fisherman. We fished Les' home creek and had a great time.

 Fishing started out slow but picked up. Roll casting is a must and I got a lot of practice in. Les is a roll casting machine and I learned a lot just from watching him - he's a terrific teacher and host/guide too. I bet he could practically fish his waters blindfolded (that would probably level the playing field a bit too!).

 Even though I had only known these guys virtually, we hit it off quite well an were ribbing each other like brothers. We caught a ton of greenies, bluegill, longears and bass.

This was definitely a highlight of the trip.

Smokies: conclusion

(I've tried to post this report in full two separate times but it got deleted somehow when I published it.  Hopefully I will succeed this time.)
Saturday we woke up refreshed, had our usual breakfast of Clif Bars, tobacco and campstove coffee (you ought to try it - very tasty) and got ready to hit the roadside stream in search of brookies.

 When we got to the stream and got set up we noticed the stream did not have the volume of flow as the water from the day before though it was still pretty swift. 

I watched Will wade ahead of me while I lit my pipe and took the surroundings in.  I soon discovered that the big boulders were quite slick and much care is required to navigate through them.  I fell in up to my pits but somehow didn't fill my waders.  That was the first of too many plunges. 
Half an hour into it I hooked my first brookie.  I let out a few shrill yodels to get Will's attention but by the time I got the fish to my hand it flopped off.  I got a good look at it though.
This fishing was stealth ninja commando fishing like I've never done before.  Very challenging with the rhododendrons and other vegetation reaching out to grab the flies and the huge boulders to hurdle over. 

Will was using his freshly finished Lamiglass 7' 3 weight and I was using my Orvis Superfine 7'9" 2 weight.  Both tools well suited to this kind of fishing.

 A little bit after our lunch break of summer sausage, cheese and pita bread I hooked into a nice little brookie while I was sitting on a rock trying to blend in.

 

This fish was every bit as beautiful in the picture.  A really unique fish that I felt it was honor to catch.

A little later that afternoon we decided to pack it up and head back to the campsite.  Before arriving at the campsite we decided to hit a stretch of water just outside the campground that looked quite good to us.  At the outset, we knew the water was swift but we didn't realize how deep it was.  Will - who is quite a capable wader -  made it across with some difficulty and I decided to follow.  I've never been so scared and stuck in my life.  I honestly didn't know whether to back track or keep going but decided to keep going.  After we made it across safely a trio of whitewater kayakers paddled by looking at us while we were either crazy or stupid - the answer is yes.  We fished there for a while and just continued our frustration with our bad timing and decided to call it over and go back to the campsite for a relaxing evening.  When we were de-wadering and taking down the rods a ranger pulled up to us and asked for our licenses.  Not long before this I realized that I had probably left my license in the previous day's shirt in the tent but wasn't certain.  I looked through every pocket I had and discovered that it in fact was not with me.  I told the ranger that I bought a license but that it was in my tent.  He was kind enough to follow us back to the tent and said that it's not a far drive and the it's better than a $100 fine.  I agreed.

That evening we got to experience our overcrowded neighboring campsite.  They were apparently having a great time in some other language and had spread their stuff every where.  When we were sitting by our fire about 8:30 we noticed them driving away.  The next morning when we were packing up to leave a ranger came up to me and asked if we were with them.  I said 'no'.  He said 'what's up with THAT!?'  Motioning over to the campsite next to ours.  There was an immense man made mess of food and trash, chairs and grills.  He said that he was surprised that mess didn't draw in a bear and has never seen anything like that in all his years of working there.  Several other rangers showed up to clean it up and they said the same thing.  It looked like a teenage girls room but with camping food and debris everywhere instead of clothes.

What a way to leave this crazy weekend but it seemed somewhat fitting. It was a great trip and was extremely frustrating at times.  Frustrating because our timing was so bad.  Would we do this again?  Probably so.