| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 |
Got to go out for a few hours today. It was notable in the fact that of three folks fishing that little puddle of water I was the only one catching. Why? Well could it be due to the fact that I was FLY FISHING?!?! Heh. The other two folks out there were using spinning gear and still fishing or dragging jigs. I was using a newly tied midge that has a green sparkle body with a small peacock thorax and a shimmery material like a wing case or bubble. It was on a 22" 5x tippet connected to one of the 7'4" furled leaders I had also just made! Another was a read bead bloodworm looking pattern that sank very nicely. The midge pattern required me to use a sink tip but it worked just the same.
Cast was pretty good today. Near the end when I started to get tired I was pushing the rod too much and got a few wind knots but I managed to untangle those just dandy! I was consistently getting past the 50' range on the distance casts and that helped me cover a good amount of water. There was a gentle wind that made the line drift just nicely and I would find a likely spot then cast out and let the wind drift the line with a very slight and slow strip to pull the line in. I would wait for the tell tale stop and then with a bit of patience a set of the hook and I had fish!
Official score for the outing was eight or nine blue gills with a couple that were a very respectable 7" or so. The venue of choice for today was the Vocational School (Camden County Technical) on Berlin-Crosskeys road. Usually this body of water has a fountain that sprays out but it has been turned of for the last while. There are also reportedly some good sized bass in the water but they were not interested in playing today. I think that with some warmer weather I can entice them to some action. It was in the low fifties today with on and off sunshine. I started the fishing at around 9:00am and finished at noon. I had to return Mickey Blue Eyes back to the video store and get some fixings for dinner.
A great day but I miss having my camera! I will try to get with the insurance folks on Monday so I can get started on getting the replacement. On the good side I did get a nice new forest green from my in-laws which has a ton of pockets! I love it. It's got a bottom section that can be unzipped to transform the vest into a wading length one. Now I have to get s smaller hand net and a quick detach clip for more troublesome fish.
A nice end my the weekend!
Well, we're still cameraless but we're working on it. I've been busy learning new things (as always). I've just made my first "Furled Leaders". This is a very interesting process that uses fly tying thread to create a tapered leader that is very limp and turns over very nicely. I made my first leader on Wednesday of this week and then modified the jig I use to make the leader to create longer versions. I love learning new things like that. Big thanks go out to Claude Freaner for his directions of making the Jig and the Leaders.
I've also been quite active posting now to both r.o.f.f. (rec.outdoors.fly.fishing) and ff@ (Fly Fishing Mailing List). These are great places to converse/laugh/cry/get angry/yell and otherwise share all things with people that have a common love of fly fishing.
I did go out briefly this afternoon to see what the furled leader would perform like. It was wonderful! I used an 8/0 thread and it came out to a 5' 9" furled leader. I then attached a 22" 8x tippet and a size 26 gnat onto it. It lay that fly out just as gentle as can be! I can't wait to spend more time casting with this leader!
I also have a heavier 6/0 9' leader that I'll use with my 8wt.
Read all about the fun on the first fishing trip of the year!
No Photos for this trip just a tally and some observations...
Landed 9 trout all ranging from 12" to 15 1/2" in size. All Rainbows. In the pond there are definite favorite places the trout will congregate. Near the main long dock on either side. A long 50 - 60' cast can get you out where they are. Also on the shore you can do some angle casting to avoid the close trees behind you to reach the trout about 30-40' out. I was using some rather hastily tied Strymphs this trip. Black with a grizzly hackle and insect green with a grizzly hackle. The tail was a lightly applied marabou and the body chenille. They were weighted with lead wire from the mid point of the shank forward to make them nose dive. I would wait for a rise (taking caddis of some kind... Saw one on my hand and it looked to be about a 26 in scale) and then cast towards the rise. Let the ripples settle while waiting for the fly to sink some. Then a couple of short quick strips followed by a longer slow one. Usually the trout would slash at the fly and although I didn't land all of the hits I did get a good number in.
The other type of fly used was a bead larvae imitation. I fished a variety of them from ones tied on a scud hook to ones on a Tiemco 200r. The only down side was that the beads were stressed and I ended up cracking quite a few of them. I found that the scud hooks really secure the fish! the one hook up I got with the scud hook went into the fish twice! No way that fella was gonna wag that off!
After landing about six trout near the main dock I decided to work my way around the various docks. I wore my polarized glasses and I could see the trout and various other fish as I walked around the lake from the side. Since I was looking down towards the water I got a great view of them. I found that the trout were swimming around in circles around the lake like a circuit. Almost all of the rises were within 30-40' of the shoreline. There were some father than that but they were not nearly as numerous as the ones that were closer to the shore.
Fishing from the docks on the sides is problematic as you can only cast to the sides. Back casting is almost impossible with the tree cover directly behind you. This suited well enough as I could cast the flies into the 30-40' band that the trout were swimming around the lake and I enjoyed several near solid hook ups. During this little hike I noticed some very light brown insects ovipositing in the water. This must have been what the fish were chasing after. I also saw some magnificent leaps by the trout chasing God only knows what! One large 'bow jumped about 2' clear of the water like a horse jumping a steeple. I wonder if this is because they are trying to get at the insects flying above the water?
This pond is usually very productive for all manner of fish but they all seem un-interested in my offerings. Strictly trout this time out. I look forward to seeing what the conditions will be like once the weather starts to warm up again.