Sunfish Heaven Revisited

Watching my grandson again last week, so I figured I'd be able to visit the pond for some more fishing.  When I asked the Tri-lakes members to suggest warm water flies for the boys at Good Samaritan Boys Ranch to tie this fall, Paul made a few suggestions.  One that he said we should tie is the Briminator.  I don't have any Pheasant feathers, so I made a substitution to get almost the same look and, I hoped, action. I took my two Briminators with me last Friday morning to give them a try.

When I unlocked and opened the gate to my sister's place, I was greeted by a couple of cows. I didn't know if they had broken through the electric fence or if my brother-in-law had moved them over.  Either way, it meant they had the same access to the pond as I did. I drove past their yard and saw the gate closed, so I now knew there were cows in the same pasture as the pond I was going to fish. And, as I found out later, in the pond.

I decided to try the Briminator first, so I tied one on and walked down to the water. I started at the closest access point and caught a few sunfish. I moved over to the dam and caught a few more.  A few of the cattle decided they wanted to cross the dam, but after spotting me and the long rod, they watched me a while, decided they wanted to avoid me, turned around and walked to the other side of the pond.

Two or so hours of fishing and my Briminator was terminated. My thoughts about the fly, the fish and the pond are: I caught a lot of fish including two bass, but all small ones. There were several times when I had to get out the hemostat to remove a fly taken too deeply.  That wasn't a problem with the poppers I used two weeks ago. Instead of a six weight, I used a four weight that I built.  It was a real nice choice because none of the fish caught were very big.  The fish didn't seem to have any fight to them even on the lighter rod.

Sharing the pond



Sunfish caught on a Briminator

 

The next evening I decided to try my luck again and I thought I'd mix up the flies a bit. The fishing was the slowest this summer. All of the takes except one that I missed were easy takes, nothing hitting anything hard. I caught three bass and a few sunnies. The smallest bass, all of about eight or mine inches, gave me the best time as he broke water with nice jumps three times. The flies I used were a popper, a Briminator, and a bug-z.  I caught fish on all three.

Sunfish Heaven

Having no plans for the Fourth of July, I decided to head to my son's house in Chamois and fish my sister's pond less than 5 minutes from Randy's. If anyone else fishes this pond, they are sneaking in and doing such when no one is around.  So its about as close to my own personal fishing spot as possible.  My plan was to fish for a couple hours, twice a day, starting at about 6 AM and then again 6 PM.

I'm very fortunate to have an upcoming trip with Steve, author "Campeche's Baby Tarpon" in the latest issue of Flyfisher to fish for these fish he described. To fish for these baby tarpon I'll need to use an 8 weight rod, which I seldom cast.  So, even though I've been practicing some with my 8 wt., I decided to take it to the pond and cast on the water.  Armed with the 8 wt. with a helmet head sculpin and a 6 wt. with a Wilson Bug-Z, I decided to attack the sunfish and bass in this little pond. First I used the 8 wt. and to my surprise started catching sunfish. Yes, this is a lot bigger rod than needed, but again I need the practice casting a heavy rod.  When I got tired of the heavy rod, I changed to the 6 wt. and caught sunfish and largemouth of this as well, yes, I'm aware that the largemouth is also a sunfish. That 6 wt. really felt light after the 8 wt.



Sunfish caught on a Wilson Bug-Z
 

I returned to the 8 wt. and my sculpin pattern was eventually destroyed, so I tied on a large deer hair popper.  One bass that took this barely was able to get it in his mouth and the sunfish were only able to move it about. 

Last Monday, Sharon hosted a "popper" party at her and Joe's house.  She, Lou, Tom and I met before our Tri-lakes Fly Fisher meeting and tied poppers.  Those I tied that night, along with a couple I already had were my weapon of choice the other several times I fished. The fish loved them. I don't normally use poppers, but that may change.  As I said, the fish loved them, any that I threw to them.  After these sessions I can understand why Tom likes them so much.

I fished am and pm on both Thursday and Friday, tied some flies and went to a local church's fried chicken dinner on Saturday, then fished again Sunday AM.  Here are a few more pictures of the fish and the pond.  There is probably a different popper in each picture and I believe I'll have one more with a Bug-Z. 

One of Tom's poppers
 

Love the color this one shows
 

A Bug-Z fooled this one

Going back to Randy's the end of this week to watch Rowan, who informed me he wants to fish.  I just may forget the worms and give him a flyrod with a popper tied on.  Fishing this nice little pond early and again in the evening was very nice.

Back in the Water Again

Man, its been awhile, both trout fishing and posting.  I did go with the MSU class in May, but that was mainly helping the students.  Fished Rex's pond and caught some fantastic blue gills.  Helped the boys at Good Samaritan Boys Ranch, but again, that was mainly helping.  Took Rowan fishing a couple of days last week; he's casting a Zebco pretty well and he caught a few blue gill.

I did try a new fly by Terry, he's calling it a Bug-Z.  I caught blue gill and bass on it at the boys ranch and a nice crappie when fishing with Rowan.  Should have tried it today at Taney, but I never.

Fishing buddy Russ and I wanted to fish a tail water the last two days, but everyone was running water.  Today, Russ couldn't go, but the generators were off this morning at Taney, so off I went.  As I approached the 248/165 intersection I saw eight deer standing on and near the shoulder of the road,  Slowed way down, didn't want to collide with one, much less eight.  Fortunately, they saw me, turned and ran back into the woods. Drove down to the parking lot by the outlets and geared up.  Realized my net was back in the garage.  Not a big deal unless I hooked a really large fish...no suspense, I did not. 

As I approached the water I noticed that the spot I like to fish was available, so I was happy to get it.  On about my third cast I got a snag and broke my hook, I was fishing an extra fine one.  Tied on another, just a little heavier and on the first cast I found the same snag.  I can be a slow learner.  This time the tippet broke.  Retied, slightly adjusted my approach and got a beautifully colored trout about 14 inches long.  This guy must have thought he was a wild one as he jumped at least 7 or 8 times.  Brought him to hand an released him.  This trout and all of the other brightly colored ones were very slender,  The duller ones actually seemed fatter and healthier. One bad experience from not having my net.  If you are  fishing a dropped be sure you are clear of the lead hook when you release the fish on the other.  I wasn't and the fish really set the hook well in my finger.  Sure glad I fish barbless hooks. This one was in deep enough that it still took some effort to remove. The blood on the fly may have helped because I started catching fish on that fly.

There was a father and son fishing just downstream.  They had just one rod and the father was trying to help his young son how to fly fish. I could tell the boy was getting bored, he wasn't getting any hits, so I told his dad about Mountain Spring.  He said they may try it before they head back to Tulsa.

Not too many fish, but standing in the cool water with the fog surrounding me really felt good.  I finished a good day by visiting Dana's for lunch and then buying a 2013 Silverado Crew Cab.

March Madness Begins...

The two white creatures on the water are white pelicans.

 

Yes, I skipped the opening of trout season at Missouri's trout parks.  Tried that once and decided that was enough.  So when today looked like it would be fairly nice and with the water off, I headed to Taneycomo. The temperature was not too bad, but the wind was gusting pretty good and made casting a little difficult.  I've been tying a lot of classic wet flies and thought I'd try one or two of those.  But I still tied on a soft hackle as a dropper.  In what was probably a little less than two hours more than a handful of trout were brought to hand, or net, and released. All but two were caught on a soft hackle!

One of the pelicans

The second trout I landed was probably the heaviest, a nice fat rainbow of about 15 inches; the last one was probably just as lengthy, maybe a little longer, but no girth at all.  It was colored nicely and fought okay, but "skinny as a rail". March madness? As I was putting my net away after landing that second fish, I somehow managed to undo the net from my vest.  While playing in the water successfully retrieving the net, my rod bent.  Yep, I had left the flies drift down stream as I was playing with the net. The result was another nice, 14-15 inch rainbow.  These were the only two fish caught on the wet fly and not the soft hackle.  They were the largest fish caught by me today.  Two white pelicans were swimming on the lake for awhile.  It was a pretty sight when they decided to leave.  They were so white against the drab background of the leafless trees.

This is a busy month, five of us are planning a two day trip this weekend.  We'll be fishing the upper end of the North Fork of the White Saturday and then Simms Valley Lake from our kayaks on Sunday.  There are supposed to be chain pickerel in the lake and that is what we will be going after. The following week we begin our fishing class at the boys' ranch and then I head to Mountain Home, Arkansas for the sowbug round-up. Thankfully, the MSU class doesn't start until the first week of April this year. Hope to have some more stories for next week.


Have to add a few fish pictures!

Fishin the "Glades"

 

 
Gary and I flew to Fort Meyers, then drove to Naples on Tuesday for three days of fishing with Capt. Jon Sebold.  Gary had fished with Capt. Jon several years ago and has been talking about going back ever since. A cold front, actually two, and strong winds prevented us from fishing in the gulf, so Capt. Jon got his flats boat and we headed to the Everglades. Each day, we dressed a little warmer and put in at Chokoloskee Island in the northwest part of Everglades National Park


  I have always pictured the Everglades as very narrow creeks flowing through the mangroves. The amount of open water, large rivers and bays really surprised me. The first morning after passing over several bodies of open water, traveling up wide and fairly wide rivers at nearly open throttle, we were going up a narrower creek at the required "no wake" speed and came up to two park rangers.  Capt. Jon showed them the required license, life preservers and throw cushion and then we were on our way to the next bay and some tarpon fishing.  If you are only interested in fly fishing, let me say right away that I left my fly tackle at home and was using spinning outfits.  After the three days, I've probably redeveloped all of my bad habits, not that I was ever a good caster.

The first day proved fun and eye opening, but was very slow. I think of it as a day of ones.  I saw one dolphin, one shark, one alligator and Gary had one very good hook-up. A very nice tarpon that unfortunately took one great leap and shook loose from the hook.  He left Gary with a souvenir, a scale that a half dollar would not cover up, perhaps not even a silver dollar. Both the captain and Gary guessed that the tarpon would have been in the hundred pound class.  Gary caught one that large last time he was down. That was the only hook-up on the first day. A few more tarpon were seen, a few takes, but no hook-ups.

Thursday morning was colder and windier than Wednesday.  We decided to target redfish and snook on this day. The Lady fish had a different idea.  It seems like every place we cast they were present. When the ladies took your lure they started shaking and dancing all over the water.  Although they are fun to catch, we were looking for snook and redfish. We also got into some sea trout and that is when I got lucky.  The Audubon book says the sea trout get up to 28 inches and this one that I caught and Capt. Jon is holding for me is very close to that size, if not larger.

 Thursday gave us many more fish than the previous day, but no redfish and no snook. We did catch lots of ladyfish and sea trout.  Lots of fun, but not what we were looking for.  We saw more alligators, pictures follow, and a couple of sharks.  The captain said he hit a bull shark twice on the nose with his pole when the shark came up to investigate.  Later we saw another large shark that was swimming on his side and not showing his dorsal fin.  Sick or injured, or just acting strange?

 

 The gator shown here followed us up this creek and kept cruising past us.  He was there when we were fishing and came to look at us when we were having lunch. In the last of these three pictures you can see him between the captain and Gary. He's not too far from the boat. Its possible he thought our bottles of water were fish and that's why he stuck around.

 Wednesday we were dressed even warmer.  I believe Gary and I each had two long sleeve shirts, a fleece vest and a rain jacket, we were also wearing rain pants to act as a wind breaker.  It was a very cold, for Florida, morning so we had decided to start a little later than the previous two days.

As on the previous day, we went after snook and redfish, but started with ladyfish and a couple of trout.  Then we finally found some snook.  They are definitely fun to catch; good, strong fighters and, yes, I speak from experience as I managed to catch a few nice size ones.  I believe it was some time after lunch when we finally found a couple of redfish and a few more snook. Wish I could describe what it was like to catch a redfish, but I still haven't experienced that yet. Gary landed one or two, but all I managed on Friday were snook, sea trout and, of course, a couple of ladyfish.

I really enjoyed the trip.  Gary is always fun to fish with even if he doesn't fly fish.  Capt. Jon was helpful and you could tell he enjoyed what he was doing. Good time, I'm sure I'd do it again, but perhaps when its a little warmer.

Now a few more pictures.

What I thought all of the Everglades looked like.
 

A Favorite Fly?

 

When asked if I have a favorite fly, I usually reply that it depends upon what I’m fishing for. That’s probably not true since I find that I’m usually fishing for trout and I tie one fly or should I say type of fly more than any other.

When I first discovered the joys of fly fishing, back in the 90”s, I predominately used wooley buggers and prince nymphs. Then I moved down here, found River Runners on the internet and started fishing midges under an indicator.  I also started going to Bass Pro Shop on Tuesdays where Steve Fritz teaching fly tying.  It seemed like every week River Runners was telling what the new hot midge was and I had to tie them and fish them.  I usually did okay

 But I never really did enjoy watching an indicator.  There is nothing wrong with that type of fishing, I just never mastered it.

 

Then one night at Fritz’s class we tied soft hackles and Steve described how he liked to fish this particular fly.  The next time I went to Taneycomo, I tried soft hackles and I’ve been hooked since then. I tie mine light so they swing just under the surface of the water in the film.  Its fun to watch the fish rise to take one, almost as much fun as fishing a dry, but with a soft hackle the fish often hooks itself.  That eliminates the hesitation needed when you see a trout rising to the dry.
 

Do I match the hatch? No.  Try to duplicate the size? No. I almost always use a #15 or 16 hook, depending upon the hook I’m using. I do like black, barbless (or pinched down barb) dry fly hook.  Color? I’ve tried several different colors and body materials.  I don’t believe I ever tied a soft hackle that didn’t catch fish ( but every time).  I seldom try a new fly that doesn’t work; probably because the fly doesn’t look like anything the trout has seen recently.

The last couple of years, I’ve used two patterns with good results.  One is the classic “purple  and starling”; the other has a caddis green body and a dark hackle.  Before the sun hits the water or on overcast days I seem to have better luck on the purple and on bright days the caddis green.  Often I’ll fish two flies, one of each color.  Recently I’ve replaced the second soft hackle with what I believe is called a g-bug.  When I fish the two fly combinations I catch fish on both flies but so far I’ve never caught a fish on each at the same time.

So I guess that I don't have a favorite fly, but rather a favorite style of fly...a soft hackle, almost any soft hackle.

Tom T. Hall has a song, "I Like Beer" in which announces he doesn't just like beer, but he loves it.  That's kind of the way I feel about fishing soft hackles.

Fish Tales

Late start to fishing this year.  But the weather was beautiful and they were not scheduled to run water all day, so off to Taneycomo. I packed all of my equipment, then decided I better check to be sure the water was off. Called and the recording said zero generation, just what I was expecting! Then the lake level followed by the tailwater level.  Tail water was over 705 feet which means they had been running water and just turned it off. This level would have meant just the top of my head above water, but hopefully it would be near normal when I arrived so off I went.

When I got to the parking lot the level looked just right for fishing and not many cars! Waders on, I headed for the water.  There must have been 3 or 4 fishermen in each car; the lake was crowded. The spot I normally fish had 8 or 9 people in it.  Usually I feel crowded if I'm the 4th. Oh well, I head a little further downstream and start casting.  Wham! I've got a fish and I mean a really nice one.  He runs this way and that but I'm making progress.  When I spot him, my heart starts beating faster, this will be the largest rainbow I've caught.  Well, it would have been.  My line suddenly goes limp and I'm thinking I've tied a defective knot.  But when I retrieve my line here is what I have.

You'll notice that all the dressing is still there, but the business end, the point is missing.  the hook was broken off at the bend.  Not a cheap hook, its a TMC.

The rest of the morning was slow, I caught a few more, all between 12 and 14 inches.  Fish were caught on the purple soft hackle and the tan g-bug.  All in all, a good morning, slow, but never too long without a fish.  So, a few days late, but I got my first fish of the year.  The one below was about the 3rd or 4th fish caught.

Finished the morning, early afternoon actually, with a trip to Dana's.  Still one of the best burgers around, but I skipped the onion rings this time.