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A Fall Day on a Pond

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  • A Fall Day on a Pond

    I had an enjoyable outing with friends on an Eastern Shore pond yesterday. The weather was beautiful, especially when compared to what mother nature has presented to us today. Such a pretty scene:

    P1060471 (3).jpg

    The pond had residual growth of spatterdock:

    P1060464 (2).jpg

    It’s starting to yellow but it’s still thick and it still held fish. I know that because I dragged a weedless paddletail through it to see if it caught the attention of a pickerel or bass. It did. I saw the leaves moving as fish took an interest in my lure and I had a couple of splashes but I failed to hookup. That was fine. I would come back to the spatterdock. I had other plans.

    I wanted to cast flies so I started by finding shaded shorelines clear of excessive vegetation on the water that would snag my fly and line. I tossed a foam flyrod popper and it worked for two fish. Here’s one of the two pickerels I caught with it:

    P1060468 (2).jpg

    However, the topwater bite was fleeting. I decided to go subsurface with streamers. I had made these two crystal buggers for the outing:

    Crystal Buggers (2).jpg

    The top one is articulated. The bottom one is a standard crystal bugger. The large eyes are plastic beads I salvaged from an old costume jewelry necklace that my wife donated to the cause. The flies worked for numerous pickerels and this one small bass:

    P1060486 (2).jpg P1060496 (2).jpg

    Here is what the articulated fly looks like in the water (looking down) as I paddled to my next target area:

    P1060484 (2).jpg

    I wish I could show you how it looks on the retrieve. My standard approach is to strip, strip line for a few inches on each pull and pause. It’s during the pause that the fly comes to life. The fly is unweighted. It suspends momentarily in the water column. Because I secure it to the tippet with a perfection loop, it turns randomly to the right or left by the head as I pause. The back end also makes a turn to the right or left. At the same time the marabou tail pulsates. Even though the fly is gaudy and looks like no living creature, the allusion to predatory fish is that it is something to eat. Or maybe in a pickerel's aggressive mind it's something in its space that needs to be eliminated.

    For me, the fun of fishing at this time of year is that our pond waters and tidal creeks are clearing as they cool. I can see the fly in action several feet under the surface. I can also see the flash of a pickerel as it slashes at the fly, always from behind or the side. Never head-on. The waters are not so clear that I can sight cast to pickerels yet. That will come in winter. But for now, I find it exciting to see such a bust of speed under the surface and to suddenly feel the weight of a fish on the line in my left hand as I set the hook with a strip-strike and begin the process of pulling my catch in.

    I tossed the articulated fly on a 7-weight 9-foot rod with intermediate line and a mono 30-pound leader four feet long. I cast the regular crystal bugger with another 7-weight, 9-foot rod with floating line and a graduated 8-foot leader and 30-pound bite tippet.

    I can’t say the fishing was fast and furious, but the pickerels kept me busy to the point that I never touched my spinning rod after my initial few casts with it. I got 16 picks in the net and the lone bass. And I lost a good number on long distance releases. Most that I boated were small at 16 to 18 inches. One reached 20 inches and one was 19 inches. All of them went airborne after I hooked them. Unfortunately, that’s also when they are most likely to come unbuttoned. I don’t count them as catches but I enjoy them just the same.

    Early in the day, the fish were tight to shore in shaded areas. Later they move off of the shoreline to slightly deeper. I targeted water that was not rippled on the surface by wind. Occasionally I would see fish breaking the surface crashing through minnows. When I saw that I would cast the fly in their direction just like casting a lure into breaking stripers. It yielded a few hookups.

    Back to the spatterdock. I mentioned earlier that I knew fish were hiding in it. When I cast flies, I work the edges of surface plants and I look for gaps in them to target with casts. Here’s a good example – a nice gap in the heart of the vegetation that yielded a catch:

    P1060499 (2).jpg

    I discovered that my ugly bead-headed streamers served a dual purpose. I could circle a field of spatterdock and cast the flies parallel and tight to the edges, sometimes going inside just 6 inches or a foot. The large beads on the head of the fly helped to deflect the spatterdock leaves from the hook-point. I don’t attest that the flies are weedless. I did snag leaves sometimes. But they were close enough to being weedless for my purposes.

    So, that was my day on a pond. I really enjoy fishing these waters.
    Mark
    Pasadena, MD


    Slate Hobie Revolution 13
    Hidden Oak Native Ultimate 12
    Lizard Lick Native Ultimate FX Pro

  • #2
    Looks like a fun trip! I'm really looking forward to fishing for pickerel now that things are starting to cool off. I feel like I've been saying that for a month or more at this point... yet the water continues to stay warm, keeping my interest on schoolie rockfish. I just signed up for the CCA MD pickerel tournament for the first time, so that should help me stay motivated to get out on the water when it actually gets cold instead of staying in bed.
    Dave

    2021 Hobie Outback Camo
    2013 Native Slayer Hidden Oak

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    • #3
      Dave,

      The pickerels will be waiting for you in good numbers in our tidal creeks and freshwater ponds.

      You'll face stiff competition in the CCA tournament. Good luck to you.

      The FSFF pickerel contest starts tomorrow. No entry fees for members but no enticing cash awards and prizes like the CCA tourney either. Just immortality. Winners have their names engraved on a plaque on the clubhouse wall.

      This year, we've included a new award category -- the smallest pickerel caught on a fly.

      In any case, treat the fish you catch well. Take your photos quickly and get them back into the water fast so they live to entertain us another day.
      Mark
      Pasadena, MD


      Slate Hobie Revolution 13
      Hidden Oak Native Ultimate 12
      Lizard Lick Native Ultimate FX Pro

      Comment


      • #4
        Great report Mark! I had some success with poppers in some shallow OBX ponds last week. The bass were hungry and looking up still.

        Those weeds look really tough to fish around, but that pond seems like a fun place to fish and looks like you had great weather too.

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        • #5
          Thanks Tom.

          Bass on top are great fun.

          John Rentch and I had a nice day several weeks ago with smallmouth on the Juniata hitting fly rod poppers. Our guide was surprised himself that they were still willing to rise. He was prepared for us to fish subsurface. However, as long as they were willing to rise, we were willing to keep feeding poppers to them.

          Regarding weeds, Just as Willie Sutton said he robbed banks because, “that’s where the money is”, I fish vegetation because that’s where the fish are. Also, I thoroughly enjoy making accurate fly casts into tight quarters. When a fish happens to reward my effort, it’s all the better.

          I’ve caught picks in the spring on fly rod poppers while bass fishing. Now that scenario reverses. I catch an occasional bass on streamers while pickerel fishing.

          Normally I don’t target pickerels with topwater. However, once in the dead of winter I had a pickerel hit a streamer fly on the surface on my first cast of the day before the fly was wet enough to sink. So, they will look up even in colder water. I think they’re more inclined to hit subsurface offerings now. But that may be habit on my part. Perhaps I should cast poppers to them in cooling water more often.
          Mark
          Pasadena, MD


          Slate Hobie Revolution 13
          Hidden Oak Native Ultimate 12
          Lizard Lick Native Ultimate FX Pro

          Comment


          • #6
            Thank you for the great report, Mark. You can really paint a picture with your words (and sometimes your pics also). I am hoping to accompany you to an Eastern Shore pond this fall/winter. Much like Dave, I had been postponing targeting pickerel as long as I was able to continue to catch stripers. That time has passed for this year. I have never targeted pickerel (last year I caught my first), but I am looking forward to the challenge.

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            • #7
              Thank you Rob. Stay in touch and we'll get out together again. The ponds are great pickerel locations and so are many of our tidal creeks. I've made several more productive pond outings since writing the above report. Pickerel action is indeed heating up as the water cools. They rarely disappoint.

              Also, I believe you have a copy of my book. Read or reread what I've written about them in Chapter 7 before your next pickerel outing. I think it will help you to both locate them and effectively present lures or flies to them. There are also subtle differences in fishing for them in ponds versus tidal waters. I discuss that too.

              So, there are plenty of those toothy devils in our local waters waiting to become acquainted with you, Rob. Get out there and meet them.

              Good luck,
              Mark
              Pasadena, MD


              Slate Hobie Revolution 13
              Hidden Oak Native Ultimate 12
              Lizard Lick Native Ultimate FX Pro

              Comment

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