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This past weekend 8 members of the Free State Fly Fishers visited several Delaware ponds for a kayak outing.
The weather was fantastic and welcomed by all as long overdue. Thus far our 2018 club outings have been challenged by Mother Nature. But this weekend she was kind to us with sunny days, moderate winds and rare spring-like temperatures.
Without a doubt, pickerels were our most prevalent catch. But we also caught bass, bluegills, crappie and yellow perch.
My first catch was a crappie on a Clouser Minnow. Then one of the outing participants radioed that he was getting bluegills on poppers. That surprised me because the water temperature was still chilly in the low 50s. However, like most anglers I have a weakness for surface strikes. So I tied on a foam spider and was surprised with this pickerel, not a bluegill, as my first local topwater catch of the year. (I had caught a few specks in FL on top in in January but that seems like ages ago given our cold spring.)
P1020934.jpg
The rest of my fly rod catches were on top. I caught bluegills, almost at will with the spider.
P1020947.jpg
I upsized to a gurgler looking for something larger than bluegills to strike. I caught this crappie and even more determined bluegills with it until a pickerel took it away for good.
P1020941.jpg
So I upsized again to a larger foam popper and got more picks and a bass to hit it until the picks shredded the hair from its tail. Here's one of the picks with a mouthful of foam and no doubt some bucktail in its belly:
P1020964.jpg
On day two I concentrated on fishing a weedless/weightless paddletail in the vegetation. I had a lot of fun annoying the pickerel with it. I caught 9 but lost probably three times as many. They create bow wave that moves the pads with their explosive strikes. But setting the hook was a challenge for me. I'll get better at that. Patience is key. I also got bit off three times. They nipped it clean just like they had scissors. Lesson -- Use more than 12 pound leader when fishing soft plastics for picks in the weeds.
In any case, here's one of nine I got my hands on:
P1020972.jpg
And one in the water:
P1020973.jpg
So finally this spring I feel like I had a worthy outing. Decent weather and good pullage. It has been far too long an interval for both.
The weather was fantastic and welcomed by all as long overdue. Thus far our 2018 club outings have been challenged by Mother Nature. But this weekend she was kind to us with sunny days, moderate winds and rare spring-like temperatures.
Without a doubt, pickerels were our most prevalent catch. But we also caught bass, bluegills, crappie and yellow perch.
My first catch was a crappie on a Clouser Minnow. Then one of the outing participants radioed that he was getting bluegills on poppers. That surprised me because the water temperature was still chilly in the low 50s. However, like most anglers I have a weakness for surface strikes. So I tied on a foam spider and was surprised with this pickerel, not a bluegill, as my first local topwater catch of the year. (I had caught a few specks in FL on top in in January but that seems like ages ago given our cold spring.)
P1020934.jpg
The rest of my fly rod catches were on top. I caught bluegills, almost at will with the spider.
P1020947.jpg
I upsized to a gurgler looking for something larger than bluegills to strike. I caught this crappie and even more determined bluegills with it until a pickerel took it away for good.
P1020941.jpg
So I upsized again to a larger foam popper and got more picks and a bass to hit it until the picks shredded the hair from its tail. Here's one of the picks with a mouthful of foam and no doubt some bucktail in its belly:
P1020964.jpg
On day two I concentrated on fishing a weedless/weightless paddletail in the vegetation. I had a lot of fun annoying the pickerel with it. I caught 9 but lost probably three times as many. They create bow wave that moves the pads with their explosive strikes. But setting the hook was a challenge for me. I'll get better at that. Patience is key. I also got bit off three times. They nipped it clean just like they had scissors. Lesson -- Use more than 12 pound leader when fishing soft plastics for picks in the weeds.
In any case, here's one of nine I got my hands on:
P1020972.jpg
And one in the water:
P1020973.jpg
So finally this spring I feel like I had a worthy outing. Decent weather and good pullage. It has been far too long an interval for both.
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