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In my opinion it's hard to beat fishing Eastern Shore ponds throughout the winter and spring.
They're smaller than reservoirs, shallower and therefore warm up faster. The fish are plentiful and concentrated and finally, tides are of no concern. I think they're ideal for fly fishing from a kayak, especially now.
Yesterday I got on the water for the first time in almost a month due to a busy home life. It was enjoyable to be out. The casting and catches were merely bonuses.
I caught mostly pickerel as you might expect but I did get one bass, my second of the new year:
P1040557 (3).jpg
Pickerel were much more plentiful and I nailed them in a double digit count. Three were just over 20 inches and most were 18. Here's a 20:
P1040544 (2).jpg
I used a bendback minnow on floating line. Here it is all chewed up from yesterday:
P1040566.jpg
Like most well-worn flies it still worked.
Because of its weedless characteristic I cast it directly into emerging pads and pulled it through the growth. Areas like this is where it worked well:
P1040551 (2).jpg
If you look ahead of my bow above you can see pads just beginning to break the surface. Pickerel gravitate to those areas even now before the pads are fully developed. When the vegetation is complete, the surface will be completely covered and I could never cast a fly into it. But at this time of year, it's a good target zone for a fly. It's also great fun to see a bow wave of a fish from the other side of the pads head toward your fly. When you see that don't stop stripping. Keep moving the fly. It will entice the pickerel to continue the chase.
In open water I used my unnamed articulated fly:
P1040560.jpg
Unlike the bendback it rides with the hook down. It tends to get hung up in vegetation. So I used it on the periphery of pads and on the flats. Also, I ran it on intermediate line. I caught the majority of my pickerel with it. Given its color, the pickerel must have been in a cannibalistic mood yesterday.
I had good hookups yesterday. No deep swallows. Most of the time, pickerel take the fly in the corner of their mouths and they did so yesterday:
P1040548 (2).jpg
At this time of year it's also good to search shorelines. I caught a few in areas like this:
P1040567 (2).jpg
Areas like that will be especially good when the trees leaf out and there is shade under them. A side-armed cast will sling a fly under the branches.
So again, if you like fly fishing from your kayak a trip across the Bay Bridge will usually be well worth the drive.
They're smaller than reservoirs, shallower and therefore warm up faster. The fish are plentiful and concentrated and finally, tides are of no concern. I think they're ideal for fly fishing from a kayak, especially now.
Yesterday I got on the water for the first time in almost a month due to a busy home life. It was enjoyable to be out. The casting and catches were merely bonuses.
I caught mostly pickerel as you might expect but I did get one bass, my second of the new year:
P1040557 (3).jpg
Pickerel were much more plentiful and I nailed them in a double digit count. Three were just over 20 inches and most were 18. Here's a 20:
P1040544 (2).jpg
I used a bendback minnow on floating line. Here it is all chewed up from yesterday:
P1040566.jpg
Like most well-worn flies it still worked.
Because of its weedless characteristic I cast it directly into emerging pads and pulled it through the growth. Areas like this is where it worked well:
P1040551 (2).jpg
If you look ahead of my bow above you can see pads just beginning to break the surface. Pickerel gravitate to those areas even now before the pads are fully developed. When the vegetation is complete, the surface will be completely covered and I could never cast a fly into it. But at this time of year, it's a good target zone for a fly. It's also great fun to see a bow wave of a fish from the other side of the pads head toward your fly. When you see that don't stop stripping. Keep moving the fly. It will entice the pickerel to continue the chase.
In open water I used my unnamed articulated fly:
P1040560.jpg
Unlike the bendback it rides with the hook down. It tends to get hung up in vegetation. So I used it on the periphery of pads and on the flats. Also, I ran it on intermediate line. I caught the majority of my pickerel with it. Given its color, the pickerel must have been in a cannibalistic mood yesterday.
I had good hookups yesterday. No deep swallows. Most of the time, pickerel take the fly in the corner of their mouths and they did so yesterday:
P1040548 (2).jpg
At this time of year it's also good to search shorelines. I caught a few in areas like this:
P1040567 (2).jpg
Areas like that will be especially good when the trees leaf out and there is shade under them. A side-armed cast will sling a fly under the branches.
So again, if you like fly fishing from your kayak a trip across the Bay Bridge will usually be well worth the drive.
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