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I trekked across the Bay Bridge yesterday and fished one of my favorite ponds.
I carried two flyrods and two light spinning rods. I hardly touched the spinning rods because wind conditions were such that it was easy to cast the long rod and the fish were fairly aggressive for flies.
I boated 23 pickerel, 4 bass and my first bluegill of the year. Spring is certainly close when bluegills emerge from the deeper parts of the pond to cruise the shallows.
I caught nothing big, the largest fish being a 19-inch pickerel. Most of the others were 15 to 17 inches. The bass were only 10 or 11 inches and the bluegill was just under 8. I caught only one pickerel on a spinning rod which I used briefly to see if one would hit a weedless paddletail. It did. The rest of my fish hit either a bendback minnow or my unnamed articulated fly. At least a dozen fish came unbuttoned before I got them to the boat. A good day for action if not for size.
Unlike previous trips to the ponds in December through February, I didn’t get many strikes on the flats. The fish wanted visible cover yesterday. I pulled many from shallow areas like this:
P1040963 (4).jpg
The pads are starting to emerge. An unweighted bendback minnow on floating line is my fly of choice for this structure. It rides with the hook up. It’s also light enough that I can pull if over the top of most of the new growth pads. I hang up occasionally, but not often. The only problem with bendbacks is that they don’t last long with toothy pickerel. I used two yesterday:
P1040970 (2).jpg
The one on top in the above photo was chewed up pretty good. So, I replaced it with the tan bendback. The change of color didn’t matter but I had hoped it would attract a fish larger than this one!
P1040971 (3).jpg
I caught it on my first cast after changing flies. I believe it’s the smallest pickerel I have ever caught.
Later the tan bendback caught more respectable pickerel, small bass (one of 4) and even a bluegill:
P1040974 (2).jpg P1040962 (3).jpg P1040975 (2).jpg
It was lots of fun to actually see the pickerel strike the fly in the shallow water. Sometimes I saw a flash as the sun reflected off of their bodies. Other times I saw nothing due to the excellent camouflage of a pickerel. But I saw my fly suddenly vanish from the water column. At that point, it’s time to do a strip strike. Pickerel have knack for attacking and suddenly dropping a fly. You have to pay attention or they'll strike and be gone.
Only in one place in the pond did I find them in deeper water. In a cove with no visible structure, I thrust my paddle down and estimated the water was about 4 feet deep. There I threw my articulated streamer on intermediate line and allow it to sink. Strip, strip pause was the ticket.
P1040979 (3).jpg P1040983 (2).jpg
So, I had a nice outing on mild winter day with hints of spring in the air and in the water based on my shallow water catches.
I carried two flyrods and two light spinning rods. I hardly touched the spinning rods because wind conditions were such that it was easy to cast the long rod and the fish were fairly aggressive for flies.
I boated 23 pickerel, 4 bass and my first bluegill of the year. Spring is certainly close when bluegills emerge from the deeper parts of the pond to cruise the shallows.
I caught nothing big, the largest fish being a 19-inch pickerel. Most of the others were 15 to 17 inches. The bass were only 10 or 11 inches and the bluegill was just under 8. I caught only one pickerel on a spinning rod which I used briefly to see if one would hit a weedless paddletail. It did. The rest of my fish hit either a bendback minnow or my unnamed articulated fly. At least a dozen fish came unbuttoned before I got them to the boat. A good day for action if not for size.
Unlike previous trips to the ponds in December through February, I didn’t get many strikes on the flats. The fish wanted visible cover yesterday. I pulled many from shallow areas like this:
P1040963 (4).jpg
The pads are starting to emerge. An unweighted bendback minnow on floating line is my fly of choice for this structure. It rides with the hook up. It’s also light enough that I can pull if over the top of most of the new growth pads. I hang up occasionally, but not often. The only problem with bendbacks is that they don’t last long with toothy pickerel. I used two yesterday:
P1040970 (2).jpg
The one on top in the above photo was chewed up pretty good. So, I replaced it with the tan bendback. The change of color didn’t matter but I had hoped it would attract a fish larger than this one!
P1040971 (3).jpg
I caught it on my first cast after changing flies. I believe it’s the smallest pickerel I have ever caught.
Later the tan bendback caught more respectable pickerel, small bass (one of 4) and even a bluegill:
P1040974 (2).jpg P1040962 (3).jpg P1040975 (2).jpg
It was lots of fun to actually see the pickerel strike the fly in the shallow water. Sometimes I saw a flash as the sun reflected off of their bodies. Other times I saw nothing due to the excellent camouflage of a pickerel. But I saw my fly suddenly vanish from the water column. At that point, it’s time to do a strip strike. Pickerel have knack for attacking and suddenly dropping a fly. You have to pay attention or they'll strike and be gone.
Only in one place in the pond did I find them in deeper water. In a cove with no visible structure, I thrust my paddle down and estimated the water was about 4 feet deep. There I threw my articulated streamer on intermediate line and allow it to sink. Strip, strip pause was the ticket.
P1040979 (3).jpg P1040983 (2).jpg
So, I had a nice outing on mild winter day with hints of spring in the air and in the water based on my shallow water catches.
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