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There is a backwater area near my RC flying field. The water is always stained a rust red color. I've seen bait fish in it, but could not identify them. I have tried several times to catch something in there. My stubbornness finally paid off. Two chain Pickerel. I was hoping for bluegill at a minimum. First "cast" was typical...I pulled the line out, to get my leader knots out the end, the fly was in the water...lift the rod to start my back cast...yank a tiny bluegill out making him airborne...whoops, sorry little guy...he landed in the water and self released. Now I've "caught" something...I made few casts to the front edge of the lily pads and caught the first pickerel. I get him on the shore and he promptly bites through the light tippet...I retrieve my severed fly from his moth, release and re-tie. I'm excited. I didn't know these guys were in the area...and they are gorgeous. A few minutes later I connect with the second one. I get him on shore and he snips the tippet too...at this point I know I'm not properly rigged for these guys. This one has the fly fairly deep too. I don't want to injure this beauty, so I gingerly lip him to see how far the fly is in there...wowsers, that was dumb....no way to gingerly do that...LOL...learning has occured. I called it a day, having caught a new species, learned a life lesson about toothy fish, and nice knick on my thumb. Mark provided some great tips on fly fishing for these guys for future use. I plan to go back when the weather cools and try to get my small kayak in there...I heard some larger splashes further into the growth that I want to investigate.
IMG_20200907_124330.jpg
There is a backwater area near my RC flying field. The water is always stained a rust red color. I've seen bait fish in it, but could not identify them. I have tried several times to catch something in there. My stubbornness finally paid off. Two chain Pickerel. I was hoping for bluegill at a minimum. First "cast" was typical...I pulled the line out, to get my leader knots out the end, the fly was in the water...lift the rod to start my back cast...yank a tiny bluegill out making him airborne...whoops, sorry little guy...he landed in the water and self released. Now I've "caught" something...I made few casts to the front edge of the lily pads and caught the first pickerel. I get him on the shore and he promptly bites through the light tippet...I retrieve my severed fly from his moth, release and re-tie. I'm excited. I didn't know these guys were in the area...and they are gorgeous. A few minutes later I connect with the second one. I get him on shore and he snips the tippet too...at this point I know I'm not properly rigged for these guys. This one has the fly fairly deep too. I don't want to injure this beauty, so I gingerly lip him to see how far the fly is in there...wowsers, that was dumb....no way to gingerly do that...LOL...learning has occured. I called it a day, having caught a new species, learned a life lesson about toothy fish, and nice knick on my thumb. Mark provided some great tips on fly fishing for these guys for future use. I plan to go back when the weather cools and try to get my small kayak in there...I heard some larger splashes further into the growth that I want to investigate.
IMG_20200907_124330.jpg
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