Tribute to Summer

These days I'm longing for the early evening serenade of cicadas in the trees. Here is to warmer times...

I found this guy (or girl) outside my house. They usually are pretty elusive. My 2 year old son does a great cicada imitation.

Crappie Day

The weather was cold and drizzly but after finishing a test in the morning I thought I would head back to a local crappie pond and see what I could find. I basically just circled the pond slowly and the crappies were willing. I was using a white micro jig (fly) with a red collar. I suspended it under an indicator and slowly worked the fly in short strips. They loved the fly and I didn't change it once. I brought my iPod Touch 4g along and decided to shoot video with it. It was awkward but I would bring the fish in so I could shoot with one hand then lift the rod to bring the fish in the rest of the way. Most of the fight was over at that point but it was still fun to capture the fish in the water for a few seconds. Anyway, no pics in this post just this video shot and edited entirely with my iPod. Hopefully I can figure out how to export the video in HD quality in the future.

New Fishing Buddy

A few weeks ago I decided to take my boy fishing to a community pond. It was his first real fishing trip with Dad. Luckily it was a red hot fishing day and I hooked fish after fish. I caught a mixed bag of black crappies, white crappies, and green sunfish. I was using a orange bodied fly with a tail, bead chain eyes and rubber legs. I also tried a micro epoxy bodied minnow that worked well too. After each fish he would say "Catch one more Daddy!" He was more interested in watching me catch fish while he played near the waters edge and poked around in the moss and splashed water. But each time I caught a fish he came in close for inspection. His favorite part was using his stick to nudge the fish back into deeper water. I even offered to take him to the park after catching a couple fish but he was having way too much fun fishing. I even got him to hold up a crappie for a photo...

Just recently I headed back to the pond with my wife and boy. He had a blast again even though the fishing was a quite a bit slower for me. I did catch a nice green sunfish that hammered my fly.

I was using a fly fairly similar to a clouser minnow except it has a sparkly orange dubbed body among other things. I also caught a small crappie. I must have not done a good enough job hauling them in because after a half hour he wanted to head over to the park. It was a great day to get out. The weather was beautiful for November and I really hope we get several more of these warm fall days.

The Bass Constant

During study of the sciences you soon find out that there are lots of constants, numbers in equations that don't change. Ive been three times to a small community pond fairly close to my house. For every time I have been there is one thing has not changed: I have caught one largemouth bass each time. Although I would not mind catching more than one, they are so fun that I have appreciated the bass constant in my fishing equation.

I didn't say other species were not caught...

Pull Cats

Ted and I tried our hand at gar again but we spotted very few fish. I had a few follows and had one on for a second but that was about it. I switched from the rope fly to a standard fly with a hook and started casting for bluegill and cats. I bagged a few small bluegill which were fun.

I was casting close to some structure just off the bank and my line went completely tight and I set the hook. It was a feisty fish that stayed down and was pulling hard. It turned out to be a nice little channel cat.

I think the channel cats always surprise me because I spent many hours when I was younger trying to get channels cats to bite on cut bait, stink bait, and a variety of other smelly concoctions. I never did catch a channel catfish while using bait. The closest I came was about ten years ago when I was fishing for channel cats at Utah Lake using shrimp. I had something take my bait and I set the hook. The fight was on and after a lengthy battle I had the fish near the shore. I saw his big forked tail a few times but he made a last second run and my knot failed and I lost it. Fast forward ten years and now I am here in Iowa catching channel cats on flies, go figure. I'll say it again, they pull hard! I can't imagine catching some of the big cats my friend Scott catches on the fly out in Omaha. While kicking my way in I made a few last casts near shore and nailed another cat that went about 13 inches. Despite no gar I still had a lot of fun with the pull cats.

Fishing Tradition

When I was a boy I took many fishing trips with my dad to various places including the Eastern Sierra mountains in California, the mountainous regions of Arizona, Utah, and many other places. My son's first fishing trip was on the Provo River in Utah when he was probably around 10 months old or so. I went up to the river to just look but a hatch of blue wing olives turned it into a fishing trip. I got him out of the car seat and strapped him to my chest and carefully made my way down to the river's edge. I was able to land a nice brown trout within a few minutes which was good because he did not like being stationary and wanted out pretty quickly. The other night he "caught" his first fish. My wife and I were walking around a small pond and I carried my fly rod along to take a few casts. I was not expecting too much but after a half dozen casts I had a nice little largemouth on and I let Blake turn the reel while I held the rod. Without even telling him how to do it he started turning the reel and got the fish to shore. My wife took this picture with her cell phone hence the graininess.

Learning the Ropes

(Gar pics taken by FishnDave)

After returning from cold water paradise out west I planned a gar trip with fellow blogger FishnDave (I'll just call him Dave from now on). He had not tried for gar on the fly yet so we met up one morning to target the toothy critters. I walked down the trail straight toward the cove to launch my tube in order to save my legs. Dave had to wheel his kayak down to the dock. We started walking from our cars at the same time but due to his amazing peddle drive system on his kayak he still beat me over there before I even got in the water. With the unprecedented water year in Iowa the lake looked full like it had flooded again. The previous time Ted and I noticed a slight decline in the aggressiveness of the fish and simply didn't see nearly as many. It had flooded before that trip too and my theory was that the cooler water from the river had decreased the surface water temperatures. Regardless of what happened exactly this trip was going to be even trickier.

We paddled across a good chunk of the cove without seeing a gar which was really strange. My spirits were a little down so after awhile I decided to cut off my rope fly and throw some small panfish flies near the trees which produced a few bluegill fairly quickly. Dave stayed focused to the task at hand and scanned the water hunting for gar. He finally saw a fish and casted to it. The fish was persistent and Dave got it to really eat the fly after a few previous hits. Dave decided to wait for awhile before laying into the fish and let the rope fly really tangle up in its teeth. Ted and I had waited quite awhile for the set on the first few strikes of our first outing without much success. Possibly because we didn't have the end of the nylon rope singed. We seemed to have more luck just waiting a second or two then lifting the rod. After what seemed like an eternity for me Dave lifted the rod tip and was wrangling in a nice gar. After a good fight Dave netted the fish and I was so excited I let out a few hoots and hollers. He had to work for that fish and it payed off.

After watching Dave's method of waiting a good ten seconds before putting on the pressure I think I am sold on the delayed "rope-set" theory. He had the end of his fly singed too which probably helped. Ted and I had experienced so many hits/missed fish but Dave solidly "hooked" the first fish that took his fly. It has been a learning experience and there may be several ways to use the rope fly but next time I get a gar to take one I'm going to let him chew on it for awhile. Ted joined us after a few hours but also was having trouble seeing many gar. At one point I went up on the bridge and tried spotting fish but they simply were not there in the numbers I have seen before. From up top I did see Ted get a splashy and explosive take from a gar but he didn't hook up.
We all went on hunting and Dave was able to land another gar awhile later. After trying the rope again I eventually switched back to a fly with a hook and started casting near the bank. I was able to land quite a few bluegill and landed a small channel cat that absolutely smashed my fly. I think channel cats have to be one of the hardest fighting fish for their size around here. They pull hard and don't give up without a lengthy fight.

It was time for me to head home and Dave opted to leave at that point as well. As we worked out way back toward the car I saw something small but quite long cruising around on the surface near me. It was a small gar! I didn't have a rope fly on but it might have been a good thing since this gar was so small. I presented my fly to it and got him to take it. I somehow got the hook stuck into its bony mouth and landed the little devil. It was a nice little morale booster since I thought I'd be skunked for gar on the day. It was nice to meet Dave and we hope to fish again together sometime soon.