Bass on Light Spinning Gear

Marlon and I went fishing late Thursday afternoon. I took my lightweight spinning gear and fished a Lunker City 1" shad on a 1/16 ounce jighead. Marlon fished a killer bug on the Daiwa Soyokaze. I brought six Large Mouth to hand - with a couple making some drag stripping runs (which sounds awesome even on small gear - like some kind of primal reaction). A few of them also jumped and threw the hook! These weren't record breakers by a long shot but they were still tons of fun. Marlon dominated the bluegill. The lake was full of feeding fish - bugs in the air again. The bite shut down after dusk - I know what I'm doing later today...

Flyfishing the C&O Canal in Georgetown

La had made arrangements to meet with an old friend down in Georgetown this past Friday evening. Knowing the C&O Canal was right there by the parking garage, I brought along a tenkara rod and some flies. When we got there, a few sunnies were showing topside. The water was pretty clouded, but that's typical for the C&O near it's beginning point. I hooked into two - and I had to work hard for them, not what I'm accustomed to when it comes to sunfish. Fun session in the middle of the Nation's Capital - although a carp would have been the ticket (next time).

More Blue Flies for the Tenkara Bum Blue Fly Contest and Catching Bluegill Like a Cold

Here's a set of flies I tied up last night. They all have the blue yarn requisite for entry into the www.tenkarabum.com blue fly contest (go to Chris Stewart's site for more info). I'm saving the medium and large sized flies for Friday (fishing at Beaverdam Reservoir), but I tied the tiny 22 blue midge/sabiki onto the Daiwa Soyokaze and cast to some micro fish (I think they were mosquito fish) in the lake early evening. I got some of the small ones to chase, but even this size 22 hook may be too big. I am trying to get a competitive entry into the smallest fish category - it is going to have to be one of these tiny guys if I stand a chance. The fly does work (just not small enough for the micros). In fact I couldn't keep the small Bluegills off the fly - I got 7 of them in the short time I was out. I missed setting the hook on several others - the fly being too small to set every time. Funny how when you're not trying to catch something, that's all you get - that's fishing!

A Little Bit of Everything

So for the something-something details. We caught a few fish. Managed to land a turtle (they were everywhere). I lost my new titanium fly line. And Noe went zoom-zooming around the Lake on the Uli inflatable. Squeezing the maximum out of the weekends - that's our motto!

Saturday Fishing Scorecard

I was going to drive to the Chain Bridge and walk the C&O Trail to try my luck against some Shad, but the wind was way up and the bed was too warm. I did take a look at the Lake and the wind was blowing in a favorable direction for the kids and I to cast some flies. I caught 1 crappie, 12 bluegill and 3 bass. Marlon caught 1 bluegill and an awesome large mouth bass. I say awesome because Marlon sight casted to one he saw and worked the fly - he had to do it several times but he eventually got the bass to take the fly - he waited a second to make sure the fly was in the bass's mouth and WHACK - when he set the fly, the fight ensued!!! He kept the rod tip up and got the fish to shore!!! That was the best part of it all for me - watching Marlon focus and accomplish his objective!!!! That's fishing!

Sunday Funnies, Part 1

Here is my latest effort in www.tenkarabum.com 's blue fly contest. This is a single strand of the contest blue yarn epoxied on to a tiny tanago hook. I went out to the lake 30 minutes before La and the kids came out to see what this fly could do. A lot more work to get any of the fish to notice it - in fact the line holder for the hook line (the hooks come snelled so I don't have to get frustrated tying them on) attracted more fish than the fly. I brought to hand this young LMB (he inhaled the fly), a young BG and I had another LMB in this size class come off before I got a hand on it. This was the most challenging flyfishing session yet (lots of fish, not many takers), but that certainly made it more fun!

This never gets old...

Late afternoon walk to the Lake. Noe came with me, but it turns out she was avoiding homework - she fished for about 10 minutes then asked to stop and hung out to play with the Cherry Blossom petals. When I brought up a fish, she would come back so she could "feed" them some petals. I hooked up to the Crappie that lives by one of the rocks near the dock - three separate times I hooked into it and three times it came off the hook just as I was about to land it. The other fish caught today - 11 Bluegill and 6 LMBs. The LMBs turn into dead weight once hooked - the Bluegills fight like you just stole it's lunch money. Pound for pound these are one of the most spirited fish to catch - they have a bad rap for being too common, but I'll catch them (sight casting flies, no bait) day after day... if this gets old, I'm in trouble (3.5 hour drive to the beach...)

Day Two Catching

*No harm was caused to any of the fish caught today* that includes the four Bluegill and the six LMBs - despite the distressed look on that small bass Noe is holding. That's just good acting on both their behalfs. Among the lost fish and those that got spooked by the long shadows, I did get a Crappie to take the fly (red ant). When I tried to set the hook, the fly would just shoot out of its mouth - five times in a row. I won't complain though - catching is better than fishing which is better than freezing your butt off and not enjoying the outdoors. The kids tried to sell hotdog chunks to the locals, but they were on a diet (they didn't get a single bite, while my fly only approach was kinda making them upset and impatient). That's fishing...

Winter is Outta Here!!!!

I got home and asked La how her day was - she said she felt good because she got a SUP paddle in today. I asked her if she saw any fish and she said 'yes - all over the place - about as big as my forearm'. That was not the answer I was expecting based on the past several days down at the Lake. I took Marlon and we headed down to see the fish. At our pier, there were at least 10 Large Mouth Bass a couple of big Bluegill and a few other fish. I lined up the Soyokaze 27 and it had a green bead head nymph on it from the last time I used the line (number 2). I caught a 5" LMB and with that the long hard winter was OVER!!! After that, I tied on a floating hopper (that didn't get the time of day) and at Marlon's suggestion, I tied on the Orange Scud - two White Crappie and a second LMB (bigger than 5") later, and we welcomed in Spring!!! I've been waiting for this day since late last year - it feels good to have a tug-o-war with a piscene!!!

We're Camouflaged!!!

The leaves on the trees were falling like snow and provided a cool backdrop to our Sunday fish catching endeavor.

Transition to Fall

The temperatures are definitely cooler. The fish aren't rising for flies or bait anymore. Getting the fish to take is more a game of patience and good looking - putting the hook in front of them is the only way to get any response. Makes you think about how slow it will be when winter sets in (or think about a warm winter - this is supposed to be an El Nino year, or we'll just call it global climate change). Well with persistence, we are still catching - we had a few of these smaller bass, several bluegill and Marlon caught his first yellow perch.

Bluegillazilla

With Fall setting in the air temperature has obviously been dropping. You'd think the water temperatures are following suite - but they are holding comparatively (to the air temps). I have noticed changes in the fishing patterns though - more bass strikes (as they try to fatten up for the winter) and the bluegill are moving to deeper water. Well - when presented with a change, you make adjustments and keep on going - in this case it specifically paid off!!! I hooked into this HUGE bluegill - I didn't measure it with a tape, but I'd estimate it to be over 7" long!!! I believe this is the biggest bluegill I've ever caught! I'll probably start using my conventional fly gear soon to get a better reach into the middle of the lake to see what else is down there - just goes to show "you ain't gonna catch fish if you don't go fishing".

Small - Smaller - Smallest Large Mouth Bass

Cool temperatures, overcast skies and a slight drizzle - but Marlon and I went fishing anyways. He landed a small bass and a bluegill - I got one bluegill and a bunch of bass including this decent sized one. On the other side of the coin I got a few of these tiny guys as well. The water is starting to cool down and the bluegills are retreating to the deeper parts of the lake. I'll take what I can get for now - I'll have to research what kind of fishing I can do and where once the temperature really drops. Or I'll have to figure out what else I can do to tickle my adrenal gland...

Saturday Fishing with Friends in Maryland

After the show, we were going to take the kayak and SUPs out, but the weather didn't clear up until late in the afternoon. We did get a chance to go fishing and this was Marlon's first time fishing in brackish water. He caught a spot and a few sunfish. I caught a couple of sunfish and we saw a huge school of shad. As always - a great time had by all!

New Flies

I got a chance to tie up some flies today. Some electric chickens, several killer bugs, some egg flies and one chartreuse sabiki. The sabiki was killing it! Same cast of characters - bluegill of all sizes and some smallmouth bass. On one cast, I had hooked onto a pretty sizable bass - splashed up a bunch of water and threw the hook. Needless to say I'll be tying up more sabiki flies - I might even try to fish them on the Potomac and land some of the migrating shad. I am also going to get the kids their own fly rods - really short tenkara rods from tenkarabum.com - they are ready to catch on better equipment.