Last Day Fishing at Lake Newport

Sunday afternoon (6/29/2014) at Lake Newport in Reston. I'm not going say much - the photos should speak to how much we have enjoyed spending time at this lake - but these are the pictures of our last outing here. I became a much better flyrod caster here. The kids learned so much about the little things around them. We all learned about the changes brought about by the seasons. Thanks Lake Newport!

Fishing Report 6/18/2014, Part 2

The kids had some friends over after school and I was where I wanted to be with packing/cleaning/fixing, and I still had the Barclay 3wt still setup - so I decided to spend an hour at the lake to see what was around. While I did get a few hits, most of the fish were just following the flies - it was pretty hot (95 F), so I guess even the fish were lethargic. What weren't lethargic were the dragonflies. They were flying around, claiming territory and chasing each other. I didn't see any conjoined pairs, so they are still just marking territory in anticipation of 'other' things to come. So from shuck to pre-mating, it has been a week. I know they spend the majority of their life spans as nymphs underwater, but it seems to me the most dynamic part of their lives - where they would want to spend the majority of their time - is in fact the shortest of their different phases. Oh well - I hope they are enjoying all the flying around...

Fishing Report 6/17/2014

I haven't been out casting, fishing or catching for the past few days - we had the packers and movers here getting our household goods out of the house and into non temporary storage (military speak for long term storage). It has been difficult purging things we don't need or haven't used in a long time, organizing items to make it easier for the packers to box, and separate what we are going to need for the next couple/few/several months while we figure out what our future holds (what job, where we will live, buy/rent, how close to water/surf/wind/fish we will be...) - pretty stressful. Well - I ended the dry spell today with a late afternoon session. Caught a 7-8" largemouth and a few hand sized bluegills. Lined up the Leiderman Lamiglas 703/3 with the SA Supra DT3 - magic for lightweight flies. I had tied on some bigger/heavir flies to see what the limit was - didn't take much (Cheech's Lowfat Minnow in size 4 wacky hook was too big, the beadhead yarn bodied killer buggers in size 12 were too heavy). Still great fun casting/catching with this rod - who would have guessed I'd love casting a noodle!!!

Fishing Report 6/13/2014, Part 3

Last fish of the day - I got into this bass with a pretty dark cloud overhead. Low pressure is supposed to improve the catching - I'd say it did! Decent sized bucketmouth!!! 'I caught you a delicious bass' BAM!!! So much fun on a 1wt!!!

Fishing Report 6/13/2014, Part 2

This bluegill exercised the Orvis Superfine Touch 1wt awesomely (is that a word???)!!! Peeled line off a few times (I LOVE THAT SOUND)! The resident Canada Geese came around to check out what was getting the turtles all excited (kids = food). The young of the year were out swimming the lake. Noe went back to the house to grab some food for the turtles, but got to feed these guys instead.

Fishing Report 6/13/2014, Part 1

Late afternoon session. I coaxed the kids into going to the lake by bringing out our deceased tank residents (we had a weird die-off several months back before I tore down the tank - I froze all the dead fish). They were jumping up and down with excitement that they would get to chum the waters. Some of the fish got eaten by some big bluegill, but the majority got taken out by the turtles - of which there were tons tonight. I ended up hooking one of the turtles (barbless hook - it's not my fault the turtle didn't let go) and the kids got to play 'alien abduction' with the turtle. Poor guy. Wave two comes next...

Fishing Report 6/12/2014

I went fishing for about an hour yesterday - the rain has been coming down and it has raised the water levels at Lake Newport considerably. The drainage culvert at the base of the dam had a lot of flow going through it (drains out to Lake Anne downstream/across the street - Baron Cameron). I brought out the Epic 480 and the Airflo DT4 again. I did manage to get one medium sized bluegill, but the rest of the takes were the small ones born last year. These little guys are the most aggressive takers also - lots of fun watching them try to out compete each other for a fly that looks like a chewed-up, beat-up, spit out bug. Good fun even though the session was a short one. On the return trip, I saw a bunch more of these dragonfly shucks - looks like it was an awesome party when these guys emerged!!!

Fishing Report 6/11/2014

I didn't have a ton of time today to fish - La and I have been busy packing up the house in anticipation of the movers coming to put our stuff in storage while I find a job and we all take a cool vacation in the land yacht. I did manage to get a few minutes in ahead of having to pick the kids up from the bus stop. I brought out the Epic 480 lined with an Airflo DT4. This being a longer rod, the swing arc radius is longer so I was more prone to getting hung up on the willow tree next to this dock, despite my best attempts to avoid such frustration generating events. I started to push roll casts out to experiment with this set up and what a pleasant surprise - this rod can really reach out with the rolls! I hooked up with this largemouth bass and a decent sized bluegill - neither of which put a serious bend in the rod - obviously with a 4wt rating, there is more strength in this rod (ergo a bigger fish needs to be pulling on the other end of the line to make a bigger bend in the rod... uuuuuuuhhhhhhhh yeah.....) I'll probably keep this rod lined up tonight and use it again tomorrow (contrary to my streak of switching up the rods every session). And actually, I think I only have one or two more to fish in this weight class before I've gone through them all this time around.

Fishing Report 6/10/2014

I took a break from fishing yesterday - don't want to burn out... but I'm back in the saddle today. I took out the Leiderman made, Lamiglas 7'0" 3wt, 3 piece. I actually grass cast it yesterday while the kids were at Tae Kwon Do (test cast with a RIO Perception and a RIO Gold), but I wanted to get it wet today. I lined it up with a SA Supra DT3. The rod cast wonderfully with the DT3! I'd call it 'relaxed' slow action, and with the DT3, it threw some sweet loops! This little bucketmouth was the first taker on this rod! He didn't have much mass to put a big bend in the rod, but fishing is fishing and beggars can't be choosers (on what bites). Better than a skunk. I moved spots to open up on my casts and I got hooked into something else. It pulled HARD and I even thought at one point I was not going to be able to turn the fish. After all the excitement, I pulled up this bull blueg! This Lamiglas rod is way too much fun with bluegills!!! All my hypothesis I've recently penned are even more true with this rod (1. Bluegill ounce for ounce are the hardest fighters out there; 2. If Bluegills were bigger, humans would not be at the top of the food chain). At the end, I lined it up with the RIO Gold again just to establish a reference - no contest. It will cast a Gold, but the form was off (a bit too heavy). I'll try it with the Perception again to see if there is a difference (but from the test casting results yesterday, I like the performance with the DT3 the best). What a sweet little rod (thanks Mark - rest easy knowing this one has a good home and it'll be used to wrestle panfish A LOT)!!!

Fishing Report 6/8/2014, Part 4

We finished up at the dock where Marlon wanted to start. You can tell when Marlon gets tired/hot - he broke out the secret technique he and Noe perfected two years ago - handlining. There was a bug fuss in the community last fall centered on getting rid of the lily pads. They are definitely pared back this year, but I think to the enjoyment of some residents, there are still some lily pads around. Fun day fishing!!! Thanks Marlon!