Fishing Report 7/29/2014

I have been scoping out the lakes around the area (Fayetteville to Peachtree south of Atlanta) to see if I could wet a line while here in Georgia. The last time I went fishing in Georgia was at the Sub Base in Kings Bay back in the 80's. Most of the lakes were wrapped in barbed wire or squarely placed inside golf courses - so no fishing. I did find one on Google Maps that was part of a municipal park so off I went. I lined up the Orvis SFT 1wt and used a green-peacock dub bead-head nymph. I ended up with 5 Bluegill in hand and 2 more that let go (I still crimp down the barbs). You can always count on bluegill!!! But all but one of the fish had some signs of a really hard life - sore red lips was the most common, but check out the missing eye and chewed up fins on this one guy. He had lost his eye awhile ago and had grown skin back inside the socket (or maybe it was born without an eye). Tough guy. And as always, the 1wt made these guys seem much bigger than they were - the skunk is gone!!! We are headed further south tomorrow - we'll park at Mayport, Florida for a little bit until I land a job (fingers crossed that it'll happen soon). I am looking forward to SUP surfing a new ULI that I got to replace the FAQ (stay tuned for that), and getting a bunch of saltwater fishing along the south jetty at the mouth of the St John's River. It's been about 20+ years since I fished that area - should be a fun upcoming two weeks!!!

Fishing Report 7/13/2014

We went to get La a new rain jacket (as her favorite one that she's had for over a decade has lost it's weather resistance). We've been looking around at different places, but no luck on either the right size or color. We went to the Patagonia shop in Georgetown to stop the beating around the bush process. SO - what better to do than line up an Orvis Superfine Touch 1wt and wrestle with some bluegills!!! According to Marlon I caught five of these guys (I stop counting after one). And this one liked the black ant imitation I tied up just a little too much (but I did get it out and the fish was unharmed - except for some "alien abduction" stories it can impress the lady bluegills with). The story behind these windows is the "second" time we went to this shop, I was with the kids and there was a "lego" table next to the window. We were playing while La was looking around and I saw a bunch of bluegill hanging out in the canal. I hadn't reinvigorated my fishing quite yet so I just filed it in the back on my mind drawer. Seeing as how we are more than likely leaving this area and not coming back for any long term stay, I figured I should try and catch a few of the bluegill from that time long (three years or so) ago to close this item out. The bluegill (and the rest of the fish for that matter) weren't by the window - they were all under the big tree further North up the canal. This was a nice way to say "farewell" to the C & O Canal and the wonderful fishing it has offered me over the past few years - *Thanks*

Fishing Report 7/10/2014

We're currently at the Family Campground at Andrews AFB. On the way to the campgrounds, I saw a park with a big pond. I finally got over to the pond to cast some flies. Tagged three different species - the ubiquitous Bluegill, an eager "moving up the ladder" bucketmouth, and a Redear. The Superfine Touch 1 wt was the rod of choice (although I was contemplating the Helios 5wt to get through the headwind).

Fishing Report 7/1/2014

After we got back from the Aviary and eating at OTB, I asked the family to take a walk with me to check out the fishing hole at the campgrounds. I ended up catching two sunfish - either redbreasts or some hybrid. The Orvis Superfine Touch 7'6" 1wt delivered the goods! Afterwards, the kids chased fireflies in a couple of the fields closer to the camper. Early summer up here is absolutely magical - and I'm pretty sure none of us will ever forget this summer.

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 6/8/2014, Part 3

More random pictures from today's lake adventure: One of the snakes Marlon saw - A dragonfly nymph casing. This was not a small guy... I'd hate to have to live in the lake and be prey for this guy... As we were walking back, I saw a few bass swimming near the rocks and asked Marlon "do you think I could catch one from up here?". He said 'nope' so it was game on... I got one to take and walked back down the dam to let it go. If you didn't know, my superhero power is to be able to get fish to take my flies. This is different than Aquaman's power of telepathy with marine animals (and according to Dr Koothrappali from Big Bang Theory, "Aquaman sucks!!!!") Life is good...