Sunday Fishing - Dropping Tide at... Wait for it.... 4 Mile Run!!!

Yes - since everything else is still frozen, I spent the afternoon wading through 4 Mile Run. I don't mean to seem jaded about this - in fact I am grateful that I get to go fishing at all considering the average air temperature has been in the high 20's. I do mix it up by taking different rods and different lines - all to see if I can pair up a line and rod for the long haul. As I was walking through the river bed, I saw this gizzard shad resting - looks like something got a good hit on it - look behind the dorsal fin. Today I brought out the Scott F26533, a SA Supra DT3 and a RIO Gold WF3F. I started out walking upstream towards the outfall. I spent most of my time at the storm culvert with the WF3F line - bluegill, pumpkinseed, green sunfish and large mouth bass - the 4MR foursome. I did make it up to the outfall itself and caught a green sunfish that seemed to have a bad right eye. I lost a good fly about this same time - a small shrimp/clouser combo that sank well (bead chain eyes). On a back cast, the fly hit the rod and broke free - don't ask me where. I wasn't trying to pick up a foursome - I was actually trying to get a bona fide goldfish to take the fly. I switched flies out several times but didn't get the time of day from that fish. Next time I'll bring some Gulp Maggots - that'll do the trick (who doesn't like eating a maggot???...???). Goldilocks here actually had a couple of escorts - but they were much better camouflaged (brown and golden - like the bottom of 4MR). I moved back down stream and fished by the bridges/power line island. I lost count of how many bluegill hits I got - probably 50+. I had switched out the WF3F for the DT3F line. When there wasn't any wind blowing, and I got a good lift on the line, the DT3 cast really well. But it was less forgiving of mistakes (which forced me to keep my form up)

Fiberglass Perfection

At what point does a person find that they have an innate understanding of an activity - where second nature establishes itself and conscious thought doesn't contribute? As an example, lately Marlon has been asking me "how do you turn a surfboard?" - I answered that 'you lean into it, but recenter your weight once you are heading in the direction you want to head in'. I stopped thinking about turning surfcraft decades ago and just started feeling my way through the moves - with shortboards, longboards, kiteboards, SUPs, boogieboards, inflatable surfmats and paipos - lean, engage the rail and straighten out when you need to. I feel like I know what I'm doing when it comes to surfing, but flycasting has been the activity that I have been immersing myself in lately because I have so much to learn - sucking everything in sponge-like, from rods, reels, tying flies, casting techniques, line types and more - tons of information is out there and I feel like I have just scratched the surface. I haven't felt this way about surfing in a while maybe because I've absorbed a lot already??? That last 25% out there is exponentially harder to find and assimilate. It is most likely also a product of where we currently live - 3.5 hour drive to surf, verses a 35 minute drive in the winter months to local sight-casting fishing. Sizing equipment to the fish in the fishing holes is something I have expanded into - specifically going lighter. The tenkara/seiryu rods are tons of fun, but I felt that my conventional fly line casting skills were not progressing. Now having a few lighter lines - RIO Gold WF3 and a Scientific Angler WF4, I spent some time casting the Performance Fly Rod 6'6" S-Glass, 3/4wt that I recently procured. I spooled up the Scientific Angler WF4F line and then it happened - I cast the rod and I 'felt' the rod load, felt the pressure max out and began my forward cast - I saw the tighter loop fly forward and the tippet unfurl with out so much as a 'plop' - just smooth, linear layout. I felt no issues or frustrations casting this rod - I adjusted my cadence (slowed) to get the rod to load and the funny thing was the 'catching' part actually got in the way of my casting practice. There is one area where I can tell the difference between graphite and fiberglass - the sensitivity of detecting strikes on the fly is less using fiberglass. A small price to pay if you are sight casting and can see the takes, but definitely a disadvantage if you are blind casting. I ended up catching pumpkin seeds (first fish caught with this rod is in the picture), greens and bluegills. The rod tip vibrates like it is alive with a fish on. I can say that this rod/line combo is the closest to perfection as I've ever sensed in equipment, and I am looking forward to using this tool when the conditions are right for it (no or very light wind, relatively narrow water). Casting it just feels right - like that bottom turn on a nice Pupukea right... This won't replace the Japanese Fixed line rods (tenkara/keiryu/seiryu) I have - they have their own niche areas/benefits - but OH WHAT FUN THIS ROD IS!!!

4MR Foursome - Fishing on the Solstice

What a way to welcome the Winter Solstice - fishing in 75 degree, clear sky weather. I caught tons of sunfish and one large mouth - so I got another 4MR slam (or a Foursome). I used my St Croix UL Triumph (reeled with a Shimano Sahara 1000) for most of the time. I was hoping to hook the big channel cat I've seen the past couple of times, but as luck would have it, when I am prepared with Gulp and the spinning rig - the fish aren't around. I also used the Nissin Fine Mode Nagare rod - I had fixed the flies I used last time (a squirmy wormy that got torn up and a stripped foam popper) and they killed it! I saw tons of gizzard shad - they could care less I was pitching flies to them. But alas, no big channel cats - maybe next time. Sight fishing in winter - you can beat it if you can travel south or have a boat, but I'll take what I can get. Another fun fishing outing (but I can't wait for spring to settle in - the Solstice today is a good marker that we are halfway there!).

Topwater Action in the Winter

Another cold day at the fishing grounds. High tide was at 0533 and I was at 4MR at 0730. As I have been using my fixed line rods a lot recently, I decided to breakout my Orvis Superfine Touch 8'6" 5wt and keep the rust off casting an adjustable length line. I tied up a foam sheet popper on a #14 hook and a squirmy wormy on a #16. I used the squirmy wormy until the bluegill tore the back half off. I ended up catching 10+ bluegs all blind casting and feeling the hits. Because of the extended reach, I was able to stay in ankle deep water and reach out to the opposite shore, and run the fly through the pool on the downstream side of the outfall. After the squirmy wormy took on battle damage, I switched out flies to the foam popper. I had epoxied on small googlie eyes instead of using the normal eye stickers and the body was pretty thick. Casting this fly brought me back to the sunny days of summer where you can count of dramatic hits from all the members of the sunfish family - which by the way includes the many species of bass. This fly took in more bluegs and two largemouths - and every take was a dramatic display of splashing water, rapidly snapping mouths and thrashing fins. Okay - maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but during the opening days of winter and all the gray, overcast skies and chilling temperatures it brings, the one thing that brings back the feeling of fishing on a warm summer afternoon is getting surface hits on a popper - what a wonderful resource 4MR has turned out to be (you just have to put yourself in a suspended state of awareness and ignore the fact that you are wading in the outfall of a sewage treatment plant)... what is the saying - desperate times require desperate measures??? I have gradually grown to greatly appreciate the slower casting mechanics of full flex rods - the Superfine Touch delivered smiles the entire session. In addition to the multiple bluegs and the two bass, I ended up with a few Green Sunfish and one Pumpkinseed brought to hand. I saw a huge channel cat sitting in a deeper hole, but just like the others before it - I could not entice it to leave it's slumber with the small flies I was pitching. Next time I'll bring out the Gulp crickets (catfish crack). It just hit me that we're not even in winter yet... the solstice isn't until December 22... I miss summer...

Catching Repeat

I went back to 4 Mile Run on Saturday morning to go fishing and get a better understanding of the water/structure. It was even colder than Friday, but I took a long walk around the block (literally) to warm up before I hit the water. I strung up the Nissin Fine Mode with the TUSA furled line and ended up using several flies through the course of the day - a squirmy wormy (#12 hook), a bead head green scud, a bead head killer bug and an olive woolly bugger. I caught fish on every thing except the squirmy wormy - the hook was too large for the fish that were willing to chase flies. I didn't bother keeping count, but the same trio came to hook - pumpkinseeds, green sunfish and the bluegs (bluegills). I did see a couple of channel cats that weren't interested in any of the flies - even the woolly bugger that I literally stuck in it's face. And lastly, I got a close up look at the carp-ish fish I saw schools of earlier in the week.I'll be consulting my fish catalog books to see what I'll need to tie up to get this fish interested in a game of tug-o-war... you saw it here first - the sasquatch of 4 Mile Run (because the yeti is that albino tilapia). There were a bunch more people fishing today - one spinning for food, a six others on western fly gear (two of which were guides). Looks like winter fishing protocol is in full effect. I am still resisting the tying bench, but I don't know for how much longer... maybe when it starts to snow (or maybe after I've landed that yeti)...

Friday Morning Subfreezing Fishing

While a lot of people were paying homage to their capitalistic gods, I was conducting a survey with the fish at 4 Mile Run. There was more water in the run than last time - ankle deep in areas that were dry last time. I used the Nissin Fine Mode Nagare 2-way Zoom rod, mostly in 390 mode. I was casting using a TUSA Furled line with a short section of 7X tippet. I used a pink squirmy wormie until it magically came off mid cast (frozen fingers tie crappy knots), then I used a bead head killer bug for the rest of the trip. I ended up catching 7 bluegill, 2 pumpkinseeds and 3 green sunfish. With the setup I had, even the small guy's pulling felt like a pissed off dobie yanking at backyard chain. Scale down your tackle to increase your fun!!! Oh - did I mention it was 25 degrees out???? UPDATE: I forgot to mention I caught a glimpse of the legendary white tilapia!!! I'm going back with my 5wt to catch that fish...

Fall Fishing Jackpot

Cold, overcast and windy conditions. Pink squirmy wormy fly. New tenkara rod I got for my birthday. Questionable judgement in choosing fishing spot (you anglers in DC know what I'm talking about). But oh man did it payoff! I literally lost count of how many fish I caught. Granted they weren't big, but given the late Fall conditions, I'm not complaining. At low tide, this is 100% sight fishing. Shallow, interconnected pools with steady flow in one direction. This feeder into the Potomac is well known and highly visible - it falls back to the questionable judgement on how desperate someone has to be to fish this place. I have been here before, but haven't caught anything. I have seen people pull large carp out of the water here and put them in plastic bags certainly bound for the frying pan. But knowing what flows through this run, I would not think of eating fish from here, especially bottom feeders. But I will try to catch them while the rest of the area's fishing has gone into hibernation. I will still try other spots over the next several months, but I now have a solid fall back for those days when casting a line and getting a few takes is all I need to wash away the stress from work. Now I'll have to find a good cleaner to wash away the questionable stuff off my boots and waders....

Monday Fishing Part 2

The level line had a green scud already tied to it so I fished that (until I lost it to a fish/rock/tree). I landed all three of these guys (and several more of the Green Sunfish - in fact I lost count of those guys) on the scud. I did switch to the gnat fly once I lost the scud. That gnat produced some incredible strikes - even though the fish were small, they were feisty! One pumpkin seed slowly swam just up the fly (which was floating on the surface), paused and then jumped completely out of the water to strike at it - those 5 seconds of anticipation waiting for a strike and then having the strike be so active - it's almost as awesome as bringing in tropical saltwater flats fish (almost). The smallmouth bass was a great surprise as well - excellent fighter but gets tired pretty quickly (actually reminds me of a Giant Trevally in character). The kids had a great time - next post.