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 7/12/2014

Same pond as last time - a different section. I lined up the Orvis Helios 9'0" 5wt. Not having used a graphite 5wt in a while, this rod felt much more robust than the fiberglass rods I have been using in this weight class. Surprisingly it was still sensitive to even these small sunfish (not sure what species they were, but I think they were some sort of hybrid - a lot like a bluegill juvenile, but the eyes and markings were different). Maybe these are ju-vee redears....

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.

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 6/19/2014, Part 2

I kept walking at the first stop and found the creek that drained the pond. I did see a few green sunfish and one small largemouth bass, but I decided to just keep watching and not go back to the truck to get the gear (I did go back eventually to get the camera). At the creek, I saw a female (large sized) dragonfly depositing eggs into the water - keep flying up and down and hitting the surface - if you looked as the spot the dragonfly just left, you could see a little white dot - an egg. I didn't have the camera with me, but now I know what to look for at our lake. I noticed after walking through some grass that I had a few hitchhikers on me - after pulling the ticks off myself, I got back in the truck and headed to the part of Bull Run that goes under the "Stone Bridge" - site of the retreating Union Army Regiments after the Second Battle of Manassas. It was neat to think that several hundred people once crossed a bridge here and destroyed it to stop the Confederate troops from following them. Makes you also wonder if these same species of sunfish were in this run back then, or if these are more recent transplants to these waters. Sometimes you don't have to rig up the rod - but that doesn't mean everytime (or even most - let's keep that the exception ;)