The big show"down" with some carp!!! Oh yeah!!! I brought the old cast net out - figured it was time to get the kids back on this old horse. This time around, they were throwing the roundee like old pros. Getting them ready to make an amphibious assault on some carp at Beaverdam Reservoir. Watch out carp - we're coming for you... After practice, we went down to Lake Newport and caught a few fish and some something-something... More on that later.
So with all the gyotaku I've made, I haven't gotten one framed and done. Until now... I took the big Ulua/Giant Trevally/Talikitok print to Michaels to get it framed and the estimate was gut wrenching - that was back last summer. I recently found a place to take some framing lessons and over the past couple of weekends, I have been working to get a few of these gyotaku buttoned up and hung on the wall. I was on track to get two done yesterday - the darts and the half-eaten barracuda (yes you saw it here first - a half eaten gyotaku) - but I am still going through the learning curve. I did manage to get this one finished and on the wall. Not bad if I say so myself. I should get the big one done next Saturday - that's the one I am looking forward to.
So with all the wind outside, I went downstairs to the tying room and made a few more fish fooling apparati. Four McTage's Leather Trouser Worms and a Big Headed Blue Gurgler. I also fixed a bunch of tenkara fly lines and set up three titanium lines - a 12.5', 10.5' and a 7' all with 18" Red Amnesia extension lines and 6X tippet. I hope to get these out this weekend (when the wind dies back).
Check out the new fishing basket!!! Don't be jealous - go build one for yourself!!! E-Z P-Z!!! Check out the perfect positioning on the angled rod holders - trolling fantastic!!! Didn't get to test drive this today - too windy. Tomorrow is going to be too windy also. The irony of things... 4 day weekend and it too windy (and I can't kitesurf or fish). Time to tie flies...
Catching up with some delinquent posts. The kids asked me to take them fishing after school on Tuesday. Marlon caught a few bluegill - but the ones from our normal spot seemed to have some really bad infection on their eyes - bulging and distended. We moved around a bit but the late time of day had the kids wanting to go back to the house. I stayed a little bit longer and I walked to a spot where I could hide behind some tall grass and cast to the medium sized large mouths that have taken up residence on the bank. I landed this guy and out of the corner of my eye I saw the other resident - this snake swimming towards me. Time for me to go home.
If you've been keeping tabs on this blog, you've noticed that my kids and I have been using the heck out of our seiryu-tenkara-keiryu Japanese Fly Fishing rods. The softer seiryu rods have emerged as my favorites with the vast majority of the fish I catch being 6-9" bluegills and large mouth bass. However, I recently felt that I have been ignoring my western style flyfishing equipment and losing what little skill I did have. Well - I decided to change it up yesterday and today. I have two training rods - both the Echo and Redington models. The Echo version uses a yarn based fly line while the Redington uses an actual fly line. Can you tell where I'm going with this? I put perfection loops on both ends of the fly line and attached tippet to the thin tapered end. So I can cast the line out and I can see the tight loop unfurling towards the spot I envisioned the fly landing - about 33% of the time. The rest of the time I caught the bushes on the side of the clearing (not keeping the rod moving along a single plane), failed to get the tippet to unfurl (not finishing with a crisp snap), or getting the line caught on the brush lining the shore (the rod is tiny - not much reach). Noe got the line out a few times as well - anyone can do this! This rod really lets you know what your mistakes are - but it also lets a bull bluegill make you feel like you're bringing in a pissed off wahoo. I still like using the seiryu rods - but pumping a double haul and watching a super tight loop fly away has it's place in cool too - MIX IT UP and ENJOY!!!
Friday afternoon break - more flyfishing with the seiryu rod - one fly day. I tied on one of the mini-gurglers I made several weeks back. This one was white foam over chartreuse chenille and marabou. I think the hook is a #6, but I can't remember for sure. So this was a definite break from my usual pattern of #12 and under hooks. The results spoke for themselves - bigger hook, bigger fish. This "manwich" sized Bull Bluegill was just one of about 10 that greedily took the gurgler. I also landed a couple of 9" LMBass - tons of fun and I didn't have to take scores of baby bluegill off the hook. I should keep using bigger hooks...
I took the kids to go fishing Wednesday afternoon. The Bluegill were out in force (but there are a bunch of other folks fishing the lake at the 'magic' spot - nesting zone - and they are not catch and releasing; bottom line is we have to fish other 'less-productive' spots) and we got into a few. Interesting phenomena - if you gently lay a bluegill back into super shallow water, they will calmly stay put. Then give them a gentle nudge after a few minutes and they swim away calmly like nothing every happened. True story - believe it.
We loaded up the truck and drove to DC to ride our bikes, explore the museums and monuments, and enjoy the nice Spring weather on Mother's Day. When we hit the Tidal Basin, I saw schools of Hickory Shad running the wall between the FDR and MLK Monuments. Of course I tried to catch one, but they weren't interested (they were showing spawning behavior). I didn't want to ruin M-Day so I packed up and we moved on. We checked out the Capitol, the Native American and American History Museums and the George Mason monument - then the kids looked really tired. As soon as we hit the truck they konked out. When we got home, you guessed it, I had to get some water time. I tied a Baby Crawfish fly on to Marlon's Kiyotaki and I used one as well - we whacked them again, but that wasn't hard as they are all set up right to the shoreline in spawning pits. I'll take pictures of the nests next time the lighting/winds/water clarity allow. I can also see the spawning color patterns on the big ones nesting close to shore - more vertical stripes used while trying to hold ground against a neighbor, than when airborne with a fly in it's lip. Good fun!!!
Saturday was a mixed bag of weather - rain, wind, sun and warmth - all spread out through the waking hours. I got out right after lunch to play tug-o-war and got several of the bigger bluegill to take the line. The more of these fish I catch, the more I really appreciate them. They are attractively patterned/colored, fight harder pound for pound than most other fish out there (salt or fresh), and they are not picky about what flies they'll hit. I got them to take a new fly I've tied - the Baby Crawfish - take it is not the right term, more like grab it like cr@ck!!! I also used a white boogle bug and a small tan wooly bugger - but in reality, to a bluegill - if it moves, it'll eat it.
Take a moment and try to definite what is important in your life - then stand back as you become super-charged!!!
Since that last crappie I landed a few weeks back, everyone that I've got to take a fly literally took it with them. I've been using 7X tippet to make sure if I snag a tree or a huge fish, my rod tip doesn't take the brunt of the remediation. That same tippet for whatever reason breaks after a couple of seconds wrestling with a regular sized crappie. Well, I found another set of crappie hanging around some structure next to the dam and I started pitching flies - and subsequently, one by one the crappie stared at them, mouthed them, got hooked and broke off - three flies!!! I ripped off the 7X and tied on a really small Meko Special-ish fly and I finally brought one to hand!!! GOT YA SUCKER!!! Marlon and I also saw a few dragonflies that just recently popped out of their larval cases - from the Life Aquatic to Life on the Wing. Time to shoot some dragonfly patterns....
Lake Newport loves me - I can never get skunked at Lake Newport. I started out fishing with Marlon, but the wind was making it hard for him to see into the water to target fish and cast flies (he left to hang out with Noe). I decided to try out the side with the dam - the wind was not affecting the water there (glassy smooth). I used the long Seiryu rod (with rod and line length, I can get just under 30' of reach) and sight casted to LMBs, BGs and a few Crappie. Long tailed orange scud fly was the winner! I did lose a couple of others to the larger fish (green spun deer winged bug and a copper legged black bugger), but with 7X tippet, you give the bruisers a chance at a fair fight. I stopped taking pictures and counting after 10 fish. I love Lake Newport and Lake Newport loves me!
