Bad Weather Bluegill

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.

WORK SUCKS - Fishing Rules (but surfing da bestest)

I've had a record bad week at work - try and do everything right, but some people just don't know what teamwork is... But you know what - that's not what life is about and I'm not dwelling on it. Just to make sure, I did go out after work to welcome the weekend by fooling a few finned friends. Hooked into five LMBs - brought three to hand. Nailed ten BGs. Now that the water is warming up, the fish metabolisms are ramping up. Even modest sized BGs are bending my Nissin Two Way Fine Mode 440 Nagare (I have a new favorite rod) and I can't even begin to describe the intensity of the fight that these second year LMBs put up on this rod (bends to the rod butt) - definitely the opposite end of the spectrum from W-O-R-K (damn four letter word...). Take a moment and try to definite what is important in your life - then stand back as you become super-charged!!!

Revenge!!! And the hatching dragonflies

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....

Not Skunked -

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!

SKUNKED!!!

Before I helped out at the FYCC (Family & Youth Casting Call - I believe an arm of the District of Columbia Fish and Game Department), I tried fly casting South of Fletcher's Cove at the point of rocks. There were tons of boats out but they weren't catching anything. And neither did I. I did see a bunch of fry swimming in schools right along the high water line. The weird thing is besides the surface activity last weekend, I haven't seen any other real fish signs - especially from the regulars (sunfish). I didn't take any pictures of the kids from the DC and Maryland schools fishing - because I didn't have a spare moment between baiting hooks, unsnagging line, rerigging poles and posing for pictures with kids with fish - fun day, but LONG and tiring. But anytime you can get a kid to enjoy time outside and away from video games is time and effort well spent. Sucks getting skunked though.

The Usual Suspects

I'm volunteering down at Fletcher's Cove tomorrow for an event to introduce fishing to school aged kids. Buses will be shuttling kids from Maryland and DC, and the volunteers are supposed to help them with baiting hooks, teaching ecology, removing the hooks, showing how to cast, and all the other fun stuff about hanging out around a body of water and learning about what lives in it. I plan on getting there early and seeing if I can land some shad... hopefully tomorrow the good karma generator pays off. Anyways - I tied up these short clouser minnows and a heavily weighted pink bugger for the shad, and a couple of olive buggers for Marlon to fish with in the afternoon.

SUP Board Fish Stalking Organizer Completed

I finished the milk crate conversion. Three rod holders - two in the trolling (while paddling) position and one vertical for holding a camera stick, a gaff or a net. Bungee straps to hold it down near the nose of the board. I know what I'm doing this weekend!!!

Rained Out and Attacked by Bugs

Right after lunch, I took the kids to the Lake to try fishing today. I caught a few bluegill and this LMB - it inhaled a pink grub I tied up a while back and I hooked it square on the roof of its mouth. The entire time we were out there, we were surrounded by swarms of gnats that seemed to want to live in our cranial orifices. Noe pointed out a few times that she could see the cloud of bugs flying around my head - that is until they sensed her being a carbon dioxide emitted mammal also. By the end of our short stay, the bugs had us thinking it would be best to wear dust masks and mosquito netting - and not to mention the start of the rains. Tough day of fishing...

Milk Crate (Legally Procured) Fishing Basket

Seeing the copious amounts of uneducated carp (dumb to the way of the fly) yesterday inspired me to catch up on a planned project that I have had on the shelf for a while - the custom milk crate fishing basket. I already have a Boardfisher basket, but the tube configuration on it is not optimum for how I want to fish on a SUP (oh - the carp fishing would have me on the Starboard Blend - remember the post from yesterday at Beavercreek Reservoir?). I will put three rod tubes on this crate - all screwed down to a chopping board that I got permission to cut up. One will be straight up for holding a net/gaff/third rod, and the other two will lean out opposing sides at between 45 to 60 degrees to support trolling while paddling. I will also put two Mighty Mounts will backing plates on the non-chopping block braced side and a third on the chopping board side - for cameras, GPS and other smaller gear. I'll also be drilling in a few drain holes for good measure. I have to get two more backing plates and another Mighty Mount as well as some good stainless screws and nuts for the rod tubes. Other than that, the new crate should be done by this weekend! I can just see it now - getting dragged around by golden bonefish... ahh yes, that's the next goal

End of the Day Redemption

Despite all that blah-blah-blah I just wrote on my last post, getting skunked still stinks. When we got back, Marlon and I decided that we should hit ole' reliable and hook into some Lake Newport fighting fish!!! We tied on some of our popper frogs and hook into everything from crappie, small large mouth bass (I love that oxymoron), and the omnipresent bluegill. My final tally - 1 crappie, 12 bluegill and 1 LMB. Marlon had 2 LMBs and 1 HUGE BLUEGILL - this thing was almost as big as his head is round!!! I taught Marlon how to better cast the flyline instead of swinging it out and he did great! So I went out fishing three times on Saturday - not a bad way to spend a 70 degree, ridiculously sunny day.

SUPing around CARP Nasty!!!

After lunch, we loaded up the truck with La's SUP and the kayak and headed over to Fairfax Reservoir. We thought the lake was Beaverdam Creek, but when we asked some of the other people at the dock, they corrected us (nicely of course). As usual, the kids lounged out on their kayak chairs, La buzzed around on her SUP (very nice form now) and I got to paddle the kids and the food/drinks around (but I like doing that). I think I can really use a flats pole at place like this - in fact as we were dragging the drag chain going downwind I saw TONS of carp (I think they were spawning) and all I could see in my head was me flycasting to bonefish back on Diego Garcia... I think I have found my new favorite paddling spot!!! I left my 5wt in the truck, so I was casting with my Nissin Seiryu rod - I managed to hook one carp after a very long time and it broke off in the blink of an eye. That's fishing! Next time I'll bring the Starboard 11'2" decked out for fishing and those carp will be MINE!!! AHH - AHH - AHH - AHH - AHHHHHH!!!! We bumped into a guy shooting the carp with a bow and arrow - looked like tons of fun! I told him to go down a little bit further and he'd be shooting them in a "barrel". He said thanks and asked if I ate carp because he had 10 in the boat - I said thanks but I only eat saltwater fish. Noe then asked "Can he release the fish if he shoots them with an arrow?" and I said "No - they are dead at that point". Since we have been catching and releasing everything when we go fishing, the kids have come to think that happens all the time. Noe then said "I don't want to do that kind of fishing because then the fish are dead!". Lesson learned here - take notes because this is free - make the most of where you live and be a happy person. We have lived in some pretty cool places by the sea and have loved it - now we live inland, but you can find really cool things anywhere, just open your eyes and look!

White Sucker Fish from the Potomac

I went to the platform above the Chain Bridge this morning to try my luck at catching some Hickory and American Shad while they are still around. Instead of shad, I caught this White Sucker (Catostomus commersoni). I lost about 10+ flies and if it wasn't a snag, my backcast was caught on a tree - pretty frustrating. For the short time I have been flyfishing, I never knew why people would carry their tippet spools on the exterior of their vest/packs/lanyards - but now I have been enlightened. Anyways - the shad flies I was casting did get a few 'pecks'. I maybe have another month to figure this out. I am fascinated by the timelessness of catching Shad on the Potomac - the colonists did it during the Revolution with this fish playing a huge part in changing the nature of how people viewed governing bodies (the colonial army may have starved without shad at some of it's lowest points). And it isn't a stretch of the imagination to think of how the Native Americans celebrated this annual event by spending days on the river catching and smoking shad. If you have kids, live in the Washington Metro Area and want said kids to learn how to fish - there is an event at Fletcher's Cove this coming Saturday. I'm volunteering on Friday to help stock the C&O Canal - and to pick the experts' minds on how to properly cast and attract the Shad (because I'll be damned if I am going to be shad skunked!!!!). Anyways - anyways... I am happy that I caught a different species - White Sucker Fish.

Thursday Afternoon Popper Action

Marlon and I decided to try our luck again this afternoon. We also decided to try out the poppers we made this past Winter. We setup our seiryu and keiryu (reel-less flyrods softer and stiffer than tenkara rods respectively) rods and had a blast watching the bluegill, largemouth bass and crappie explode on the poppers!!! Best action ever at the old fishing hole!!! I got three bluegill to hand and a LMB. I had about 10 other strikes and Marlon got excited seeing the fish stalk the multicolored poppers. I did lose one (tippet broke at the flyline knot) and we watched as the fish kept randomly attacking the popper for the rest of the afternoon. I am going make some more of these, but I'll try to get some even smaller ones made up - most of the splashing came from the smaller, more aggressive fish that attacked the fly multiple times, but just couldn't get the fly in it's mouth.

Boating, SUPing and the Ubiquitous Seaweed

The rest of our Sunday in Annapolis was pretty varied. We had brunch with our friends Trevor and Sam. While there we admired the boats tied up in the marina. Then we hit Sandy Point to get our wide open water fix. La took out the Naish Glide for a bit and I took turns fishing with the kids. As you can see, we caught our share of Ulva lactuca - sea lettuce. Can't you see the excitement in the kids' expressions!!!???!!! I don't think I'll ever catch a fish at this place...

Playing Catch Up - Spring East of Maui Swap Meet

I haven't posted in a few days - I'll slap up a few late posts... On Sunday we went to Annapolis to try and sell more water gear that we aren't currently using. The Naish board and the C4 paddle sold - I brought the kayak paddles back with me. I did manage to walk around a bit this time and I saw three boards that I had to walk away from (or risk buying them) - an old Naish Hybrid windsurfer, the Gaastra formula board in the picture and a Cabrihna kite racing board. If you are looking to sell a SUP, this is the place to do it - I had the Glide and La's board tied up to the truck and got asked more than a couple of times if I was selling them. If you are trying to buy a SUP, good luck - so was everybody else. We talked with the people around us trying to sell their stuff - I hate to stereo type but windsurfers are probably the smartest of the water people - takes a lot more dedication and understanding to be a good windsurfer. Anyone can surf and anyone and all their cousins can SUP, but the good windsurfers - far and few between - this swap meet always brings them out of hiding and into one place. Good times!