Summer Wet Wading and Creek Fishing

Last Monday we had no school for Labor Day.  So, instead of laboring on homework or running, Charles and I went fishing.

Charles took me to a small creek, best known as the creek that runs through Arbuckle Park, a small public park that is in need of a little cleaning up.  We first went to another park and hiked back about 10 minutes to get to the creek.

We got back there and from a high ledge saw a huge school of smallies, some carp, suckers, and loads of other fish.  In our rush to get down, the fish left before we could get in the water.

We casted for awhile and got nothing, so we went downstream a ways until we both hooked up with some feisty green sunfish.

We continued fishing downstream until we saw a big pod of smallies in a hole about 4 feet deep.  We fished there for over 30 minutes with not even a look.  I did manage to catch a few sunfish from the pool behind it, though.                           We hiked down farther and Charles got the first bass of the day, a chubby, feisty largemouth.  The smallies just would not cooperate with us.  

We found another pool littered with fallen leaves where we both caught plenty of sunfish and bluegill. The highlight was definitely this amazingly colored sunfish.  I think it's a longear sunfish, but please correct me if you know what it is!

We continued moving until we found some big logs on the water.  We had to maneuver over them because going around would have meant swimming!

In between the two sets of logs, we found a spot where there was about a 2 foot shelf that instantly dropped to about 6 or 7 feet of water.  We walked very carefully along the shelf and decided we'd bring back drop-shot rigs or jigs to fish with spinning rods.

At the second log we found, we had to charge over 50 feet up a steep incline to get around the logs.  While at the high vantage point, we saw two 7-10 pound carp feeding under the log.  We got plenty of awkwardly presented shots at them, but in the end, I wondered how hooking one of those fish would have played out.  

Whoever hooked it would have had to jump under the log, have the fly rod handed back to them, and fought the fish in chest-deep water while the other person jumped in to tail the fish if we got it close enough.  It would have been hectic, but I kind of want to see how that would turn out.

We eventually decided to turn around and head back upstream.  After reaching our hop-in point, we decided to follow the creek upstream until we hit another park.  We found hole after hole full of sunfish and a slivery minnow-like fish that look like creek chub.  I'm really confused as to what these are, as they look nothing like the creek chub I caught here.  

Let me know if you have any clue as to what this fish is.  I'd like to add him to my species list.

We walked farther along and Charles picked up another nice bass.

At this point I will attest that the homemade "worm fly" that resembled a Texas-rigged worm Charles was using was good. We kept walking for what seemed like forever, and we probably covered a lot of water.  My guess is we hiked over 1 mile upstream that day.                                                             I saw tons of suckers there, and got no looks from them on the fly rod.  I'mm trying to find information on how to catch them, but so far I haven't found lots of solid experience from people.  If you have any tips, let me know

After we were about halfway to the other park, we hit a pool where we could see smallies on the bottom.  We tried tons of flies, but eventually a crayfish fly with a dual weighting system picked up the first smallmouth of the day for me.  Unfortunately, he jumped out of my hands before I could get a good picture.  However, I usually have my GoPro on and running, so I pulled some pictures from the video I got. 

 This was the last good fishing hole we hit because we rushed to get to the other park so Charles' mom could pick us up.  I got a ton of video from the day and will be putting up a youtube clip soon.  We're definitely heading back for more smallmouth and carp.

Tight lines!!















UPDATE: Charles went back to the smallie hole with his brother and a drop-shot rig.  He caught this pig of a smallie while he was there.

Solar Eclipse Carp

Unfortunately, we weren't in the path of totality of the eclipse last week.  Cross-country season is in full swing, and I'm trying to keep up with my weekly mileage.  Monday after the eclipse, we went out for a long run on the canal towpath.  Long story short, in a canal I've never seen ONE fish in before, there were 7 total carp up to 10 pounds out and about feeding.  It could have been the storm beforehand or the eclipse, but man it was a cool occurrence.  Definitely coming back to catch some canal carp soon!

Skunked by the water treatments??

Bobby and I went back to the grass carp pond for what should be the last time this summer.  We were there for about 2 hours, and I had numerous shots at a couple really nice fish.  The problem is, when your fly line lands on the weed mat, the grassies spook.

I had a few really good looks, but no grass carp committed.

After 1 hour of fishing, a boat was put in the pond and began treating the pond.  We packed up and moved to my neighborhood, pretty bummed about having to go.  Next we went to my carp pond, but after an hour, inevitable the boat came again.  At this point we had to go back, because we didn't have any more ponds to fish.

Bobby and I did some video editing, and I'll be fishing on and off on the weekends until the winter.

Another Round Lost to the Grass Carp; A Surprise Fish

Bobby, Ben and I decided to go back to the grass carp pond yesterday.  We spent a solid portion of the morning fishing for bass.  Bobby stuck lots of bass up to about 2 pounds on a buzz frog.  I fished the edges for the few grass carp we saw, and somehow caught a bass.  I pulled it in and realized that I had actually just caught a smallmouth.

Charles said there were smallies in the pond, but we'd never seen one.

We walked around for awhile, and I got the perfect shot at a grass carp.  I landed my hopper 5 inches from the fish's nose, and it turned away.  I thought it was spooked, but it turned and sipped my hopper!  I wasn't expecting it at all, and tried to set with the rod, but the fish was over 40 feet away, and I had too much slack in my line.

We left for lunch, then came back to the pond.  While Bobby and I presented hoppers to the grassies, Ben caught about 6 bass on plastic worms.

We kept continually laying flies in front of the grass carp, only to have bluegill take them and spook the grass carp away.  We caught dozens of bluegill as bycatch, and they were all infuriating.

Eventually, we had to leave.  We had some really good looks, but no fish.

Record Breaking

Bobby and I went out for a short hour and a half session at "the original" pond.  I landed a feisty 1 pounder on a popper as soon as he got there.

Bobby spent over half an hour trying to catch a bluegill for bait, but to no avail.  I was having subtle takes, so I started slowly pulling my zudbubbler along the surface as a wakebait.  A fish slurped the fly then took off fast.  The first fish ever to take me to the reel on an 8 weight.  It rocketed its way out of the water twice.  This fish was big, but somehow it still got its entire body a foot out of the water.  After a few minutes of tug, the big bass was mine.  I could have fit my entire fist down its mouth.

I brought it over to Bobby for the scale.  It weighed 5 pounds and 14 ounces.  Almost a 6 pound bass!   Thats the biggest I've ever caught, and it was on a fly rod!  Not only that, but its the biggest bass we've caught out of this pond in years!!

I released the beast then grabbed my 6 weight to get some bluegill for catfish bait.

Bobby got a couple nice fish on a frog.

I caught a bluegill on the fly rod, and Bobby went to work cutting it up and distributing the pieces among the catfish rods.  At about 10:00,  something started slowly taking the bluegill head.  At about 10:10, Bobby set the hook, but it ended up being a 2 pound bass.  We were both pretty upset about that one.  The bass wasn't actually hooked, it just swallowed the bluegill head.

We're going back to the grass carp pond tomorrow.  Bobby made a dope edit from the last grassie.  Check it out here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lWJ-gggBzI

Carpe Diem

Today might have been the best day of fishing I've had in a long time.  Charles came over to fish at 9.  We headed to the main pond to fish a little.  Charles has really nailed down his jig fishing.  We would walk along the banks, and Charles would flip his jig into the path of any fish that scared off the bank. He ended up with lots of bass, and a few over 4 pounds. 

Bobby slept in too long, so he brought our friend Ben at around 11.  We went to the carp pond.  Bobby set up rods and chummed corn, but to no avail.  We saw very few fish there.

Charles had the idea of leaving to check out a pond he found that was full of grass carp.  I wanted some redemption.  We got there and immediately saw grassies everywhere.  The problem is they don't appear to be doing a good job at eating the vegetation.  There is a thick grass mat covering the bank out to about 10 feet from the bank.  

We saw fish everywhere cruising.  Bobby tried throwing bread.  Charles and I threw moss flies, hoppers, nymphs, and whatever else we could scrounge up.  Nothing bit.  Charles had practice, so he had to leave at 2.  At 1:55, I saw a grassie cruising slowly about 20 feet away.  At this point I was already using my 6 weight for the finer touch I needed to cast small flies delicately so as to not spook the fish.  I fired a short cast at the fish, and out of sheer luck, it landed 8 inches in front of the fish.  I watch him slowly tilt upwards and sip my hopper.  I struck as soon as he closed his mouth.  

I yelled as soon as I felt him, then instantly regretted using a 6 weight.  He burned out 50 feet of line in mere seconds, but then let me tug him back in.  This continued for a few minutes until Charles decided to hop back into the pond to grab him.  After 10 minutes or so of back and forth with the fish, Charles was able to bear hug the fish and run to the bank with him.  After the fish hit the bank, a photo session ensued.  The fish was absolutely massive, and I'm still amazed that I got him on a 6 weight rod.  

We took lots of photos.  I really don't remember it too well because everything was such a blur.  I just knew I was holding one of the biggest fish out of freshwater I may ever hold.

Charles got out of the water and posed with my fish and I.  It took a lot of effort just to hold up such a beast for all the pictures.

Since I always regretted not being the one to get in the pond to release my koi and because it was incredibly hot, I decided to hop in and release my fish.  I ended up "falling" in more than hopping in.  I thought I'd lost the fish for a second, but it was stuck in the weeds at my feet.  Before the fish could think to swim away, Charles was back in with the scale.  Our scale put this fish at 35 pounds and 15 ounces.  Easily the biggest fish of my life by over 20 pounds.

We snapped one last picture and then everyone but me rushed to go drop Charles off at home.  I stayed with my fish for 10 more minutes to revive it and send him back into his muddy, weedy home.  What a day! 

Grass Carp 1: Humans 0

Saturday night I had Bobby over.  He spent the night and we watched fishing videos and tied some flies, while researching grass carp techniques.  The next morning we got up and drove to a local orchard.  There are ponds in the back with lots of fish in them.

We couldn't believe out eyes when we got there.  Driving along the bank we could see dozens of grass carp in pods feeding on the bottom.  We saw fish from 5 to 30 pounds.  The biggest fish looked as though they were bigger than 30 pounds, and possible 48 inches or more.  Unfortunately, we fished all morning and part of the afternoon with nothing.

Bobby had one fish nibble a nymph but didn't hook it.






I've been fishing with my new 8 weight outfit.  I have a 9 foot Redington Vice rod with a Behemoth reel attached to it.

This outfit is pretty sweet.






We went back into Brownsburg to another pond.  This pond apparently has some big grassies in it too.  I caught a 10" bass on a nymph.  Bobby set up a rig with bread, and got a take.  We both were puzzled watching the line swim in circles.  When he finally pulled it up, we discovered a softshell turtle the size of a dinner plate.  He cut the hook and let the turtle go.

Finally, we went to a pond that is stocked with monster catfish.  Bobby has caught two blue catfish over 20 pounds from this pond.  We set up rods and ended up with two wimpy channel catfish, both under 5 pounds.

We'll be back soon for the grass carp!

Carp Dreams

Saturday, I went out to the new secret pond.  Initially, I walked around to test a new bass fly.  The water was still really dark.  I walked around and ended up catching a tiny 8 incher and missing a few quick strikes.  I got to the other corner of the pond, and saw not one, not two, not three, but four big carp over 10 pounds all tailing.  I silently cursed myself for not having carp flies on me, then sprinted back to my bag to grab them.

I walked around the pond twice before I saw any signs of a carp.  Then, there it was.  A tail as big as my foot flashing up from the bottom.  I shot a quick 20 foot cast and pulled the fly back until it was about two feet from the tail.  I saw the fish turn for a split second, then it shot away.  I held the line tight and set the hook, and almost immediately the fish got on the reel.  The first run was powerful and went about 80 feet into my fly line.  I almost got to meet my backing for the first time.

Every time I worked the fish to within 20 feet of the bank, it would make a 20 foot run again and i'd work it back.  My forearms were burning and I was tired.  Not wanting to horse the fish in, I let it run when it wanted to.  15 long minutes into the fight, I got the fish in.  Maybe a net would have helped.  Maybe I needed an 8-weight.  Maybe I needed tippet stronger than 12-lb test.  Who cares?  I got my second carp and my biggest fish ever on a fly!

The fish weighed 12 pounds and 4 ounces and was 29 inches long.  I took as many pictures as possible, then called Bobby and had him come.  We took a couple hero shots.  The neighbor that lets us fish at the pond wants the carp out of the pond because they eat the bass eggs.  I've never heard this as a problem, so we found ourselves unable to kill a fish that big without a solid reason, so we took it to the main pond to revive and go live with the koi.  It took a couple minutes, but it finally swam off.

After that I was pretty happy and wasted a little time catching some bluegill.  Best day ever!  Finals are next week so I probably won't go fishing this weekend.  Tight lines!!

White Bass Run

Three or four weeks ago, my uncle and I went back to Eagle creek for the white bass run.  It was cold and miserable for the first two hours.

He ended up catching a few on... a BLACK wooly bugger???  Who knows.  Next year we might have to find another spot because there were no big schools.  A few carp jumping here and there, but no big signs of life otherwise.

School has about a month left.  Fishing coverage will be back up every free day I get this summer.

Spring White Bass Run

Every year, white bass make their annual spawning run up Eagle Creek.  The fish are ultra-aggressive and there are dozens of them.  It's not unusual to hear of people catching upwards of 50 in a day.

I went out for a few hours on Monday to Eagle Creek.  The water was very low and clear, and I didn't see much.  I spent awhile there, then moved up to a spot under a bridge.  I swung and stripped a "clouser" until I hooked up with one.  My first white bass on the fly fought well and was a pretty fish to behold.

The fish was about 12" which is about average for white bass.  

I casted a few more times under the bridge and moved to a different spot.  The "Clouser" I was fishing with was essentially a clouser tied with marabou and hackes along the sides.  Another fly of my own design, it will get more testing later in the week when I hit the spawn again.  

After heading to a different spot, I had a feisty little creek chub take my fly.  

I'm starting to really like taking these pictures of fish at the water level, or just closeups of them in my hands.  It adds an artistic flair to the pictures that really looks good.

I should be heading back to the creek with my uncle and maybe Charles on Friday.  Hopefully the run will be at full swing and we can enjoy some time pulling one fish after another out of the creek.  I may try to create another quick GoPro video with some white bass footage.  Until then, tight lines!!

Spring Streamer Fishing

On Friday, I went out fishing.  I know it was Good Friday, but in reality I think going out into nature helps me feel closer to God than prayer does.  Creation is a beautiful thing, and being in it allows me to relax and distance myself from my problems.

I went back to the original pond I usually fish.  I attempted to sight fish, but only ended up with one fish after a solid 2 hours.  That was really infuriating fishing because you could watch the fish just ignore everything you presented.

I was able to catch a few nice bluegill on nymphs and get some cool looking pictures out of it.

It started to rain eventually, so I tied on a black fly that was essentially a cone head with black marabou and ice dub.  It was a fly of my own design, so I'll be tweaking it as the season goes on.  Apparently blind casting dark streamers was the ticket.  Wow, it slayed fish.  I caught about 4 in the last hour I stayed.

Slow strips were the name of the game and that streamer caught all kinds of decent bass up to 2 pounds.  It was a solid day and a nice chance to relax.

Early Spring Bass and a New Pond

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with posts.  School and track season are in full swing.

At the end of my Spring break, I went back out fishing with Charles.  We went to the secret pond again.  The fish seemed very uninterested.  Charles ended up picking up 10 on senkos and one on some crazy giant swimbait, but they were all dinks.  Maybe two of the fish were over a pound.

We decided to try a neighbor with a pond behind her house.  She is very kind and lets us fish there.  We got there and saw the water was incredibly dark and muddy, so I put a black "versicraw" on the line while Charles tried his swimbait some more.  I made two casts and immediately hooked up with a 3 pounder.  We circled around the bank some more, and Charles picked up one.  

We came to an opposite bank under some trees and I started hammering fish.  I pulled out two more.  Then,  I fired another long cast and started my slow strip retrieve.  I felt something suck the fly in, so I made a hard strip set and lifted the rod on a massive fish.  I knew as soon as I hooked it it was different.  After a solid minute of tug-of-war, he gave in, and I landed the biggest bluegill I'd ever seen.  It was well over 11 inches.  What amazed me is that it had a mouth big enough to eat a size 1 jig hook!

I pulled out another nice four pounder, which my neighbor wanted to photograph, then decided to get one more fish before we had to leave.  

I circled back to the area I'd caught my first fish and immediately got a take, but I didn't set hard enough and the fish came loose before I saw it.  I thought i might have another chance at it, and sure enough, the fish aggressively grabbed my fly again.  This time, I set HARD and felt a massive fish pull the line through my fingers.  The power and aggressiveness of these fish was unlike anything I've seen in a long time.  The fish surfaced and attempted a jump, and thats when I yelled to Charles, "Bring the scale, this one's over 5!" You know how when a big fish jumps it can't get more than half of its body out of the water?  That's how I knew.  When I finally landed the beast, I couldn't believe I'd gotten it on the fly.  It was 5 pounds and 2 ounces and easily a personal best on the fly.  What a day!!!

If that wasn't enough, my neighbor told me that during the spawn huge carp come and eat off of the bass beds.  She wants them gone, so if we can't catch them on flies, she will let us use her bowfishing kit.  This sounds like something to stay tuned for!!

Tight lines!!!

Spring Break: Fishing in Asheville, NC

For Spring break, my family decided to travel to Asheville to stay and hike.   I was happy with the decision because it meant I could finally get some trout fishing in.  I borrowed some of my uncle's trout flies and waders to hopefully fish while I was there.  I went to a local fly shop, Hunter Banks Outfitters, bought some recommended flies, and got some intel on the surrounding streams.

The first day I was able to fish, I went to Graveyard Fields in the mountains, off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Yellowstone Prong of the East Fork of the Pigeon River runs through it, (complicated, right?) and it holds wild brookies.  I selected a size 18 Copper John from my uncle's box, tied it on under an yarn indicator, and on the first cast, hooked a 6 inch brookie.  After I brought that one to hand, I caught an 8 inch fish on the next cast.  The rest of the evening was fishless.  The brookies are very tricky to fool, and I was unable to catch more.

The next day, after climbing Mount Mitchell, I went to the South Toe River.  I donned the waders and put on a green Copper John in size 16.  I caught a small 5 inch rainbow out of the first pool and a smaller one at the end of the day to finish my fishing.

Two new species and a nice break from school.  I'd say it was a good week!

Indianapolis Boat, Sport, and Travel Show

Yesterday I went to the Boat Sport and Travel show.  I met a lot of cool people and got some good deals on new lures.  In years past, there has been a fly fishing show alongside the show.  The boat sport and travel show is engineered to sell stuff, whereas the fly show has information and you can meet cool people.  Thus, they got rid of most of the fly fishing related booths and speakers.

The highlight was getting to see Jeff Currier, a legendary fly fishing artist, presenter, and fisherman.   www.jeffcurrier.com
 He has caught over 300 species of fish on the fly!!
I went to see two of Jeff's powerpoint presentations on Yellowstone and Africa.
He also did some sharpie art for me on a fly box.  One of the coolest things ever to watch!!

Fishing coverage should be back up soon.  Temps have been in the 60s for a few days this week.