Blue-Lining

I was in Colorado for two weeks on a camping trip and did not get to do any fishing.  On the upside, runoff was horrible, so it looks like I didn't miss anything good while I was there.

After my return, it was immediately back to work and scheduled fishing.  On Sunday, Charles and I had the bright idea to leave and go fishing at 4 in the afternoon.  We drove down past town and parked at a church, then made a half mile walk down to a bridge where we were able to hop into the creek.

After a few minutes, Charles stumbled on a territorial fish that seemed to relate to an area.  You could still see a cereal bowl-shaped beds where the fish had spawned.  Of course Charles was continually saying that the fish were bedded.  It is now July and the water is 75 degrees.  The spawn is long over, and these fish were not bedded.

Charles spent a solid 15 minutes trying to hook this fish.  He went through numerous fly changes and finally elicited a strike.  The fish immediately ran into the brush by the side of the creek, and tit took charles a few minutes to get him out.  The fish was fairly skinny, but probably went 17 or 18 inches.  I used a waterproof phone case to get an underwater release video.  We tried to do this with every fish.  Hopefully I can put some of them into a video edit on my youtube channel.

Charles found me one fish isolated by a rock patterning the same way.  I switched flies ten times and did not get the fish to swipe once.  Charles came over, took one cast, and hooked up.  I took a good look at his fly and immediately switched to clouser.

My next cast shot under the trees into a shady hole, and a nice 14 incher took my fly.

Charles was working on a nice female hiding behind a rock.  He switched flies multiple times and took plenty of time casting to this fish.  I got my payback on Charles and hooked this fish on my first cast.

It had been so long since I'd caught a nice smallmouth, I forgot how fun they were on a 6 weight.  This fish ran up the flat into 1 foot of water, then caught 4 feet of air on his first jump, almost hitting the tree branches above the creek.  He fought for a few more minutes then I grabbed him for a few pictures.

We continued walking downstream, catching more fish and then came to an area where the creek had scooped a 6 foot wall out of the shale on one side.  Here, we fished a good run, but with no success.

Dark clouds started to move in, and Charles knows from experience that being in the creek during a storm is dangerous.  The water starts to rise quickly and the current combined with the rock gardens can become dangerous.  We turned and high tailed it back to the bridge we hopped in at.

After checking the radar, we realized the storm was going to slide around us, so we continued upstream the opposite direction we started in.  I found a small run with a few gorgeous little longear sunfish and passed some time catching them.

I switched to a clouser tied with entirely gold ripple ice fiber.  I tied it from sample materials we received from a Hareline Dubbin shipment.  I swung it straight under the bridge and hooked up with another decent smallie.

We fished down to another area with more steep shale walls.

We continued fishing here, each catching two more nice smallmouth before it eventually became dark.  We ended up fishing for around 4 hours on a spontaneous trip that became one of most fun days of fishing I've had in awhile.

I miss just hopping in a creek and following it to catch fish.  I'll have to find some friends in college to enjoy the same thing with.  We ended up getting 15 smallies averaging about 15 inches apiece, which is very nice, especially for the size of this tiny creek.  We'll continue scouting new holes out and chasing them on google maps.

I expect we'll be back soon for more smallies, and maybe one of us will figure out how to catch redhorse suckers by the end of the summer.  They were everywhere but don't like looking at flies.  Until next time.

New Records and Hybrid Sunfish

Charles and I planned our fishing for the morning today.  After a lot of discussion, we planned to go to a pond with a few grass carp and tons of bluegill, but there were baseball games in the nearby fields, so we had to find new plans.  We instead started fishing in a pond for carp.  Upon arrival, we found a very muddy pond.  Plumes of mud from tailing carp were everywhere.  The only problem was, we couldn't see any fish.  There was one massive grass carp in the middle of the pond, but we decided not to mess with it.  We threw our carp flies at the bass, but only managed a few small ones.

We shortly left to go back to my main pond.  Everything was out and about, but few bass wanted to look at our flies, especially after the fishing day yesterday.  





We spent a little time messing around with the bluegill beds.  They were still on fire, and we spent a bunch of time catching one after the other.  What else are days off for?  Charles and I killed time, caught multiple doubles, and daydreamed about a bag of deer jerky to enjoy while doing it.  Maybe some other time.

We continued our quest for bass, but only combined for two or three bass on flies as well as the jigs Charles started throwing.  We felt it was time for a throwback technique: live bluegill.
Only one problem: all the bluegill in the pond were too big.  I remembered the bluegill in the carp pond were significantly smaller, so we went straight over there, fly rods in hand, to put a beat down on some bluegill.  Charles carried a walmart grocery bag to put the fish in.



We got there and started catching bluegill in the 4-6 inch range.  These fish were perfect for bass fishing.  After a few fish, however, we noticed something strange.  Some of these fish were not purebred bluegills.  Neither one of us is sure what they are.  I talked to someone who thinks they may be hybridized with redears, but I'm not sure.  If you have any clue as to what this species is, let me know.

We caught a few of these mystery sunfish then released them.  In the end, we had two bluegills in the right size range for bass bait.  Just perfect.  Although their spines kept poking holes in the plastic bag, we kept them mostly safe and well watered.  After we got over to the main pond, Charles put one on a big bait hook on his 7' 3" heavy bass rod.  I just continued having fun catching bluegills and missing the occasional baby bass on a san juan worm fly.

A few feet down from me, Charles hooked into his first bass.  It was a very nice fish, probably over 4.  We never weighed it, but it was one of the bigger bass we've caught recently.  He ran to grab his last bluegill while I wrestled with more big slab sunfish on my 6 weight.

Charles camly walked over to the other side of the pond where he believed he saw a large fish earlier.  He later told me he had sight fished, and how he was able to do this without making a sound is unbelievable to me, knowing the way he is.  I know moments later I heard a yell that this fish was a monster and I had to come.





I was in the middle of a fight with another nice bull bluegill.  Once I unhooked him, I ran to the other side of the pond to see the fish.  Once I saw it, my jaw dropped.  I may never see another bass this large this close to home again.  Wow.

We had a short photo shoot then I ran to grab the scale while Charles held the fish in the water.  When a fish is this big, you have to weigh it for accuracy's sake.  By the time I got back, a homeowner was on his lawn mower near us.  He had been out mowing for a good amount of time, and he obviously had seen us fishing.  Even more surprising, he has lived there for at least as long as I have been fishing the pond, and has never once said anything before.  He had clearly seen the fish and I detected a tinge of envy in his voice.  He told us we were on private property (we were on grass that he has never once mowed right by the bank) and asked if we lived in the neighborhood.  When I responded with yes, he merely repeated that we were on private property and told us to "F off".  Some people just cannot stand to watch idly by while others have fun.  I motioned for Charles to come follow me and we walked across the property line to another yard, one whose owner has personally told me to fish there whenever I feel like it.


There, we finished our photo shoot and finally weighed the fish.  It topped the scale at 7 lbs 1 ounce. (Likely because of that bluegill it had just swallowed).  This fish was something special.  At only half the state record, it is still the biggest bass Charles has ever caught and the biggest I have ever seen in the state.

He finished up by releasing the big girl back into her home.  These fish may still be prespawn, but we suspect this fish may be too old to spawn any more.  Charles and I both looked at each other speechless.  Almost immediately after, we heard thunder.  We raced back to our gear, broke all our rods down, and sat in the car while it poured.  Overall, an amazing day, and one I won't soon forget.





A quick thank you to all to all those soldiers who fought for our freedom and gave the ultimate sacrifice.  This Memorial Day was well spent.

Summer Fishing Finally Heating Up

After yesterday's hard work, I woke up with a sore back and legs.  After I finished my plan for the day, I texted Josh and had him come over for some fishing.  

At first sight, I knew the pond was finally heating up.  Dinner plate sized beds lined the pond almost the entire way around.  I immediately set up my 6 weight and taught Josh how to use a foam spider to catch bedding bluegills.  These fish are all very nice sized, from 7-10 inches.

Spawn colorations on bluegills are some of my favorites.  I could sit on the bank with snacks and catch them for hours.  Reminds me of the day I caught the orange koi.  Charles and I spent hours on the bank with a bag of deer jerky between spurts of bass action.

While Josh was having fun with the bluegill on topwater, I put a blue boogle bug on the 8 weight and caught two bass very quickly.  I kept fishing for awhile with considerably less luck than my first two fish.

Josh finally tired of catching sunfish and grabbed a spinning rod outfitted with a texas-rigged worm, while I carried an assortment of streamers to test.  We ended up catching the odd bass here and there up to 2 pounds, but not much over.

While circling the pond for bass, I saw a bass leap straight up to eat a dragonfly.  I ran back to grab my 6 weight, tied a dragonfly on it, and ended up catching one bass.

We spent some more time fishing, then saw a small koi tilted up in a corner of the pond.  We couldn't have missed it, but he wanted nothing to do with us, and slowly drifted out to deeper water.  

This got carp on my mind, so I convinced Josh to walk across the street to the carp pond.

I went back to setting Josh up with a bluegill fly for fun while I tried to stalk carp.  There were plenty around under a weedbed, but trees and weeds never gave me a good cast.

Meanwhile, Josh was busy catching bluegill.  The ones in this pond have different colorations and are noticeably smaller, but still provide plenty of fun.  Josh also managed a small black crappie, which appear once in awhile in the pond.

Josh had to leave after a while to let his ankle heal (he sprained it in a volleyball game a few weeks back).

I spent the next hour and a half trying to catch carp.  I tried every angle possible, and got a few good shots at the fish sitting in the weedbed.

I tried every possible technique I knew to get a fly in front of these carp, but with no results.  

I ended up landing a white crappie, some more bluegill, and a tiny bass on my carp fly.

I think the carp may have been spawning, because they often jumped out of the water for no apparent reason.  These fish get tough to catch, so I finally left them alone.  Tomorrow will be another shot.

15th straight weekend with rain

I just got news that this weekend is the 15th consecutive weekend in Indiana with rain or snow, going back through this winter.  The rivers and creeks have barely been fishable this year with the weather.

At the shop, I spent the entire day building a kayak trailer.  With temperatures peaking over 80 and high humidity, it was a painful job.

Immediately after work, I decided I needed some fishing time.  I headed to the creek and was pleasantly surprised to find that although the water was running quite high, it was not as off color as I expected. 

Unfortunately, not many fish were to be found.  I started fishing a black clouser minnow, but as I continued, I never retied my knot.  On the first bump I felt, I pulled up my leader to reveal the fluoro on my loop knot had broken where it contacted the hook eye.  Very strange!

I switched to the next closest fly I had, which turned out to be a black crayfish fly.  It elicited a follow from a tiny little smallmouth in the main pool, but no strikes.  Finally, fishing a massive pool with some conflicting currents, I picked up a nice 12 or 13 inch white crappie, which I rarely find in creeks like this. 

I continued fishing through the numerous pools in the river, but it was really just running too high for me to navigate with confidence.  I left without being blanked, but without anything special.

I hiked the half mile back to my car while sweating.  The humidity had not gone down, and the route back to the car is all uphill.  Hopefully I can catch some decent fish with the remaining days of my weekend.

Brutal Weather, Better Fishing

I worked at the fly shop, and it started to drizzle around 3:30.  It wasn't the kind that lets up after 20 minutes, either.  This rain was going to stay steady for the rest of the day, maybe even the weekend.  After I got off work, I called most of my friends to see if they were open to go fishing.  Unfortunately, none of them were.

So, I decided to go out fishing the ponds in my neighborhood alone.  At this point the rain had picked up a little.  I drove to the ponds and immediately put on rain pants and a jacket.  This would be a case of blind casting.  I set up my 8 weight, grabbed a bunch of my favorite rainy day streamers, and walked to the water.

I have a particular fly pattern I have been working on for rainy days.  It is particularly effective on overcast, cloudy days because it is black with just the right amount of flash.  Fish love it.  They love it so much that I caught one dropping it in the water to wet the marabou.  I watched a flash whiz by to snatch the concoction, and I immediately set the hook and wrestled the little guy to my hand.  Only about fourteen inches, but a fun fish nonetheless.

I continued around the pond, blind casting the streamer out 40 feet then varying the retrieve to work it back in.  I made it over halfway around before my next fish, this one a little bigger.  By this time, I had figured out the kind of retrieve the fish wanted, which was surprisingly fast considering the temperature was at 50 degrees.  I landed two more from the same spot, then continued walking.

I stumbled upon a large dead fish.  It was nearly impossible to tell what it was.  I initially assumed it was the large 12 lb carp I moved to the pond.  I discarded that after I saw the monster minnow cruising the banks less than a minute later.  The dark shape scared the heck out of me, and I was entirely unprepared to sight fish to carp.  I hope the dead fish isn't the orange koi, but I also don't know what it could be.  Another carp, or even a bass?  I sent a photo to Charles later that night and we had a lengthy discussion about what it could be.  I may try to get a better look later to see.  If the fish was a bass, it would have to be 7 pounds or larger, and at least 28 inches.

Hopefully the rain will let up so I can check out a pond tomorrow for green sunfish.  There are a bunch of nice ones in a location Charles and I have fished before.

More White Bass Action

A week after hitting the white bass run with Bobby, I decided to go out again with Charles.

We decided to go at as soon as I got off of work at the fly shop.  Knowing Charles, he was late because he had already been fishing somewhere else.  He showed me this picture of a beast of a smallie he got from one of the smallest creeks we fish!

I've been to that creek before, and normally fish like that don't come easy.  The pre-spawn season is going, and the fish must be loading up on food to prepare.  That particular smallmouth seems to have a good amount of fat on him. 

Charles said he fished this creek all morning and afternoon with a few nice smallmouth.  We've gotten a lot of rain here, and I'm not surprised that the water ran colder and muddier than normal.

After I got off work, Charles and I met at the same park Bobby and I fished the week before.  The water was higher and muddier this time, and no trout were to be found.  But we were there for white bass.

Charles and I fished through the first two rapids with nothing.  This isn't surprising, considering the water was significantly faster, and it was hard to get a fly down without a sinking line.  It was easy to notice that the creek was colder this time, which probably shut down a few of the fish.

We headed to the run that produced fish last time, and after awhile, I hooked up.  It was a decent 12" white bass.  These fish fight hard, especially in the fast water we were fishing.

We immediately decided to start keeping fish, even though at this point we knew we'd only get a few.  After going a few minutes without a hit, I switched to a craft fur clouser in all black.  That turned out to be the switch I needed.

Immediately after, I landed two more white bass.  One was this fat spawner of 16".  This one almost got himself on the reel!  So much fun on the 6 weight!

We continued fishing down the river and caught a few more.  One or two we had to release because they were so small we couldn't get any meat off of them.  Once it started getting dark, we had 6 fish on a willow branch we used as a stringer. 

We went back to Charles' house to clean the fish.  He showed me how to remove the mud line on the filets, then we cleaned all of them and I went home with them.  Charles just told me to take all of them for a family dinner.  The next night, we fried them and made Po'Boy sandwiches out of them.  Very much worth the time to clean them.  I don't think I'll ever overlook white bass as food again.

A difficult day of fishing, but sometimes the numbers of white bass just aren't there.  The run still hasn't hit its peak, and I'm hoping to get out for more action soon!

Some Exciting Updates.... and the White Bass Run

Needless to say, I've gotten far behind on this blog.  Senior year is flying by and I have a lot of work to do on my final project.  After that, it'll be smooth sailing.

A quick update: I recently began working at Moving Water Outfitters, the local fly shop.  I currently work Saturdays, and will probably work often during the summer.  Working in a fly shop has been a dream job of mine for a few years, and it's just as fun as I'd hoped.  Even when I have to take inventory of flies (we have over 1000 egg flies in stock, by the way), I always manage to enjoy every day in the shop.  Another benefit: we are located less than 500 feet from the nearest creek, which has been on fire lately.

A few weeks ago, Bobby and I went out to the creek to check it out.  The town recently stocked rainbow trout in the creek, and everyone wants to fish for them.  We went searching for trout, but instead found much better fishing for another species.

We went to a certain park that is rarely fished.  This is because parking is a half mile from the water, and few people want to make the hike.

The first hole we hit had fast water.  I mean fast. Water was rushing over a barrier made of large boulders, creating a miniature waterfall section. I could not get a fly down.  Bobby fished a rooster tail spinner and hooked up a few times.  His first fish was a 16 inch trout.  We could not believe that the stockers had already grown to such sizes.  He caught one more, then pulled in a lone white bass.  This got us wondering if the run had started yet.  We headed downstream towards the reservoir to see if we could find more.

There was another hole with the same structure of rocks all the way across the river, with incredibly fast flows.  I waded in below the falls and cast a small yellow and chartreuse clouser.  I let it swing through the end of the run, then it got smacked.  The hook slipped and I cast again.  Immediately, a fish grabbed it and tried to run.  I pulled him back in.  It was only a ten inch white bass.  Bobby and I took turns, landing two apiece from the tailout.




Then, we waded 50 yards upstream to a sand bar. 
There was a nice looking run, so we both cast directly downstream and retrieved.  Bobby immediately caught a white bass.  I did too.  they were both over 13 inches and fought hard.  We immediately released them and cast again, with immediate hookups.  This continued for probably 35 minutes.  I have no clue how many fish we caught, but I'd say probably upwards of 30.  It was the most regular fishing I'd ever had.  We rarely made more than one cast without a fish, and every cast got a bite.  After years of trying, I'd finally cracked the run head-on, and the fishing could not have been easier.





When it started to get dark, the fishing slowed down.  By this, I mean we caught a fish every 3 or 4 casts.  Once the sun set and we could barely see, we decided we had better head back.  We both knew we had just hit a once-in-a-year night of fishing.  What a day!

Heartland Fly Fishing Festival

I really haven't been active recently.  This show was quite a few months ago, and I'm just now getting around to writing about it.  I'm currently so busy with track and my senior year, and the weather has pushed fishing to the backseat.

This year, the Heartland Fly Fishing Festival was excellent and very well organized. There were plenty of interesting booths, including the local Orvis and Moving Water Outfitters, our local fly shop.

I was lucky enough to get a table as a tier for Project Healing Waters.  I taught kids and others willing to learn how to tie some flies.  

We tied mostly terrestrials like Chernobyl ants, hoppers, and foam spiders.  The highlight of the day was teaching this man and his daughter to tie.  He let her select the materials for her foam spider, and every one was pink or purple.  A fun fly for sure, and the bluegill will certainly eat them up later this spring during the spawn.







There was also a casting competition to win a rod later at the show.  I did not enter, but it looked very difficult.  Participants had to put a fly through an elevated hula hoop, roll cast for distance, and put a cast inside a hoop with the line outside of one of two cones.  (A curve cast drill).  Very difficult drills I doubt I could have done.  I should start working on my casting.

I also received some information from a guide friend and a Trout Unlimited Chapter on fishing opportunities next year when I am at college.  BIG announcement coming ahead!  I'm very ready for next year and all the adventures it'll bring.

This show was just as good as last year, although a little sparse due to the wintry weather.  I enjoyed my time tying there and meeting new people.

I already have some exciting news and great fishing updates from the spring season.  This year is already off to a great start!

Heartland Fly Fishing Festival

While I was at the Orvis charity tying event last year, I met someone who helped set up the Heartland Fly Fishing festival.  To make a long story short, Charles and I will be tying at the event this year.  It will be at the Boone County 4H fairgrounds in Lebanon, Indiana.  The event runs all weekend, but we will only be there Saturday the 19.

This is an exciting event with multiple vendors, shops and guides present.  It was great last year, and I hope it will continue to be great this year.