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.