Revisiting Old Hometowns

So over the past week or so the fishing has been so so.. Temps jumping up and down and water levels dropping... Fishing has been hit and miss.. Not skunks.. But definitely nothing worth writing about.. Mostly a bunch of 8-12" Largemouth Bass.. And small pike.. A bluegill here and there... But Monday I decided I needed a change from the normal waters I've been pounding for what is almost a good month now... So I headed north to the Wabasha area to hit up water that I use to fish on a daily basis when I lived up there...

It was supposed to be a good day.. Temps in the low 70s.. Not much for wind.. Gusty.. But very fishable.. First cast of the day landed me my biggest fish of the day.. And biggest bass of the year so far.. It was all down hill from there... Next cast had me tied into something that had my 9wt doubled over.. And being too anxious to get a glimpse of what it was.. I had pulled the fly from his mouth.. Overall it was a good day.. Took a handful of bass.. and a small pike... Was at least able to add a couple fish to my Species List for the HSO Fly Fishing Challenge.. One of them which was more than a worthy add to the list!

The past couple days...

Over the past couple days I have been able to get out here and there.. fish are biting.. gills have moved in and are starting to spawn.... but are not nearly at the level of aggression I prefer.. meaning they are not hitting the poppers that hard yet.. but anything else I throw at them they haven't thought twice about... Carp have been cruising the shallows.. but still have yet to have my go with one yet.. and the bass are there.. but they have definitely been small... and I've finally broke my 8wt's cherry... very happy with it.. was able to withstand yesterdays very gusty day with gusts ranging from 15-25mph it held up like a champ... have been catching a majority of my bass on it... but like I said.. smaaaall... but beggars cannot be choosers.... and in the end.. I really just like catching fish no matter the size

Also as a side note.. I think fly fishing is becoming quite popular on the local lake... this year I have seen a fair share of people with the long rods... back when I started 4-5 years ago.. I NEVER saw a fly fisherman on the pond and today I had seen 3 or 4!... The masses are figuring out the secret!

Sun Is Shinin' And The Weather Is Sweet

Woke up early this morning.. No work.. Nothing but fishing on my mind... Decided to hit up the local pond for another day of pannie action.. This time just for fun.. Since I still have a bunch left over from Monday's outing.. After first going to my northern hole.. and getting nothing but wet feet thanks to my waders that need to be patched up. >.<  I got to the lake at about 9am.. It was beautiful.. Sunny.. No Wind.. Probably around high 60s.. Never did get a temp read on the day.. Started out at a spot that is not a normal spot for me and caught a few smaller bluegills and pumpkinseeds.. As I was walking along the shore I noticed carp cruising along the far side of the weed beds.. I started focusing on them.. Unfortunately today was not the day I was gonna get my first carp on the fly... After about 3 hours of fishing and too many pannies to count.. I headed home for awhile for a meal and to rest a bit..

     3pm I headed back out to do some more fishing.. It was around 80F.. A little windier than this morning.. But not awful in the least... Not really knowing where I wanted to go.. I headed back to the lake.. Opposite side.. Hoping to tie into some bigger gills.. which I did.. Had I been keeping.. I would have had a nice limit for sure.. Lot caught 7-8"+ range.. Got a lot of practice on distance casting.. being able to get my flies out roughly 50ft and with some accuracy when i wasn't getting lazy with my wrist action..

      As I was fishing for gills I got a hard hit.. and whatever it was put up a nice fight until it dove into the weeds and covered it's face.. It was a very nice largemouth.. My biggest on the fly so far.. What a great surprise when I'm just out fishing for gills.. Nice thing about flies.. Almost anything will take them..Given the chance.. I tied into a second largemouth but lost him just feet away from shore as like the previous.. He dug into the weeds... This has got me really excited for the 29th.. Bass Opener.. As I did see a couple hefty largemouth cruising the weed beds when I was fishing earlier today..

    After a couple more hours of fishing I decided to call it a day.. You can only fish for panfish for so long before the fun starts wearing off.. Especially when you start catching bass and are the better man and don't target them.. Unlike the couple of people I saw out today.. Grr..  But none the less.. A lot of fish were caught.. And it was definitely a beautiful day to be out....

...Unless you were this bird brain =P