So I caught my first fish on a fly I tied myself just yesterday. Let me set the scene.
Time Frame: Roughly 5:00pm in my "Secret Fishing Hole
Conditions:
Sky color: Blue with High clouds. Very sunny.
Air temp: 77 – 80’ish
Wind: S. at approx 5 to 10 mph.
Water temp is roughly 45’ish. This is a guess-ta-ment as my feet where freezing. (No waders yet)
Depth fishing: 2½ to 4ft.
Fishing Structures:
To my right: Many, many flooded weeds that stick out of the water maybe 10" or 12".
To my left: Scattered weeds that barely break the surface. Bottom features include small pebble beds, slight indentations or holes and some rather thick scattered individual sticks that have been covered by high waters.
In front of me: A single flooded tree which stretches its arms out a good 10ft in all directions.
Where I stand: In the middle of a submerged car top boat launch cemented with a very gradual decline into the water. I am out about 50 or so feet from shore.
The start:
I wade out about 30ft and tie on my hand made fly. It looks really like nothing I have ever seen or fished with before. It is a small hook with a nice black and white collar and a black body with 2 single ½” tails made from the end of 2 feathers (the fine ends). My leader is 10 lb test. I scan around me looking for the normal bass haunts. I look over and see a small opening in the middle of a small patch of weeds. So I give it a shot. No takers. So I cast all around it. Still nothing. I work the tree pretty well with no takers.
I move a bit deeper to get some more distance in the cast.
I work the outside of the weed line on my left with no takers. I notice in some patches of weeds to be a few small pockets of clear water. I think to myself that looks good but the cast would have to very precise and I am not that good yet. But I give it a go anyhow. I drag back about 12 lb of weeds. I give it a few more tries and say maybe I’ll come back here later in the day and work the outside edges a bit more before I leave as at this point I figured I had probably spooked any fish that may have been there.
I turn to my right and start trying to spot some bass haunts again. The road that is just above the “Secret Fishing Hole” is about 20ft high and is made of rip rap rocks that jet into the water but only very close to the shoreline. So I figure I will give them a shot and see if I can pickup any pres spawn bass sitting near and beds. So I work the shore pretty well with no takers. I can see down there pretty well and notice some small pebble beds but nothing holding near not even sunfish/bluegill. So I figure I’ll move out again.
I am now in to about my waist and it has been roughly 1 hour or so. I am now close enough to cast to the tree. I am thinking I will pickup something here for sure whether it is sunfish or bluegill. So I start working the outside of the tree about 15 ft out from the tree. I get no takers. So I slowly start working the fly closers and closer to over hanging branches. The over hand casting in no longer working as the fly is sometime hitting the water on the way to its destination and fouling the cast. This is due to wading so deep and my inexperience. So I switch to the side arm cast with some what better results. I get still no action. I start working the fly under the over hanging limbs which are about roughly 2 ft off the waters surface. No takers. I figure I am going to come back here in a little while with a bigger fly and see if I can entice a fatty from the bottom to try it out.
I start casting to my right again to the weeds that are about 10" or 12" out of the surface of the water. I hang the lure a few times and have to clean some small debris from the fly’s hook. I now notice a very slight current against me going towards the shower. The tide is coming in. At this place late in the afternoon they close the water pumps and the water level rises a bit. I flick the fly to a open patch I tried earlier and on the strip in I “think” I get a looker but could not tell as I had more junk on the fly. I try cast to off to the right in the clearer water for a few minutes and give up.
Our dog gets my attention on the shore as he wants to come out and visit with me. I pay some attention to him for a few minutes and he gets attention turned to another dog barking in a truck passing by. So I start fishing again. I try the spot again where I thought I may have had a taker. I cast and nothing. I work the outside edges again with no takers. I stop to readjust my hat and take a quick breather. I get back to fishing the same spot on the outside edges.
I hang the fly in some of the weeds again. After cleaning the fly for the hundredth time I decide to cast it to the back of a small weed less area. No takers. I cast back to that spot and in the middle of the cast the wind blows and throws the cast off to the right of its target. It lands right at the edge of a small patch of weeds that looks like it would not hold anything but me in the mud if I tried to walk there. I am thinking it may be time to go home.
So I strip the line 1 time and KaBlam!! I got a fish taking the fly. Instantly I se the hook and start reeling. But realize that I am not gaining any ground and the fish is just sitting the weeds probably burying itself nice and deep. In my moment of panic I think “How do I reel the fish in!.” Then for some reason a fly fishing TV show pops in my head and I started stripping line back to me. Now that I have a feel for the fish on the line it feels seriously heavy! Now all of a sudden I feel no tension anymore. Dang fish got away. So I start to strip the fly back and I feel him again! Yeah fish back on! Then I feel no tension again. Dang it! I feel tension again! Yeah fish again! I start stripping line back and get the fish out of the cover and fairly close to me. I turn around to yell for my wife to look that I got a fish on a fly rod and feels like I lost it again. I think to myself oh well. It was fun while it lasted. So I start reelingt eh stripped line by the reel up and when it gets tight I feel some weight on the line again but assuming it is just crap from the bottom I continue to reel it back in. When it gets near me I can see there is a BUNCH of weeds on the hook but there is something in the middle of all the mass of weeds. It’s a BASS!!!! Do you know that fish was a total of 5 to 6inches in length. What a fight! Completely and total great. I am hooked on Fly rodding!!
Time Frame: Roughly 5:00pm in my "Secret Fishing Hole
Conditions:
Sky color: Blue with High clouds. Very sunny.
Air temp: 77 – 80’ish
Wind: S. at approx 5 to 10 mph.
Water temp is roughly 45’ish. This is a guess-ta-ment as my feet where freezing. (No waders yet)
Depth fishing: 2½ to 4ft.
Fishing Structures:
To my right: Many, many flooded weeds that stick out of the water maybe 10" or 12".
To my left: Scattered weeds that barely break the surface. Bottom features include small pebble beds, slight indentations or holes and some rather thick scattered individual sticks that have been covered by high waters.
In front of me: A single flooded tree which stretches its arms out a good 10ft in all directions.
Where I stand: In the middle of a submerged car top boat launch cemented with a very gradual decline into the water. I am out about 50 or so feet from shore.
The start:
I wade out about 30ft and tie on my hand made fly. It looks really like nothing I have ever seen or fished with before. It is a small hook with a nice black and white collar and a black body with 2 single ½” tails made from the end of 2 feathers (the fine ends). My leader is 10 lb test. I scan around me looking for the normal bass haunts. I look over and see a small opening in the middle of a small patch of weeds. So I give it a shot. No takers. So I cast all around it. Still nothing. I work the tree pretty well with no takers.
I move a bit deeper to get some more distance in the cast.
I work the outside of the weed line on my left with no takers. I notice in some patches of weeds to be a few small pockets of clear water. I think to myself that looks good but the cast would have to very precise and I am not that good yet. But I give it a go anyhow. I drag back about 12 lb of weeds. I give it a few more tries and say maybe I’ll come back here later in the day and work the outside edges a bit more before I leave as at this point I figured I had probably spooked any fish that may have been there.
I turn to my right and start trying to spot some bass haunts again. The road that is just above the “Secret Fishing Hole” is about 20ft high and is made of rip rap rocks that jet into the water but only very close to the shoreline. So I figure I will give them a shot and see if I can pickup any pres spawn bass sitting near and beds. So I work the shore pretty well with no takers. I can see down there pretty well and notice some small pebble beds but nothing holding near not even sunfish/bluegill. So I figure I’ll move out again.
I am now in to about my waist and it has been roughly 1 hour or so. I am now close enough to cast to the tree. I am thinking I will pickup something here for sure whether it is sunfish or bluegill. So I start working the outside of the tree about 15 ft out from the tree. I get no takers. So I slowly start working the fly closers and closer to over hanging branches. The over hand casting in no longer working as the fly is sometime hitting the water on the way to its destination and fouling the cast. This is due to wading so deep and my inexperience. So I switch to the side arm cast with some what better results. I get still no action. I start working the fly under the over hanging limbs which are about roughly 2 ft off the waters surface. No takers. I figure I am going to come back here in a little while with a bigger fly and see if I can entice a fatty from the bottom to try it out.
I start casting to my right again to the weeds that are about 10" or 12" out of the surface of the water. I hang the lure a few times and have to clean some small debris from the fly’s hook. I now notice a very slight current against me going towards the shower. The tide is coming in. At this place late in the afternoon they close the water pumps and the water level rises a bit. I flick the fly to a open patch I tried earlier and on the strip in I “think” I get a looker but could not tell as I had more junk on the fly. I try cast to off to the right in the clearer water for a few minutes and give up.
Our dog gets my attention on the shore as he wants to come out and visit with me. I pay some attention to him for a few minutes and he gets attention turned to another dog barking in a truck passing by. So I start fishing again. I try the spot again where I thought I may have had a taker. I cast and nothing. I work the outside edges again with no takers. I stop to readjust my hat and take a quick breather. I get back to fishing the same spot on the outside edges.
I hang the fly in some of the weeds again. After cleaning the fly for the hundredth time I decide to cast it to the back of a small weed less area. No takers. I cast back to that spot and in the middle of the cast the wind blows and throws the cast off to the right of its target. It lands right at the edge of a small patch of weeds that looks like it would not hold anything but me in the mud if I tried to walk there. I am thinking it may be time to go home.
So I strip the line 1 time and KaBlam!! I got a fish taking the fly. Instantly I se the hook and start reeling. But realize that I am not gaining any ground and the fish is just sitting the weeds probably burying itself nice and deep. In my moment of panic I think “How do I reel the fish in!.” Then for some reason a fly fishing TV show pops in my head and I started stripping line back to me. Now that I have a feel for the fish on the line it feels seriously heavy! Now all of a sudden I feel no tension anymore. Dang fish got away. So I start to strip the fly back and I feel him again! Yeah fish back on! Then I feel no tension again. Dang it! I feel tension again! Yeah fish again! I start stripping line back and get the fish out of the cover and fairly close to me. I turn around to yell for my wife to look that I got a fish on a fly rod and feels like I lost it again. I think to myself oh well. It was fun while it lasted. So I start reelingt eh stripped line by the reel up and when it gets tight I feel some weight on the line again but assuming it is just crap from the bottom I continue to reel it back in. When it gets near me I can see there is a BUNCH of weeds on the hook but there is something in the middle of all the mass of weeds. It’s a BASS!!!! Do you know that fish was a total of 5 to 6inches in length. What a fight! Completely and total great. I am hooked on Fly rodding!!
