I'm not sure about other fisherman but when I have a horrible day on the water I have to do another trip to wipe it off the books. Saturday was an abysmal day on the water. A thunderstorm hit the night before leaving the river muddy and high. It was the highest I had ever seen it. I was leading a fishing trip and I tried to make the best of it. Too say it was rough is an understatement. To top it off I had a friend drive an hour just to be there. I was going to try teach him how to fly fish and maybe get him on a white bass. The river conditions were too dangerous. Basically he stood on the banks and watched me fish. He was a good sport about the whole thing but I felt bad. The water was so dark and high I figured the fish were deep and hunkered down. I managed a couple fish but I had to really work at it. I almost went to another fishing spot right after just to get this one out of my mind. I needed to get home to put in some family time.
Sunday we went to the NC Zoo. There was a new Dinosaur Exhibit that I wanted to check out. I have always been fascinated by dinosaurs. I can still remember as a kid watching the movie
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend. I was always into dinosaur books and finding fossils in the California desert. Even now I enjoy watching the Jurassic Park movies. My daughter has recently been talking about dinosaurs a lot and I was hoping she would be really into them. I was a little afraid these dinosaurs might scare her. They were animatronic and made noises. They also moved a little and provided a special surprise for myself. As we walked through the entrance I could hear the dinosaur sounds in the background. I kept watching my daughters reaction and she did the opposite of what I expected. She ran towards the first dinosaur she saw.
I knew right away she was going to enjoy this. She had a blast and it was fun to watch her get excited when there was a new creature around each turn.
The detail on the dinosaurs is amazing. I imagine a lot of work went into making them. The movements were pretty good too. They didn't have the robotic lifeless movement I've seen in the past. My son didn't know what to make of every thing. I think he was just going with the flow and watched his sister.
There is a kids show called Dino Dan that my daughter used to watch all the time. I think that is the only reason she knew what a T-Rex was right when she saw it. It was probably my favorite one and really gave you the feeling of how scary it must have been to be chased by this guy.
While we were walking by one dinosaur we all felt a strange sensation. It was like someone shot water at us. I realized it was one of the robots on the side but while I was checking it out I felt water hit me in the back like a kid was behind me with a super soaker.
This guy nailed me. Luckily I took the brunt of the water so none go on my family. It was pretty funny though my back was drenched. The water scared the kids but it didn't take long for them to forget about it.
This was an awesome exhibit and I'm sure we'll check it out again before it leaves the zoo.
I was still a little bitter about the fishing experience yesterday. I wanted to get out some where even if it was a local lake. I knew my wife wasn't going to be happy about me asking. I decided to give it a try any way and she gave me the go ahead. I hurried to a local lake that I usually fish in the summer. I figured with the warm weather we've been having maybe the fish will turn on early. The water conditions were perfect. I started around a small island. I noticed a swirl and cast right for it. Instantly I had a small bass on. This lake always seems to have fish with in 8ft of shore. It's almost useless to cast straight out. All of my success has come casting parallel to shore. The closer to the bank the better. This day was no different. There are drainage pipes that usually always hold a bass. I put on a popper and worked the edges. After a couple of casts I had a fish on. Most of the bass are like this.
They are small and skinny but fun to catch. There seemed to be bass every few feet. The hard part was they hit so close to shore it was hard to get a decent hook set. I had tons of fish stay on for maybe 10seconds and come off a foot from shore. Honestly I kind of like that. It's like the perfect release. I get to fight the fish and feel what it had to offer and then it's gone with out much stress. The panfish weren't about to let the bass have all the fun. They were out in full force too. The gills were enormous.
You can't tell from the picture but this fish is very large. I tried to take another pic with my hand behind the gill and you could not see my hand at all. The fish flopped off literally as I was snapping the picture. I caught a red breast the same size and it came off as I grabbed the hook. I'm going back another day and seeing if I can possible get one over a pound. Today I was targeting bass and I caught so many that I almost didn't even bother going further than half way around the lake. It was the kind of day you dream about. You'd see a swirl or disturbance in the water throw your popper and have something hit it instantly or with in 30 seconds. It was ridiculous. Definitely one of my best days ever fishing this lake. I guess it takes a horrible day like the one I had before to make me appreciate this one.
The gills were so large they had teeth. It made me think twice about lipping them. Once I found these fish I forgot about bass. I did see a bass chasing fish out of the shallows. I threw a frog popper at it. It charged the fly but I think it figured out something was wrong at the last second. It hit the fly but it just didn't seem right. It seem to stop the strike short. Usually if they want the fly they inhale it. It was fun to watch. 
The fish wasn't really long but it was tall and fat. One of the biggest gills I have caught in awhile. I caught a couple more but the bite slowed down after that. There were fish busting shad in the shallows but I couldn't get them to hit anything I was throwing. The weather was at the peak of a high pressure system. I caught a few much bigger than the one in the picture. The pond was also full of grass carp. I tried casting at a few but they weren't interested. I mostly just spooked them and saw their mud cloud as they bolted into deeper water. This pond is way to good to only fish once. I'll definitely be back.
A friend who knows the Neuse like no other invited me to go fishing this weekend. The weather looked to be great and after warming ourselves with some coffee we hit the water. The conditions were my kind of fishing. The sun had warmed up the air the water was low and clear. Perfect for wading.
My friend had talked about using a new retrieve for bass. When he showed it to me I realized the way I fish for largemouth might be totally wrong. I had been using his so called new retrieve all year for bass. It was hit or miss. It was the same type of retrieve I use for striped bass.
The fish looked really healthy.
There are some catfish that cruise the pond and hang out near the surface. I dropped the ant maybe a foot in front of the fish's nose. It hit the fly but spit it right away. It would be pretty cool to catch a catfish on a surface fly. All the players were out today. I saw a huge carp while working the banks on the other side. I think my lunch's are going to be well spent.
They make you really look at where you are sticking your hand. This was one of the smallest snapping turtles I've seen. The first hole we tried was a place that is normally productive. There's submerged roots and overhanging branches with a run providing oxygenated water that riffles into a deep pool. It's one of those spots you couldn't have made any better if you designed it yourself. Even with all of those features the fishing was pretty slow.
We worked various sections and there were strikes here and there but we didn't see the usual ferocious eruption strikes sunfish provide. There wasn't even many follows or denials. I did have a surprise fishing a olive wooly bugger pattern through a pool. I had a nice tug on the line and I thought maybe this was my first Roanoke Bass. It wasn't meant to be and as the fish came close to the surface I saw the whiskers that can only signify a catfish. The coloring of the fish was pretty vibrant.
Catfish are funny creatures. Mostly they are caught by accident while fly fishing. There isn't much of a technique to catching them. I almost always catch them on a dead drift. They don't hit particularly hard but they bull dog and stay on the bottom after they are hooked. The fishing picked up soon after the catfish. Most of the fish were caught on poppers. I don't really think the Eno can be beat for top water popper fishing. It's pretty difficult to not catch a sunfish if you work the banks with over hanging branches and cover. I messed around with the waterproof camera some more on this trip. I love the quality of the underwater video that it takes. The downside is it doesn't take great photographs. You have to hold perfectly still to get anything clear. The video here is of an average sunfish you catch on the Eno.
The picture really doesn't do it justice. The color on the gills out of this pond are beautiful. I think it's because the water is really clear. 
The take was pretty ferocious. The fly was only in the water for seconds before the fish hit it. I thought maybe it was a carp because it took line instantly. As I started to fight it more I realized it was a cat. The fish in this lake are supposedly unedible due to contamination from hazardous waste dumping in the past. I think this fish is a good indication the fish population might be bouncing back. It looks pretty healthy.
