Is it Winter?

This has been the warmest winter in memory. Christmas Eve I was fishing in my shorts for gills using poppers.

Over the weekend it was so warm I was able to wet wade a brookie stream. It felt strange to not have to break out my waders in late December.

The water was high but the fish were very active. 

I can't recall ever seeing rainbows with such pretty red stripes on them. All of the bows over 6inches had this. The coloring was beautiful and the picture doesn't do the color justice. The high water made the fish move to calmer pools. One pool in particular had a brookie hanging out in about 4inches of water. This wild brookie was the largest I had seen in quite some time. I thought maybe something was wrong with the fish because of how out in the open it was. I cast my nymph behind and to the right. I went to pull the flies up to make another cast and the fish turned and chased the flies almost hitting them as they came out of the water. I thought maybe I missed my chance, I cast near the fish again. I didn't see the take but I knew where my flies were and saw the fish make a slash. I set the hook and my line instantly wrapped around a downed limb. I was using 6x and tried to free the line without snapping it. I was able to untangle the line by taking the limb out of the water. 

The fish wasn't that colorful but it was really good size for this stream. These fish must be really confused usually the sides of this stream are lined with ice around now. 

Dredging For Gills

When the water gets really warm and all the beds are empty I start dredging. The fish all seem to stay deep and won't investigate a fly on top. That's when I use something heavy with a lot of legs. I drag it across the bottom feeling every rock and stump. The strikes vary from slight resistance to a super hard yank. The really vicious strikes almost pull the rod out of your hands. I find the fish aren't as plentiful but the ones you manage to hook are a nice size.

Typical Eno River Morning

I wanted to share what a typical morning is like on the Eno. I hope you enjoy it. I left the natural sounds in for those of you who are bird lovers.

Bass, Bluegill and Dinosaurs

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.

Good Size Gills

While hunting bass I found a bed of nice sized gills. They were aggressive but when I'd catch one it would put the others down. I had to wait about 5min before they would get brave enough to hit flies again. I was using a good size foam popper. There were smaller sunfish hitting that weren't quite big enough to swallow the popper. Then I came to a bed where a huge shadow charged the popper and slammed it. I jerked the fly out of the fishes mouth on the first take. I wasn't quite sure what just happened. That was either one of the biggest bluegill I have ever seen or my lack of sleep from the new baby is making me see things.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.

Testing the New Flies

If you've been following my blog I'm sure you know about the ponds at my work. Well this post is about a different pond. There are about 6 ponds with in 2 miles of my house. I tried one I have never fished before. Seemed like a great time to try the new flies I tied. There was a guy spin fishing and when I asked if he caught anything his answer was "not yet." The conditions did look promising. I saw some activity in the corner of the pond and there was something in the shadows I couldn't make out. The swans were giving it fits. When I walked closer I realized it was a muskrat.It looked to be eating the same thing the swans were but paying a price. There were actually two and one swan had enough and chased a muskrat out of the water. I made several casts and on my second I swore I felt a hit. I continued to work around a drain pipe and while I fiddled with my line I noticed tension. I lifted the rod and an unmistakable flash came to the surface. I thought it was a small bass but when I brought it to hand I saw that it was a bluegill. One of the biggest I have caught in awhile.That was my only fish but not even a stones throw was another pond. The wind had made one side of the pond a layer of leaves. Behind me was a steep hillside. It was a great casting challenge. Cast up the angle of the hill then far enough out over the leaves. With in about 5 casts I had a little bass. I was thrilled to know that my fly indeed works. The bass seemed to be stationed in the sun and sheltered from the wind. The guy who was spin casting came over and politely asked if he could join me. I told him where the fish were in a few casts he had a fish on. I had to leave to get back to work but it was a lunch well spent. I'll probably visit these ponds more when the weather gets warmer.

A Blue Gill Video of All Things

I have several youtube videos of me catching various fish. Stripers, Carp, trout, but none of them have had the interest as this one. A couple summers ago I filmed me fly fishing a small pond for bluegill. It was just kind of the perfect scenario. A warm summer afternoon, calm water, blue bird skies and ravenous gills. I managed to catch 3 fish on 3 consecutive casts which is no big deal really when bluegill fishing. I figured no one would even care when I posted it on youtube. After a month, I received a comment. Then a few more. Then I started to really monitor the traffic and in the videos 6 month after posting the views had sky rocketed to over 1500. It made me happy to see people just love bluegill fishing. It is really a type of fishing that gets you in touch with your childhood since these fish are usually the first to bend a rod. I checked today and there were over 3000 views and the traffic is still going steady. The love for the gill lives on and I think fly fishing for them is becoming more popular.

Time Well Spent

I've been trying to save my money lately. Buying lunch can really add up so I've been trying to either bring my lunch or just not eat. Fishing seems to distract me just enough so I can get through the day and not think about my stomach. The work pond hasn't had very good fishing lately. I tried the usual popper that at least gets some lookers. I had a few fish swim up but they just hung behind the fly and never committed. I switched flies a few times but nothing seemed to do the trick until I put on a Chernobyl Ant. There were 3 bass cruising by shore. This is the best time to catch a fish. The competition seems to trigger the instinct in the fish and they race to the fly. I caught one of the feisty bass instantly. On my next cast I had a bluegill come up from the depths and hammer the fly. The next two casts were the same. This specimen in particular I thought was beautiful. 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.