My Niece the Fisherwoman

The season continues to wind down to a close! I haven't been out in a few weeks, but the last time I went was a blast! I went with my niece, and guess who caught their first fish on a fly rod?

 

And then she caught the second fish, before I could get my popper on the water!

 

It was kind of a cold, windy day, but the over-pressurized hybrid bluegill made for some interesting fare. I came away from that fishing trip wondering, 'Would a bass feed in water less than 50 degrees cold?' I am going to find out!

Bluegills in Autumn

I set aside an hour last Saturday at my wife's suggestion for some early-morning fishing out at Cunningham.

Yep, slept through that alarm.

So, I went out this morning. Started out throwing a brown woolly-bugger. No luck. Quickly switched to a big-headed Wal-mart cork popper, letting them land anywhere from directly at shore to about 3 feet out.

This is one of about ten that I caught. This size is about average for this morning. Caught some way bigger. Caught most way smaller.

The common Bluegill is very prolific and highly pressured in the local reservoir system, but for some reason I find decent sized ones despite the explosion of population in Cunningham specifically.

I wish I would have gotten a picture, but the lake was gorgeous this morning. The leaves are starting to fall off the trees and the shoreline weeds are all but dead and gone, making walks and casting that much easier to handle. The warm season is almost over, but that doesn't mean the fishing is. They are starting their feeding for the winter.

Next time, I'll get more pictures.

Reminiscent Wind-Down to the Season

Warm-water season is winding down here in the Midwest. A cold, misty, rainy Friday night and Saturday morning proved that the fish are still biting, but that it's starting to get iffy on the weather.

To start out, I caught my first "poor-man's bonefish."

The common carp, Cyprinus carpio. 

This was the fightin'-est fish I ever did fight. It actually made my arm tired on the 5w, and I was afraid that I was going to find out whether the guy at Bass Pro was right when he said, "Anything too big will tear up your tackle." I let him take a lot of line out.

He measured at about 15-18 in. Great fun. I will definitely try for that species again for the fight. Don't know if I'll release it back again, though. They eat the bass roe.

About a year ago was my first experience fly fishing with my brother in the mountains on the Utah/Idaho border. This post is mostly a tribute to him and I's time up there. Good times, Mike.

All nursing cutties, Oncorhynchus clarkii, the last one being my first. It was wonderful. It was a beautiful landscape, too. The minute we got out of the truck, we both noticed a four-point Mulie (Odocoileus hemionus) in velvet staring at us.

The best part was the company. I look forward to doing it again with him. I also can't wait to enjoy trips like these with my wonderful wife and best friend.

Until next time. For more great pictures and accounts of trout fishing, visit a friend of mine's blog, Brookies and Browns. For example:

 Yay for trout!

Pictures!

Brandon and I at Standing Bear. Also 2010.

First Cast

Memories were all I had of fishing when I came back to Nebraska with my wife after our engagement December 2006. 

Then, several years later, I was at Veteran's Memorial in North Platte, NE just south of the interstate when I threw a very old lure with no hopes of action. After a few weeks of pulling in small bullhead and even smaller sunfish with Beetle Spins - an otherwise highly lauded lure for all kinds of species, and a personal favorite to the present - I found myself chugging this old piece of cork my father-in-law had gifted me, admiring more the dance of it on the surface than hoping for any line-stretching.

Well, I got both.

Ladies and gentleman, this was my introduction to the Largemouth Bass, Micropterus salmoides. Native to many of the warmer waters of North and Central America - and highly addictive to catch - this fish is often called "bucket mouth." Watching it take my plug was burned into my memory, probably forever. Or at least for as long as I continue to remind myself of it.

I was immediately and irrevocably attached to this species as I unlatched this adrenaline-pumper and admired its size and heft. Man, that was fun!

The rest of that year was spent in search of more of the exciting brutes, with plenty of luck on crank baits in the early mornings on Standing Bear Lake in Omaha. Here is one.

This one was about the same size, if not slightly larger. 

I continued my pursuit of the hobby, pulling in my first Freshwater drum:

And my first Buffalo Fish. What an ugly one! And massive!

Many other fish were caught from that pond during 2010. 

My daughter was also successfully introduced to sunfish:

  
 

Needless to say, this became my hobby of choice during 2010. I am getting better at organizing my time so that fishing doesn't infringe upon other, more important things. I know that as I do so, the sport will become more and more enjoyable to myself and my family.

And this, my friends, is where I will blog about it.