A Site for Grandpappy Glasses

I'm starting to understand the need for good optics. This is crazy!

It was about 6:30 when I made it out to Big Lake a couple weeks ago to look for carp. I headed for the spot by the railroad tracks pictured here. There was something wrong. The distance between the weeds and the water had gotten wide.

This was a view from about 100 yards from the road looking north on that first picture linked in the article.

This is a picture of a small area where water was seeping in from the main body of Big Lake. I'm facing East.

The level of the water was way low. This made me excited, because it bode well for visibility. (I don't have my grandpappy glasses yet.) If I can see a tail fin, I can guess on where the head is.

Saw a lot of fins, but I was mistaken on  what they were, for the most part. A couple were golden beauties, but with globs of catfish fry near shore, other fins were other fish.

Alas, the carp didn't want to play that day, but the gar sure did!

Foul-hooked in the back. Woops!

Legitimately pursued and ate the fly. Because of the construction of its jaw, they are nearly impossible to hook. It came in because it didn't want to let go.

Last and largest of the day. Also not foul-hooked.

Not much to a gar as far as fight. Big and floppy like a pike, but not near as energetic. Hooked into a monster at one point, but they just feel like wavy logs moving through the water. The smaller ones like to run for a little bit. 

I took the girls to the companion pond there in Big Lake yesterday and they both caught fish! Eva's was about 3 inches long. It got off before I could snap a picture. Here's Ruth's:

Self-casted, self-reeled and self-held. Not self-removed yet, though.

The cool thing about yesterday's trip was that Ruth, unprovoked and with confidence, said, "I want to try and hold a fish today."

Not too many days hence, and this girl will be unhooking her own fish.

This morning I went out to the really low area and looked for more carp. Water was even lower. Didn't get to cast to carp fins until it was about time to leave. Had a large gar try to grab on to a bunny leach I had as a dropper. That was kind of scary, actually. They are very shark-like and it was near my legs.

I have some gear reviews to do still, but man I wish I could do a review on those grandpappy sunglasses. I am dying to be able to see what I'm casting to! The fins I cast to at the last were in such a position that, had I been able to see below the surface, maybe I could have gauged the length of the fish better. If I build it, they will come.

It was a huge fin. What a site for grandpappy sunglasses. 

Week of 5/20 - A Good Week of First and Foremosts

The week of 5/20 was a good week of firsts and foremosts.

My favorite 'first' was taking care of getting my good friend, Josh Kennedy, rigged up with his new rod and reel set. He had mentioned several times that fly-fishing was interesting, but he actually took good steps to making it happen.

Josh and his boy Samuel last year at Big Lake

He bought a Redington 5W something-or-other (retail $180, $50 steal on Craigslist) that casts great, plus an old Marlboro Pflueger rewards reel his father had won. Just found the reel, backing and line kicking around his basement.

We hit Pony Creek down by Pacific Junction to try for some catfish on hotdogs Wednesday, and we got him on the water in the dark. Made me nervous. No fish on his line quite yet.

I was really happy for his messages the next day, however. He caught two teeny-tiny bluegill on the fly the next evening. As far as I'm concerned, they might as well have been 1 lb. blues. I was so excited for him! (He subsequently went out and bought a vest and a couple a pack of new flies.)

Another first that I enjoyed was my first lunch-break Largemouth Bass.

13 inches, nice solid fight.

I'll also call it a first on good work-break fishing. Nice chunky blues that run like the dickens! Check it out, FishNDave!

All-in-all, this was a good week, full of activity. Josh keeps fishing his head off, improving and practicing his cast. Recently caught about 6 tiny crappies. Kept them and buried them in his garden for fertilizer. The little blighters are helping his tomatoes out, plus it helps thin the population in the stunted pond he's fishing.

The foremost event of the week, though? My bro-in-law Zach asked me to be a groomsman. Of course I said yes! Happy to do so, bro. Congratulations.

Zach and Stephanie

Fishing Report: AM 4/29

At 60 degrees and 1-5 mph winds, I couldn't have asked for a better morning to hit the water.

I've been anxiously planning on a trip out to Big Lake with my friend Josh Kennedy to try to catch some fin. A planned outing last week fell through, so I decided to scout it out. Here's the breakdown:

As you can see above, I made three main stops. The whole time I was watching for carp activity. I'm still on a mission to grab a carp, and I have seen them by the dozens wallowing in that northern lake this time of year.

The first little bit was exciting, with bluegill and what I think was a trout hitting my weighted soft-hackles. I kept switching it up, so didn't get many to the shore. Kept walking and casting as I went, eventually moving over to the eastern pond. 

That one is full of trash. Not going to lie. But visibility was great, and I hooked into a yearling bass. Saw surface activity and plenty of ducks. Ducks = duck forage is available. Duck forage = subsurface worms, etc. Subsurface worms = carp/cat/bluegill forage, THEREFORE... ducks = fish (in most cases.)

My heart didn't REALLY start beating until stop #3. The shore was some thirty feet from a path, then it was shallow reeds and weeds for another 20 feet, then the water. I watched the shallows longingly, wondering where the carp are, and if I would ever see any when all of a sudden SPLASH, GURGLE GURGLE, SPLASH, and there were fins everywhere.

Did I try to cast over those 20 feet of reeds and weeds? You bet your backside's barnacles I did. I got tangled up worse than a stutter, but I TRIED. 

Later I told my wife of my futile casts saying, "They were spawning, so they were kind of busy."

She said, "Would YOU want to eat if you were spawning?"

I had to admit, I understood their disinterest in forage. I vowed to catch them pre- or post-baby carp-making in the future. 

And I need to go out when I can wear something I can get wet in. My quest continues!