Once an Addict, Always an Addict

I'm going to once again blame the lack recent fly fishing on the birth of our daughter, and I'll again iterate that it’s been a good trade. That being said, the urge to pursue my finned friends was not diminished by the addition of a family member.

This story starts off 3 1/2 weeks ago, on the day before baby Addilyn's arrival. Robert (my brother in law) and I decided to go play a round of Golf (Historically speaking, it’s something I do 2-3 times a year). My wife was 9 days past due at this point, and found this activity acceptable, considering it did not take me out of cell range, was close to home, and would give her a couple hours break from the barrage of "Do you think she's going to come out soon?".

To the links we went, and $11 on a Sunday bought us 9-holes at the best standard-length 9-hole golf course in town. And we played.

And on this course, the 1st green, and the 9th Tee both rest alongside a pond, a small, shallow pond that appears to be just loaded with 4-6" Bluegill. I couldn't help but watch the school of 'gills swim around, chasing the small minnows and eating insects. I stood and watched when I realized that in that moment, given the choice of proceeding to the next tee or catching a bluegill smaller than my hand, my preference was for the latter. I played out the remainder of the round, with the realization that I was going to have to come back to this place, and I was going to be prepared.

Just 3 weeks later, Robert again posed the question... Do you want to play golf again? Yes Robert, why yes I do!The "Tackle".

The night before, I prepared my tackle: 5' Furled Leader, 3' of 5x tippet, and a size 16 Copper John (w/glass beadhead, for a slower sinking fly... or because I ran out of "real" beads, you decide). I rigged everything up and wrapped it around a foam fly patch to keep it all from getting tangled. As I stuffed the outfit into the golf bag, I added a spongebob caddis, just in case (wholly un-needed).

 On the first hole I broke all Golf Etiquette and finished out on the green before anyone in my group had started putting, in order to maximize my time on the water. I looped the Shorb loop of the furled leader around my fingertip and made a normal fly-cast. The Copper John dropped into the water and quickly disappeared with a flash. With a satisfied grin, I released the 5" bluegill while my group laughed and continued to the next tee. I packed up and followed them, 7 more holes to play and I will get more time.

After finishing hole number 8, I was pleased to see that the 9th tee was going to be a bit of a wait... so I upped the ante a little. I removed the rig from its stowage location, and rather than attaching to my finger, I used the grip of my putter, in a rudimentary Tenkara type setup (more on this later). The rig worked great, and in the time the group ahead needed to get beyond the range of my driver, I was able to land and release another 5 or 6 small bluegills.Rigged and ready. Some algae remains from the course pond.

Satisfied, I teed off for a double-bogey on the final hole, giving up two strokes versus my score 2 weeks prior, but it mattered little, this was a much better round of fly-golfing.

I realized at once that I had finally found something interesting and useful to use a Tenkara rod for, and if I played golf with any regularity I would be tempted to get a telescoping rod of some kind. I've never been particularly interested in Tenkara as an alternative to fly fishing (I see it needlessly limiting), but as an alternative to fishing with a putter... well, there I can see some potential.

I've been meaning to really outline my thoughts on Tenkara as a whole, but I will wait until I have had the opportunity to actually try fishing Tenkara style.

 

An Open Apology to Sunfish Everywhere

What are you looking at?I never respected you when I was a child. You were always the fish that came along with bass fishing, the fish that nibbled away at my worms until there was nothing left. It probably didn’t help that you couldn’t fit the size 2 hook in your mouth I was using. I caught you plenty, caught dozens of dozens of you, but whether you were Bluegill, Redbreast, Green Sunfish, Pumpkinseed, Redear sunfish, Pumpkinseed – I lumped you all together as Sunfish, or more aptly, not Bass (despite being reasonably closely related). But you all deserved my respect, and as I've grown up, I realize that just because you were fun fish when I was 7, doesn't mean you can't be fun fish when I'm a grown man.

Some of my earliest memories involve me catching sunfish from the end my grandparents' dock, on Dankert Lake. Oh sure, yellow perch and Largemouth bass made an appearance as well, but the bulk of the fish caught were always sunfish. And catch I did, I'll never forget the time I hauled a kiddie pool to the end of the dock, filled it with water, and proceeded to fill it with over 70 fish, until a grownup told me that it probably wasn't good for the fish.

Does my mouth look small to you?Bluegill, provided it's warm enough, are rarely hard to catch. But boy are they fun. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to fish a private pond on a cattle ranch that is just loaded with feisty bluegills. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful setting, and a love fest between me and the fish who I've known since I was a child.

Om nom nom nomThe water was still quite cool, so the majority of the action came in the shallowest spots, where the warmth of the sun's rays could heat the water more to their liking. A few of the smaller Largemouth were also showing, as well as decent numbers of White Crappie, who, despite their similar size and shape, seem to lack the gusto that the Bluegill had once hooked. I spend most of the day with my 00wt rod bent, all the way to the cork. Not bad for 8 1/2" Fish.

Fishing so good I caught two at a timeFish were easy to come by on a shallow indicator rig, nymphs placed about 10 and 20" below the thingamabobber. I fished most of the day with a pheasant tail on the bottom and a zug bug on top, but later came to the conclusion that the pheasant tail was the ticket, and doubled up with those, which resulted in my first ever double catch.

This fly was on my line for 7 hours, and caught fish all day long, regardless of how ragged it got. I noticed an interesting thing about bluegill's fighting ability: They never make runs and really pull line, once some slack is given, they will essentially stop pulling, but when they are pulled in against their will, they are crazy as Tazmanian Devils. Also, if you unhook them and lay them, on their side, in water that roughly covers their bodies (so as to keep their gills submerged and absorbing oxygen), they will lay that way almost indefinitely... stand them up vertically, and they bolt!

A farm pond is not a trout stream, but dammit, this was a heck of a lot of fun, and I really need to make it a point to do it more often. Also, as our due-date approaches, ponds and small lakes are generally serviced by cell providers, but the deep canyons were trout swim are electronic black holes.