Sorry for not posting anything for a long time. Been fishing a couple of times, but I found that I never fished over the time covered by a 2025 license. That was the year of work and then a back injury and then back to work ASAP.
So my man, BB, and I hit a semi-local lake within an hour’s drive from home. On the water around 9:30. Met Ronbow while rigging up. Quickly realized he’s one very nice guy. So cool stumbling across another member of the website that epitomizes the scene here. A real generous wealth of knowledge.
I started out with a mohair leech pattern made from my dryer’s lint trap. Wife washed and dried one of her sweaters, and I unloaded and discovered the treasure trove of dubbing. Sadly, no takes over the first hour or so. So much for the light violet Leech.
Yes, there were actively feeding trout at the NW end of the small lake. So their disinterest in the Lint Trap Leech forced my hand to my old reliable “Dave-modded” Carey Special.
The thing about this shallow lake is that local knowledge, observation, and experience is what unlocks it. Lots of snags (weeds and logs) in water that looks fishy but you can’t tell is as shallow as it really is. Spent four hours on the water, but you wasted 1/4 of fishing time with snags. Measuring quality time…
The Dave-Modded Carey Special on! Nips and bumps begin to slowly occur. Sad that the experimental fly failed, but happy/sad the go-to fly gets to he love. You stick with what gets the love. It’s still before noon. 2 hours of meh.
I look across the lake, and see Ron cutting some bow wake from at the far side. Looks like he’s heading over.
Around then, I’ve figured out how to avoid the snags and working better water. And getting the attention of, though losing, trout. Eventually; Ron arrives. And then, it around high noon on a sunny day, and I have a fish on.
A fine 14” rainbow brought to hand. Tough fighter that demanded a soft hand with my 6wt Sage rod. Meanwhile, Ron with his double fly rig is slaying it. Sadly, the wind has kicked up, and, well, Brad managed to get a solid fish, played it well, but it ended up SDR before the net. Nothing wrong with having the satisfaction of all the play and saving yourself the hassle of freeing the fly. So who even needs a net?
By the end of time spent, I managed to bring two very feisty 14-inchers to hand. The second one was a serious acrobatic trout that really tested my responses.
Brad and I left around 2:00, with RonBow still slaying the west end of the lake. There was another angler who did much better with his rig, who put in after Brad and I put in and got out a little afterwards. I didn’t get his name, but we shared a couple of tips. Another nice guy the day gifted me.
Four hours well spent. Two very feisty trout brought to hand was almost as good as the over 1/2 dozen brought to hand in less time last week Friday at my favorite lake.
What made that time sweeter was hearing from some gear-chuckers that they got skunked and me getting a fish on at the end of their sentence. I did feel guilty to to the point of hesitating to let Brad know I had a fish on. Was I wrong to feel that?
So my man, BB, and I hit a semi-local lake within an hour’s drive from home. On the water around 9:30. Met Ronbow while rigging up. Quickly realized he’s one very nice guy. So cool stumbling across another member of the website that epitomizes the scene here. A real generous wealth of knowledge.
I started out with a mohair leech pattern made from my dryer’s lint trap. Wife washed and dried one of her sweaters, and I unloaded and discovered the treasure trove of dubbing. Sadly, no takes over the first hour or so. So much for the light violet Leech.
Yes, there were actively feeding trout at the NW end of the small lake. So their disinterest in the Lint Trap Leech forced my hand to my old reliable “Dave-modded” Carey Special.
The thing about this shallow lake is that local knowledge, observation, and experience is what unlocks it. Lots of snags (weeds and logs) in water that looks fishy but you can’t tell is as shallow as it really is. Spent four hours on the water, but you wasted 1/4 of fishing time with snags. Measuring quality time…
The Dave-Modded Carey Special on! Nips and bumps begin to slowly occur. Sad that the experimental fly failed, but happy/sad the go-to fly gets to he love. You stick with what gets the love. It’s still before noon. 2 hours of meh.
I look across the lake, and see Ron cutting some bow wake from at the far side. Looks like he’s heading over.
Around then, I’ve figured out how to avoid the snags and working better water. And getting the attention of, though losing, trout. Eventually; Ron arrives. And then, it around high noon on a sunny day, and I have a fish on.
A fine 14” rainbow brought to hand. Tough fighter that demanded a soft hand with my 6wt Sage rod. Meanwhile, Ron with his double fly rig is slaying it. Sadly, the wind has kicked up, and, well, Brad managed to get a solid fish, played it well, but it ended up SDR before the net. Nothing wrong with having the satisfaction of all the play and saving yourself the hassle of freeing the fly. So who even needs a net?
By the end of time spent, I managed to bring two very feisty 14-inchers to hand. The second one was a serious acrobatic trout that really tested my responses.
Brad and I left around 2:00, with RonBow still slaying the west end of the lake. There was another angler who did much better with his rig, who put in after Brad and I put in and got out a little afterwards. I didn’t get his name, but we shared a couple of tips. Another nice guy the day gifted me.
Four hours well spent. Two very feisty trout brought to hand was almost as good as the over 1/2 dozen brought to hand in less time last week Friday at my favorite lake.
What made that time sweeter was hearing from some gear-chuckers that they got skunked and me getting a fish on at the end of their sentence. I did feel guilty to to the point of hesitating to let Brad know I had a fish on. Was I wrong to feel that?
