Click on photos for full size image.
It was high time I got back to the lake on my own. Earth Day seemed like the right time, and the weather was cooperative. Sun was bright, wind was down, and temps were pushing 60 when I arrived.
The first thing I noticed was that the Red-Necked Grebe and his mate were together again. I was glad to see her. So was he.
The second thing I noticed was that the fish were hungry. It was good to get together again with them. This one took a trolled brown micro-leech.
I used a variety of flies and techniques, all with entertaining results. An emu soft hackle with a pheasant tail body under an indicator enticed this one.
I even tied on a little muddler and greased it up, and this nice fish took and hooked himself while I was messing with the camera.
A wind kicked up out of the east and blew until dusk. Trolling was the ticket. This heavy 17 incher took that green beadhead emu bugger, the first of several to fall for that fly.
This is the biggest fish of the season so far. To celebrate, I invited it to dinner at my house. It's in my refrigerator right now, but we'll be together again soon.
I caught several more fish on the beadhead and then on a purple bugger.
The wind kept blowing, and developed a cool edge that started to cut through my jacket, so I paddled in to retrieve my fleece shell.
I was back out trolling when I caught this little fugitive. Surprise. Well, first bass of the season.
As dusk settled over the water the wind died down and fish began to rise sporadically. I tied on a cdc caddis fly--I had seen caddis fluttering in amongst the clouds of midges--and went to work on top. That was fun. I enticed a few strikes and misses, and then got a good hookup. I was still congratulating myself when I realized the fish had managed to get down to the weeds and twist off.
So that bass turned out to be the last fish of a very good day, a day that made me feel, well, together again.
No comments:
Post a Comment