Small Bass, No Gills

Small Bass, No Gills

All bass and not a single gill on the night.

The dinks were on fire last night.  Small bass were the rule....beating the gills to everything.   Not a gill hooked or landed. An odd night for certain. 

Last light gave up  bit more size.

The fish were hitting with a lot more aggression than normally for this water.  It seemed as if that aggression had the rest of the pond sitting the evening out. 

All Things August

August Brown

The month of August, with only 3 weeks of the month gone by so far.  

 

Grand-Daughter Macy Jo arrived as blessing to the family. 

Our 2018 Family Beach Vacation is in the books with 50 years of tradition intact.

My youngest is about to open in "Newsies!", making us all proud.

"Pop-Pop" attained the status of 55 years old. Making me eligible for all the "Over 55" communities that are up-and-down the NJ coast.  

The Fig Tree is in peak fruit right now

And the icing on the cake....four fat little "post flood" browns came to hand.  Ensuring me that all is well on my favorite water. 

Nature has a way of showing us that water is unstoppable, and then in a mere instant, heals itself as if nothing ever happened. 

My best to the folks back home recovering. 

Its been busy!....But we are still here.  :)

A Warmwater Sunset

The colors of Sunset

The colors of sunset,  as seen from the seat of my float tube.

The therapy of quiet time on the water is without measure

I feel better already!

Tying Little Gill Replacements

Little Gill Streamer

It's always a good sign when mid-way through a season, you are already re-filling patterns. 

A solid pattern from my book "Summer Bugs", this year a thin section of peach added has made a difference for the better. 

Lilies, Gills & 100 Degrees

Lilies, Gills & 100 Degrees

When a June 30th forecast calls for 100 degrees there is only one real option for the fly fisherman....do chores....or be on a favorite warmwater haunt at dawn and fish until the heat gets the best of you.  I chose the latter.  Reality is however, that on days like this, I get excited the night before in anticipation of kicking through lily pads on water I know I will have most certainly have sole possession of.   

I was right. 

I decided to begin where I left off on my last visit, with the CGR 7/8 and Martin MG-7, rigged with an Orvis WF7F Warmwater line, hand twisted 12lb Trilene Big-Game leader & 8lb Orvis AR Tippet.  

Starting out with a #2 Gurgling Frog.  

The view of an empty lake launch as you fin away is Christmas-in-July, even if it was one day early.

The first few fish came to the larger Frog, but it was soon apparent the #4 Wog in its black attire was going to be the fly.  

This fish has the entire #2 Frog in its mouth...tail and all.

On this morning, where I would expect some bucket mouths to be hungrily lurking, I found none.  What I did find however, was several dozen gills with an attitude that they owned the place.  Several of which, on hook-set I would have sworn were bass. 

Gills in their post-spawn bronze are some of the prettiest fish that swim in my opinion

In the end I found enough fish to wear out my shoulder on a sunny morning with no wind, no fisherman and huge mats of untouched lilies in morning bloom.

As I was crawling out of my tube back at the launch just before 0900, two trucks carrying three kayaks and a 12' Jon boat arrived and a family was dragging a cooler to the end of the far pier.

The sun was on the water & it was already 93 degrees....time for breakfast.

Besides, none of these folks want to watch the old guy in the big "floatie" and fly rod laugh to himself and talk to bluegills.

Good fishing and happy 4th!

Cane & Silk Bow

Cane & Silk Bow

Had a chance to get on some trout water late Sunday with the 7' 3/4wt Cane & Silk.  After a humidity thunderstorm had finished it's work I hit Fishing Creek in Orangeville, PA for a couple hours. 

After losing 2 fish early on I was finally able to bring this 18" bow to the net.  Only fish of the day, in the final 15 minutes, on an apricot/Steelhead Orange McFoamFly egg.

Gurgling Frogs and Bass on Glass

Gurgling Frogs and Bass on Glass

Saturday brought an afternoon with no wind, and a chance to get out on the water with the float tube again.  SO, I crammed the Cumberland into the back of the car and headed for Glenloch. Aside from one other boat I had the water to myself, which is oddly the norm.  I began as usual with a Foam Butt Caddis, which did Yeoman's work on the gills and 1/2 pounders. But when I tied on the Gurgling Frog, the day changed. 

Foam Butt Caddis gills

The Martin MG-7....You can't beat them....Virtually indestructible.

The Gurgling Frog

First cast brought color

This guy engulfed a Frog

Then the big boys began looking up

They were tight on the bank, and would not let the first twitch after rings go by

The CGR 7/8 & Frog combo got as much workout as my legs did finning through lily pads.