Tuesday, June 18, 2019

MORNING BASS


There is something calming about a small pond in the early morning, just before direct sunlight changes the reflection and thermals begin to ripple the surface. The yellow of the lilies stand out in isolation as if painted by Picasso himself on a glass canvas. Watching for a few moments in order to take it all in, you begin to see small rises among the lily pad clusters. Than a run-and-chase on a bluegill bed by marauding pickerels catches your eye. Yet no sound aside from the songbirds scattered about and the gobble of a roosted turkey in the timber behind you.  As you begin to strip and extend line with false casts, the sound of the click-pawl reel feels both foreign and yet oddly perfect in the moment. Watching as the rings from your fly dissipate your mind is telling you to move the fly when suddenly it is gone in a boil.…...morning Bass.


6 comments:

  1. it is so nice to read someone talking about warm water flyfishing. in a world dominated by trout, warm water is not paid the respect it deserves. Thanks Ralph, I do the same as much as possible too.
    bass and panfish on the fly is a hoot. great posting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks much and appreciate the visit. Each one has so much to offer the fly fisherman. I feel many miss out on excellent fishing by dismissing one over the other. Not to mention that if a bass exploding on a hair bug isn't enjoyable?.....Then I'm not sure why you fly fish? LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ralph
    And some wonder why we love fly fishing for the warm and cold water species; you drove the point home with this post. Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  4. Enjoy them all. I've never experienced a 10-12" stocked trout that fought better than a 10" Bluegill.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Ralph, Back in the day we would fish Lake Hopatcong in NJ with fly rods and probably trout flies (that's all we had money, was scarce). We caught every specie in the lake on small flies (sunfish, perch, pickerel, bass even an occaisional trout). We fished from dock to dock at sunset and caught more fish than you can imagine. The lake now is heavily infested with weeds making boating awful. I've seen mechanical weed cutters in use.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm with you John. We fished for what was available on our local waters. Lakes and ponds have a life cycle in many ways if not maintained. And many have been overtaken by invasive vegetation.

    ReplyDelete