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Since I've not been doing all that well with traditional spinning rigs with traditional baits (small crank baits and soft plastics on jigs). I'm guessing it is the change of season as I can see the sunfish going to spawn. The fish just don't seem to be interested in biting on the lures. Oh don't get me wrong there is interest to turn and watch the bait, some even follow. Only a few will actually commit to sampling and most of those that sample are only short striking at the lure.
My efforts at low and slow using jigs and weightless worms hasn't really produced much interest either. I've tried the tradition pull and drop, a slow drag, and a wicked jitter all with consistent ignorance. This is not to say that another fellow fisher chap who rigs a cigar worm wacky style on a lead jig head was able to tie into a few LMB but they are far apart and few instances of happiness. I suspect those scented Yum worms are working their magic. I may eventually try one of them soft cigar worms, eventually...maybe...
So being interested in catching not just fishing, I thought I'd mix it up a bit. I had de-comissioned a short 4 foot ultra-light pole that was very light in action and had slip rings for a reel mount. I figured it might serve reasonably well as a compact fly rod, a fish whip. So I teamed it up with a 3 weight fly line and a reasonable length mono leader connected to one of my own hand tied hair flies. Yes, some left overs recycled from my last hair cut. It is a tuft of hair lashed neatly on a number 12 hook that has had the barb crimped down. This 'fish whip' rig has been very handy and will get the fly out far enough to get in some really fun 'catching' at the local pond. I've had to adjust the timing on the casts to adjust for the length of the pole. I didn't account for the wind, at least until I got out to the pond over the weekend. Yes, the wind was way over 15 mph with significant gusts beyond that.
Right, so tossing a very light number 12 hook out with reasonable accuracy would be challenging or even silly, maybe? Well, in my case it was marvelous. Those lovely clusters of bluegills and other similar sunfish were more than happy to keep me entertained and casting away. I was even impressed with several that decided to play. There were several bull bluegills and green sunfish that were almost a two hand hold. Yes, they were a tough one hand hold so the size and girth were impressive. The amount of resistance when on the line was more fun than I anticipated. Upon the hookset and tension, they launch and peel line from my hand. While none of the surges would pull out all the line so I could get them on the reel, it sure was fun to see that supple ultra-light pole arced over at full bend. Wow that was a lot of fun, I need to do that again! This happened cast after cast, location after location.
A note on location, I found that those shallow areas held the most cautious fish, they took their good ole time to inspect the fly and then took some more time to get interested enough to do anything about it. Casts in the deeper areas produced fish that were more aggressive in hitting the fly. I'm guessing those are the ones that are needing to eat quickly otherwise someone else will get it.
Speaking of getting before others. It turned out that in making a cast in one of the deeper sections, I had a gust of wind pull the fly over near one of the floating masses of that really fine weeds, algae sort of. Anyhow before I could do much about it other than watch the fly hit the water about an inch or so from the clump, a sizeable flash rolled on the small hair fly. Oh man oh man! It is a LMB! My first LMB on a fly! Whaaaahoooo! What a pull and tussle. Amazing just how that little wispy rod could put some loading back on that LMB's pull. It was so cool to have a bigger fish play. I was so greatfull for the experience as the tiny little hook was right on the edge of the LMB's teeth section and the little hook held firm. However, as soon as I released tension and put my hand on it, the fly just easily lifted out. I'm really liking those barbless hooks. It is also nice to be able to just lift the hook out without fussing about.
It was so cool that the LMB took the fly. I was also just as gratified to see it gently swim off back to it's hide hopefully to continue and flourish. In being so jazzed about the catch I realized that I was still excited to accurately place the fly in the wind. It ended right into a protruding snag. So it goes, that ended up with a broken leader so I had transition over to my UL spinning rig. So tossing out that little swimbait on the jig would be interesting in the wind. Fortunately that setup casts well. I managed to get the bait out and work it back in a somewhat slow retrieve as the wind was lifting the line above the water on occasions. It wasn't long till the little bluegills pecked at it. I could feel the little short strikes as the line would jump and then continue on. Right as I was retrieving one of the casts about 3 meters out it stopped and vectored off laterally. Oooh a big bluegill. No wait the color is quite dark and the shape is not quite right. Wow! A green sunfish, warmouth. Sort of a hybrid, mouth of a SMB and body of a bluegill. Boy that little 10 incher put on the same spectacular show as the LMB. The pole doubled over and I strained with keeping the line managed. When I got it to shore, I could barely get my single hand about it. It was both large and girthy, just a tub!
So other than the somewhat gale force winds a great day working out the fish whip and catch my first LMB using it. Cool!
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