Post-Cyclone Dora fishing

Our first really good soaker of the season and it took a Cyclone to make it happen.  It was really tough to make the decision to head out to the lake early this morning at 0430.  The rain had been fairly light but constant through the night.  It was still going as I checked the regional radar.  Since the truck was already to go as the equipment was still there from yesterday's fun.  All I had to do was to make sure that I was awake enough to make the journey.

By the time I got about half way to the lake my worries increased.  It wasn't the rain that falling that had me worried.  It was the less than 25 meters visibility due to all the fog.  The road there is already sort of challenging but adding the fog at pre-dawn and things were really bad.  I am so glad that I have the auxiliary lights to make things less dangerous.

I get out there and set out on the yak.  There are actually a few folks out there fishing on the pier.  I check out the rip-rap with only one small green sunfish taking the grub.  Meanwhile the rain is now getting stronger.  I'm really wondering if this was such a good idea.  At least there is no lightning, that is a good thing. 

So it is time to move to another strategy and try something different and a different place.  Across the lake I go and try the grass.  My last time in the grass was interesting but not that fun.  Today it was both interesting and fun! 

That was sure fun along with the five pounds of weeds that came with it.  It did take a while to pick through the clump to find this in the middle. 

Sure was fun to try out something new and have it work.  Unfortunately I didn't seem to find any more hiding in the grass.  Time for another change.  By this time the conditions had changed quite a bit too.  The sun was starting to peek out between the clouds.  So I thought I might go back to my typical pattern.  On the way to the rip-rap I intercepted a boil on the surface.  I built up enough momentum to make a cast while still gliding.  The cast barely entered the water and I was tied on to to something that made the drag peel out.  I was thinking it was one of the carry over trout.  What a surprise, another LMB.  Who would have thought a nice LMB in the middle of the lake.  Amazing!

Once back at the rip-rap I tied into another beast of a different kind.  This on is a green sunfish.

What a great battle this fish put on.  You can see the mouth is quite large on this one too. 

I can tell you that braid doesn't cast too well when fully saturated with water.  The light 2lb test still tosses reasonably but you can tell it is not up to that full potential.  Very different when the spool is not soaked. 

So it is possible to catch fish in a hurricane or a cyclone. 

Cheers!