A Week of Change

Well this has been a week of change, unfortunately not all for the better.  My beloved pond got a much needed infusion of water from the one of our monsoon deluges.  Unfortunately, when the water washed into the reservoir the toxins from the neighborhood produced a comprehensive fish kill. 

I visited the pond on Tuesday only to find a ring of dead fish carcases all about the shore of the pond.  It was so bad that even the scavengers didn't avail themselves of the fish.  Truly unfortunate.  I don't know how the pond will recover from this or will the caretakers allow for restocking of the pond.  Time will tell...

On a happier note fishing down at the river has been gratifying.  It is a different type of fishing as you basically hunt down the deeper pools in the small river / stream.  Today's jaunt down the shore produced about a dozen or so catfish on the line and to the shore.  I'm guessing that they are yellow bullheads all less than 12 inches but really fun on the line.  Since I'm using ultra-light tackle the tussle is quite good.  Surprising the little ice fishing rig worked so well.  The 26 inch pole with the larger diameter spool casts reasonably well.   You do have to make sure that your cast is smooth.  If you over drive the cast by loading the rod too much the line paying off the spool will slap the pole and on occasion fold over the shaft catching the first guide in a jam knot.  So easy does it. 

The first fish on that little rig was surprisingly fun.   The short little pole loaded smartly but was not overhelmed by the fish.  I was able to play it out much like a short fly rod as the little graphite shaft is fairly slow and has most of its loading down near the handle.  It was fun to connect with the fish one after another. 

A few observations.   The water level was a touch higher due to the recent rains.  Also the water clarity was slightly improved too.  The water was not the chocolate milk colored, a slight green hue to it.  I didn't see or connect with anything else but catfish today.  After about 10am the fishing all but stopped.  The early activity just halted. 

I did make my way up stream to see if there were other opportunities.  Didn't find anything else along the way.  So it seems that this is pretty much the spot.   I may try downstream near the Charleston Road crossing to see if there is deeper pools.  That will be another trip. 

I still keep hope that the rain will motivate the National Forest Supervisor to open the lands for public use again.  I'm quite sure that the sunfish in Parker Canyon will be quite ready for some attention.