Bill Your Order Is Ready For Pick-Up

Well really delivery.  Here is an order I just completed for a fellow blogger.  It contains a nice assortment of Road Kill Nymphs and 2 Grey Ghost poppers.  I can't wait to see what Bill catches with them next year.  I know they will do well with the spots as the smallies love both.  If you haven't checked out Bill's blog yet, Fishing Through Life, do yourself a favor and take a look here.  Let me know how you like them Bill when they arrive.

Please Forgive Me For I Have Sinned!

I am a fly fisherman through and through.  I love it.  It is a passion of mine.  According to my wife it borders on an obsession.  It really is a way of life for me.  I am not really a purist in the sport since I tend to chase the green trout more than the others but it still rules my life.  With all that being said, I sinned yesterday.  Please forgive me.

Greg and I had a chance to slip away for a little bit yesterday during our lunch break.  We were in a neighboring county near the pond we usually fish.  Some may remember this place as I have talked and written about it before.  It is heavily wooded around the shore.  There is really only one place to cast from around the whole pond, this being a small little point.  This area has produced for me before on the fly rod with a 19 inch largemounth on a white Road Kill Nymph earlier this year.  Anyways, knowing that we would have some time to possibly fish this pond I brought my fly rod as well as my sinful device know to most as a spinning rod.  Rarely if ever now do I spin fish.  After picking up the fly rod, I have found it to be more rewarding as well as challenging.  I really cant describe in words how much I love fly fishing.

Meal time arrived and we raced off to the pond.  Here in Maryland it, shocker, rained all day yesterday.  At times it was a pretty hard rain.  We drove to the spot we normally park at and walked the ten minutes back to the pond.  Of course on the way there, the skies opened up again and it started to rain heavily.  We pushed on to the pond.  When we arrived, we discovered that the little point was totally under water from all the rain the past month.  Not only was that under water but the entire pond was surrounded by algae.  This ring started at the shoreline and worked its way out from there.  In some places it was out at far as say eight feet.  Taking a look around, I immediately knew I would have to sin with the spinning rod.  Given we only had an hour to work our way around the pond we moved quickly hitting the usual haunts in search of Mr. Bucket-Mouth.  By the time we finished, Greg had landed eight or nine fish and I landed four.  My first green trout was OK.  The next two were great though.  The first was 2 pounds 14 ounces and the second was 2 pounds 12 ounces.  The other first was a little bluegill.

It wasn't a bad hour of fishing at all.  It was nice to be out despite the rain.  My issue was that I feel as though I have sinned and offended the fishing gods.  Please forgive me.

First Saltwater Fish on the Fly

As I sit here and write this, the sun has risen and a new day has started.  For me it signifies the end of a wonderful week.  The family and I have been in Ocean City, Maryland for the past week.  I had a conference to attend that was being held here so I decided to bring along the family for a little forced family fun.  Overall we had a nice time.  God bless my wife cause not only did she allow me to spend money on saltwater flies, but she also allowed me to go out a few times fishing.  I had high hopes of getting into some stripers as they are running this time of year.  However, it was not to be.  I managed to go out on the Chesapeake Bay a few times and only one day, the first day as a matter of fact, did I catch fish.  This is not to say that I didn't have any strikes or hard takes.  Quite the contrary.  I hooked a number of fish but I couldn't seem to manage a decent hook set or land them.  I was also far too busy enjoying the scenery to notice or even pay attention to when they struck.  At one point I had a strike so hard it ripped the line out of my hand and rocketed down the guides.  As soon as I went to set the hook, the fish was gone.  Oh well.  Weather also played a role in my lack of success.  The wind was murder out here.  Some days it was rolling between 20-30 miles per hour.  I usually don't fish in this conditions so I wasn't used to the wind.  I found it to be quite difficult to punch through 25 mph winds with an 8/9 weight.  That brings me to the tackle.  I decided not to invest in a saltwater rod, reel or line.  About 15 years ago I bought a Cortland 8/9 rod and reel for bass fishing.  I have never used it.  The bass I catch can and are caught on my 5 weight so I never use it.  I figured it would save me some money to use it which I did.  However, it had floating line on it so I couldn't really get the fly down to where the fish were.  I will say that I saw fish slash through and attack big balls of bait fish as well as birds diving down and following the balls of bait fish.  I have never seen that before but have always read about it or seen it on fly fishing shows.  It was neat to watch.  This was really about having a family vacation and not a fishing one.  That will be next month when we go back to Harmans, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time fishing.  Regarding the forced family fun, I have never played so many rounds of miniature golf in my life.  A problem we ran into was that most of the places here were closed because is the off season.  So, what do you do with a 4 year old.  Well you take them to the miniature golf places that are still open.  He loved it!  I believe the wife played 8 rounds with him and I played 7.    I managed to land a few fish that I think are bluefish and a spotted/speckled sea trout.  I have no clue as to what is what regarding saltwater fish so if you see the photos and I am wrong, let me know.  I told the wife I am hooked and would like to do some more saltwater fly fishing.  Here are some photos of the fish, where we were at, weather conditions and other crap.

Decided To Chase Some Smallies Today

and ended up with bluegill at a local pond.  The fall weather is perfect here currently.  It warmed up into the mid 70s today.  With no responsibilities, well none I felt like doing, I decided to head out and chase some smallmouth on the fly rod.  It hasn't rained here in Maryland in almost a week.  I thought, silly me, that the river would be settled down by now.  I guess I should have remembered that it rained for almost a month straight and therefore the river would be high, fast and stained.  So, I headed out to the Monocacy River.  I got there and took a quick look around.  It seemed alright or so I tried to convince myself.  We all do it right?  We want to fish so bad that we almost talk ourselves into it.  I told myself it would be fine and I would catch plenty of fish despite having a feeling deep down of despair.  I knew the truth but refused to acknowledge it.  I grabbed the chest waders, that really should have been a clue, suited up and headed to the river.  I literally spent ten minutes before I gave up.  The water was moving so fast that it threatened at times to knock me off my feet.  My fly was rocketing down stream at a speed greater than my mending capabilities so I decided to pack it in.  Here is what it looked like from the shallow end.  This little "island" for lack of a better term is always out of water.  As you can see, it is under water and the water has actually diverted around it.  That tells me that it was high and super fast at one point.

So, I headed back home.  On the way there, I got to thinking about another pond I haven't hit in quite some time.  Why not stop off and give it a whirl?  Well, I did.  I spent about an hour and a half there.  It is a small pond stocked with crappie, warmouth, bluegill, largemouth, catfish and carp.  It is also a public pond which means it sees a lot of traffic.  I mean a lot of traffic.  I got there and discovered that I had the whole place to myself.  I keep the Cajun tickler on and had a go at the panfish.  In the end, I managed to land one warmouth and 31 bluegill.  Not to shabby for an hour and a half.  I never saw any bass or crappie.  I did see some carp cruising but they couldn't care less about what I was throwing at them.  In the end it all worked out well for me.  Another 32 fish added to the log book.  I had hoped to chase some smallies before winter but it was not in the cards today.  I am leaving for Ocean City tomorrow and taking rods with me.  I am hoping between classes to be able to get out and catch something while I am out there.  

Sunday Thoughts and Ramblings

My Sunday thoughts and ramblings this week center around my missing follower.  I noticed not too long ago that  I had reached 76 followers for the blog.  I was happy.  Well....giddy really.  It still amazes me that 76 people find what I have to say interesting.  That is awesome.

I noticed late last week that I was down to 75 followers.  What gives?  I was speaking with a friend of mine a while ago who noticed that he was losing friends on Facebook.  He came up with a great idea which was to have an exit interview.  I think I need this for my blog.

Dear missing follower number 76....what happened?  Did I offend you?  Did my writing suck?  I know I have dropped the ball lately regarding my posts and I apologize for that.  Please come back!

Finally!!!

I was finally able to get out and do a little fishing on Friday.  I had a rare afternoon off and it was actually sunny out.  So, I decided to hit a local pond to see if I could put a bend in my fly rod.  I haven't been out since 09/04.  Here in Maryland it has rained off and on for almost a month.  Every time I had off it was either raining or had just rained which naturally meant that the river was stained, swollen and fast.  For the past few days, the sun has been out and we haven't had any rain which has been awesome.

Friday was also a chance for Dad and daughter to spend some time together.  She likes fishing and has been asking me to teach her how to fly fish.  Some readers will remember that she has been fly fishing before and caught fish all by herself.  So, as soon as she got home from school, I asked her if she wanted to do a little fishing and she jumped at the chance.  I figured the pond would be the best place given the weather conditions and allowing her a chance to practice her casting.

About the pond, it is rather small and fed by a small spring creek.  It is quite cold.  I stocked it with largemouth and bluegill almost 18 years ago.  I hit it maybe half a dozen times a year.  I try not to over fish it.  It really is my secret spot.  A special little place to be used in case of emergency.  Given that it is fed by a spring creek, it is quite cold which means the fish struggle at times to get moving and eat.

We arrived at the pond and could see the fish hanging near the surface or in the shallows.  Everyone was trying to warm themselves.  We had a hard time catching anything for like the first hour we were there.  I was using a small size 10 clouser in chartreuse and white.  I worked my way around the pond and discovered a 18-20 inch bass hanging in the shallow water.  I cast past the fish and bumped the clouser right down the shoreline.  Well.....it attacked it with a vengeance.  I watched the fish inhale the fly and I set the hook.....only to have the 5x tippet I was using break off.  I watched the fish swim towards deeper water while shaking its head as it tried to get the clouser out of its mouth.  Boy was it pissed.  So, I change in tippet size as well as fly led to more fish.  I switched to a size 10 Cajun tickler and landed a largemouth as well as 2 dozen bluegills.  Around that time, my daughter started begging me to let her fly fish which I did.  She had a hard time casting but gave t a whirl none the less.  Finally, she gave up and let me cast for her.  I would cast out and let her strip it in.  She was a little defeated over this process but still managed to land 7 or 8 bluegills which she was tickled pink about.  Overall it was a great day spending some quality time with my oldest and putting a bend in
my fly rod.

Here are the photos:

Another Order Filled

I spent some time yesterday at the bench finally.  I filled a small order for a local fly shop owner.  He wanted to try out some Road Kill Nymphs.  So I tied up a few and since I had a side job to work I sent the wife to the store to deliver them.  The wife called me to politely inform me that I was wrong on the time the store closed and that it closed two hours prior to her getting there.  This, of course, thrilled her since she had to take the boy with her who was simply put being an asshole yesterday.  Oh well these things happen right?

Here I am tying them up:

BTW if you are wondering why I am wearing a sock on my arm, it is because you can't, apparently, stick your arm in poison ivy and not expect to get it.  It happened at work and I got a nasty case of it on my right arm.  It was the first time for me that I have gotten it.  Getting old sucks!

My company while I filled the order:

I would like to point out that I hate this chair but the wife refuses to get rid of it.  Thank god at least someone is using it since we cant get rid of it.  This should also explain why at times you tend to see hair in my photos.  In fact the hair is every where in the house.  This guy has a sister but in black which makes for piles of dog hair throughout the house in gray.  It is just awesome but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

Last but not least the order filled.  Since the shop was closed I may do another couple in different colors.  Regardless, here they are:

Order Up and Out the Door

Here is an order I just did for a close friend's family member.  It contains an assortment of warm water flies in sizes 8 and 10.  I did 7 poppers, 7 Road Kill Nymphs, 3 Monocacy Bumble Bees and 3 Price's Panfish Persuaders.  I sincerely hope they like them and they bring many fish to hand.