Putting A Bend In The Featherlight Rod

I took a quick look at the weather yesterday and noticed that I had a small window of opportunity to do some fishing before Mother Nature was going to put on another lighting show.  With my Eagle Claw Featherlight rod in hand and a new Road Kill color combo in the fly box, I hit the river.  The weather had been hot all day with temps hitting the 95 degree mark.  I swear it seems like it has rained a lot lately but I saw on the news the other night that half of the counties in Maryland are in drought conditions.  My county is not one of them which is great but I have a feeling it is coming.  I was hoping that the water would not be too low to be fished.  I was certainly hoping to catch some smallies.  My numbers have been pretty low this year as a result of not being able to get out much.  I think I have been having withdrawal symptoms from not getting enough smallie or bass thumb.  I needed a fix and I needed it soon.  Oh, to see an explosive top water strike!

I arrived on the river around 1530 hours or so.  A quick check at the boat ramp revealed that the water was low, but not too low, and clear.  Awesome!  I was stoked.  This was going to be only my fourth outing for smallies this year.  I had high hopes.  I entered the water and worked my way across the river to the rock wall on the other side.  Typically, I start here in this section and work my way down.  By far, this is my favorite section of the Monocacy River and where I spend most of my time fishing.  As such, I know it very well.  Usually when I fish with others, I put them in the good holes so they have the best chance to find, hook and even spook the fish.  Melissa has often said I should do some guiding.  This time, however, I had the whole river to myself.  Once I reached the half way mark in the river, I started my pursuit of the smallies by casting across to the rock wall.  Here is what I am referring to

I had used a purple Road Kill on the last outing and had done really well with it.  How does the old saying go....if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Well I didn't.  I managed to land some long ears, red eyed rocks and a lone bluegill in this stretch but no smallies.  I eventually lost the fly to something large that broke it off.  Well it was probably time to change to the new guy anyways.  Some fish porn for ya:

Quick break in the fishing report so that I can apologize for the photos.  Melissa got me a waterproof camera last year for Christmas.  I have had it out twice.  Between that and being a male (we don't read instructions), I have not had a chance to figure out how it works yet.  As such, my photos are a little blurry.  I now know where the macro setting is and will be using it in the future.  Back to the report.

I tied on the orange and black Road Kill and started working my way down stream.  This is a new color combo that I have been working on.  Everything is the same as the orange Road Kill but this guy has black hackle instead of just orange hackle.

 I managed to pick up my first smallie from a rock.  He was a little guy but hey they all count.  This river is not known for its smallie population.  We don't get the numbers or sizes other people in the Midwest or New England get.  Any smallie is a good smallie for me.

Well working my way down stream I managed to catch a warmouth, some more long ears as well as some red eyed rocks.

I do love the red eyed rocks and I am so happy to see them returning to this river.  It was polluted for years.  I am hoping they can recover.

I finally got a decent size smallie.  This guy, according to the ruler on my rod, went 13 inches.  A really good fish for this river.  He chased down and crushed the Road Kill.

I started hearing thunder and decided that it was time to turn around and work my way back up to the car.  I  decided to switch gears and tied on a Panfish Persuader in black and hot orange.  I really needed my top water fix.  I wasn't to be disappointed.  I did fairly well with it.  I managed to land more long ears and another smallie that inhaled it.  I missed more than I landed.  The water was so clear that you could see the fish coming up to grab the fly.  I am a little out of practice and therefore managed to rip the fly out of the water anticipating the strike.  I know better than that but it was been such a long time since I witnessed top water action that I was overeager.

Not too long after the last photo was taken I started to see lighting.  Being in the water waving a fiberglass rod scared the shit out of me so I beat feet back to the car.  All and all it was a great day of fishing.  Well really it was 2 and 1/2 hours but you know what I mean.  I landed 25 long ears, 4 red eyed rocks, 3 smallies, 1 warmouth and 1 bluegill.  Not too bad at all!  Looking forward to going next week.