I Redeemed Myself

In an effort to get my mojo back, Ian AKA Gigantor and I made arrangements to go out on Friday and fish the Monocacy all day.  Well all day for me means leaving around 1300 hours and fishing till dark.  I am just not a morning person.  I needed to get out and attempt to redeem myself after Thursday's miserable outing where everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

So Melissa packed lunches, snacks, coffee, and water for us.  I tied some Panfish Persuaders and Road Kills up and grabbed some cigars for the trip.  I have really been thinking about doing some guiding in addition to the tying that we do.  Melissa thinks I would be good at it.  I know a lot about the Monocacy and usually put those that I fish with in the best holes wherever we are on it.  I decided to try a section of the river that I haven't fished since last year.  I know this section has smallmouth, largemouth, warmouth, crappie, bluegill, long ears, fall fish and red eyed rocks in it.  It has a lot of structure, deep holes, and long runs.  Gigantor showed up around 1300 and with the car packed, we headed out.  The temps were in the low 90s and there was a slight breeze.

We arrived at our destination and quickly discovered that some sort of algae or water plant was very prevalent.  The water was also higher than when we last fished this area.  It was cooler than normal and stained as well.  Typically in this area, we fish below and around the bridge.  You can see all the great looking structure in the photos below.  You can also see all the algae in the second photo poking out of the water.  If someone has a clue to what this is, please let me know.

We fished below, around and even above the bridge for the first three and a half hours we were there.  The fishing was slower than last time we were there.  I did manage to land some smallmouth but it certainly wasn't as many as I would have liked to.  I also landed a decent sized fall fish as well.  I mainly used a Panfish Persuader in chartreuse, Monocacy Bumble Bee and Road Kill in white.  Just those three flies.  

Here are some photos of above the bridge.  We have never fished this area before so it was good to get out and explore a little.  There were some nice long runs that I bet would hold a lot of smallies, however, that freaking algae was everywhere choking everything out.  It was hard to fish anything but top water and even harder to land fish once they hit the fly.  They would hit the fly and then rocket right down into the algae.  A six inch fish turned into a 3 pound massive fight because you got the fish as well as 2.9 pounds of algae.  

Around five o'clock, I called a break time because I needed nourishment and water and Gigantor needed some Tums.  We headed back to the car for all the above.  

After snack time we decided to fish the area below the bridge.  There is a huge deep hole here.  I mean like deeper than Gigantor and I which says a lot for this river.  It always looks really great but I never have a lot of luck here.  This outing was no different.  I tried running a Road Kill as well as a Clouser through the hole with so much as a nibble.  We decided to move further down stream.  Here is the big hole.  I couldn't fit it all in one photo and I didn't even get it all in the photos I took.  It looks awesome but I can't figure it out.

Moving down stream, we found a great little spot that produced well for us.  We had several double hook ups and it seemed like we were catching fish on every cast.  After awhile, I moved further down stream but Ian stayed and continued to pull fish out.  They appeared to be stacked in the hole like cord wood and were loving the Persuader and Road Kill.  Ian was catching them up by the brush pile and I was catching them under the tree.  You can tell from the photos that the light was fading and time was running out on our adventure.

In the end we each had a great time.  Ian landed around 46 or so fish.  I managed 58 long ears, 4 smallies, 4 red eyed rocks, 1 warmouth and 1 fall fish.  We tentatively made plans to go this coming Friday but I am not sure whether that will hold up or not.  Ian stays pretty busy so we shall see.  I hope so though as Fall is right around the corner and I want to get in as much fishing as I can while I still can.