The Changing of Times

Even though the morning highs were in the low 90’s, nights are slowly becoming longer and colder. Their reach is expanding, slowly overtaking sunlight and bringing with them frigid days. Colder temperatures bring changing patterns for those of us hunting fish. These last few weeks of summer fish bring a strategic shift in tactic and ultimately an abandonment of all summer tactics and pursuits. The sun now sets at 7:00 PM. Soon five o clock will bring the sun down. 

With all of this said, I wasn’t prepared for what a 2+week lull would bring. I had not stepped foot at the “bee hive” for a few weeks due to car troubles. I was excited to get out there and slay some panfish. I was also excited about getting my buddy Jarred into some fish. 

We arrived at the bee hive at around 5:00. We had plenty of beer and little time to get into fish. Nonetheless I was confident and sure that at least I would get into a fish. 

My buddy Jarred has fished four times in his entire life and has caught two fish. That’s not a bad record but he had not been fishing in years. I was able to convince him to purchase a fishing license so I owe him a few fishing trips.  If any place I figured the bee hive would get him into some fish. The first thing that got my attention was that they had done some work on the feeder canal on the side and there was more dirt and sediment across the bottom. I wondered if it would affect the fish activity. Another thing that I noticed that the vegetation is beginning to die off as it does during winter, providing less hiding for the fish. 

We both got some decent bites but they didn’t seem to be attacking the worms with the same ferociousness as usual. They also seemed to leave it alone after a bite or two which was uncharacteristic. With the sun setting at 7:15, a cold chill completely killed the bite. I even threw a hail mary by attempting to rig up for catfish but not even a bite. 

In all the trip was a complete skunk.  I could blame it on only having two hours of sunlight but honestly it just wasn’t working for us. I still feel like I owe my buddy Jarred some fish so hopefully I will be able to get him into some soon. 

As for right now, I feel a real urgency to do two things:

1.      Get into some Bass before the bite REALLY slows down.
2.    Head into the hills for some trout… especially on the fly!

I will let you all know how it goes.