Thursday, July 24, 2014

Nothing But Little Guys



I left the house at about 530 and arrived at the bee hive at 6:00. I figured a couple of hours after work would be enough to get the monkey off my back. I didn’t want to have to buy bait and haul around all of my lures so I only brought  Excalibur, my 6 wt and a few boxes full of flies. Plus lately I have been challenging myself to only take my fly rod and force myself to learn. 

I had not been to the beehive since early spring so I was pretty excited to nail some panfish. The feeder canal looked as shallow as last time I was there but I think this is due to them doing digging upstream last year. I tied on a frog colored panfish popper and went to work. 

I popped that sucker around for a good while but had absolutely no takers. I don’t know if I mentioned this in the past but the beehive named itself because there are tons of bees hanging around in that area. I was excited a while back when I found some foam bee patterns to use here. This was my first time using them and I was utterly disappointed. No takers on the bees at all.

Then I went with a royal humpy in orange but there were no takers on that one either. I tied on a march brown because I figured it looked like a mosquito and that brought my first baby bluegill to hand. Not much of a fish but I’ve caught smaller!

Then came a whole collection of flies from cahills, poppers, wooley buggers, wooley worms, Sarges Crappie flies, and san juan worms before catching a small largemouth bass on a foam hopper pattern. 

I continued my carousel of flies but for whatever reason they weren’t taking what I was giving them. I ended up packing up at about 8:20 and headed home but not before a cool shot with the car and Excalibur. 

Well, I still have a lot of research to do to crack the code on the beehive with the fly. It is a killer spot with the old worm and bobber but with flies, it seems to be a bit harder. Luckily I am up for the challenge. 



Total Fish: 1 bluegill + 1 largemouth bass = 2 fish

9 comments:

  1. Juan, my BlogBuddy, just keep the faith and keep pushing yourself to try fly fishing. The experience you receive is going to pay off in the near future and you will be amazed how much better your fishing becomes.

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    1. I will definitely keep pushing myself. I get pretty impatient but fishing is a game of patience so I will force myself to keep at it!

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  2. The first and only Bass I've ever caught on a fly rod was just about that size. Oh so many years ago.

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    1. I keep getting into bass this size... I want some BIG ones!

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  3. I'd rather be catching fish of small size, than no fish at all. What size flies were you using?

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    1. That's very true, brother. I know the big ones will come, i just get impatient. Size 12 or so for most of them.

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  4. LMB Bass can be pretty challenging on a fly rod. I'm still trying to figure them out...
    They spook easy, they're picky, and lazy.
    Smallies are a bit more sporty cause they fight hard, jump, and are easier to catch.
    I like to sight fish for bass cause they can be hard to get to on a floating line if they are in deeper water.

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  5. Juan
    The little guys are always good practice for the bigger fish in future trips. Thanks for sharing

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  6. Juan, not to lecture you my friend, but sometimes it's just not the size of the fish that matters. Did you have a good time? Was it better than a day at work? Was catching a small fish better than no fish? I fish for small fish on purpose. I don't fight crowds and I've always got a smile on my face when I get home.

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