Every once in a while I have a free hour or so to sneak away by myself to some local waters to try and catch some fish. As a husband and father of 4 kids (8 and younger currently) these trips are further between than they were previously in my life. Yesterday was one of those times where I had just a quick break in my day and tried make the most of it.
For those who regularly read my posts my remember the blog post about carp that I caught while fishing with my kids on free fishing day a few months back. I decided that it was time to go back to that body of water and try my luck at finding another big carp on the fly.
I got to the pond and it was windy! I didn’t notice a breeze at home, but it sure was blustery at this lake. I still strung up my 6wt fly rod with a prototype carp fly I have been working on (I’ll post pictures of it later) and started walking with hopes that I might see some carp in small protected areas.
As walked around the lake and the lake was choppy and muddy as a result of the windy day. I managed to run into a few awesome people and chatted with them. One of the guys told me that he had previously caught a smallmouth bass there and was hoping to find another. I had never heard of smallies being in that lake - but if they are there that would be awesome! I also ran into an awesome pair of people who were out with their dogs. It was too windy for them to go out safely on the lake (I'm guessing they were going to go paddle boarding) so instead they were filling a bag with garbage and were cleaning up the shore while their dogs chased sticks in the lake. Major props to you two for cleaning up the lake!
I found a small section of water that wasn't being pounded by the wind and walked up and down it. I could see a few small fish cruising around, but I walked the area (and scared up some ducks...) trying to find some carp or some bigger fish. I didn't see any so I knew in my few minutes that I was going to have to swap flies and try something small to see if I could catch a fish.
I tied on the Glorified Worm and went to work. I saw a fish crusing around some rocks, and tossed my fly in and let it sink. The fish darted out from the rocks, smashed my fly, and tried to run back into the safety of the rocks. I was just a little overgunned with a 6wt and sturdy carp leader... the fish ducked and dodged as much as it could, but I quickly got it to hand. It was a beautiful juvenile largemouth bass. A quick picture and the fish was back on its way to hopefully grow up quite a bit bigger.
It was not the fish that I was hoping for, it wasn't the hour on the water I was hoping for, but it absolutely was a great way to reset my day and provide me with some joy! I hope you enjoyed this short adventure.