As we near the end of this year I took a moment to reflect on my experiences growing up fishing. Needless to say this included looking through dozens of old pictures while at my parents house over Christmas. I thought I would share them with you guys, as it is interesting to see what our origins are as anglers. The pictures skip a few years… as I couldn't locate those photo albums and purposely stops about 4 years short of my starting the blog: right about the time I went from being a casual angler to it becoming a serious hobby and passion. The pictures are a mix of me and my relatives and taken in Iowa and Minnesota. Enjoy!
I traveled to Grand Lake Oklahoma with my girlfriend to visit her aunt and uncle and their cabin. Originally, I was hoping for some stellar bass fishing but with recent rains the water was littered with too much debris and floating timber that taking a boat on the water would have been too treacherous. That said, we ended up just messing around a bit around their dock and caught a few crappie and catfish, nothing too sexy, but a good time anyhow. Crappie were caught vertical jigging, whereas the catfish were caught on worms and a bobber.
Fly fishing for catfish.... are you kidding me? This response is not uncommon and I often hear it from anglers when they ask what I am fishing for, while targeting catfish on a fly rod. One woman even asked if I was practicing for trout season and then was flabbergasted when I released the catfish pictured immediately below. Fishing for catfish on a fly rod is much easier than you would think at first. In fact one of my good friend's first and second fish on a fly rod were catfish. However, for a generation that was brought up believing catfish fishing involves only worms or stinkbait it is a bit of an adjustment. Just like any other species the first step in fishing for them is to find a suitable habitat. Seek out edges of vegetation, sunken timber, wind swept points, dam faces, holes next an area of current, and transition zones between shallow and deeper water--particularly if the wind is pushing towards the shallow water. Next tie on a fly--typically I use one of three general flies: clousers, large nymphs, and wooly buggers. Cast, and allow time for the fly to sink to the bottom. For your retrieve make your strips long and slow, pause for several seconds in between. That's the basics, I will leave the details up to you for the moment. Below are a few I caught the other day as well as the basic patterns I use.
It has been a hot and terribly dry summer. Fishing has been, well it hasn't been the best, in fact it has been downright difficult this summer in Kansas. So last week Bret and I decided to try our luck at Clinton Lake at two of the feeders on a fly rod. At the first Bret hooked into a nice 8 lb Carp and had something break off that was really big and taking line fast. I think he learned his lesson on unnecessary reel palming that day. For me I got a 6 lb Channel Cat. Not a bad start to the day.
8 lb Carp. Grub Pattern.
6 lb Channel Cat. Carp Candy Fly.
What a Cutie.
After the first feeder we moved to the one by Clinton Marina. This feeder has been very slow lately and on that day proved true to that pattern. We only stayed for a half-hour or so and I landed a small Channel Cat.
Channel Catfish. Jumping Catfish Nymph Fly Pattern.
Ended the last few warm days of summer this year targeting carp and catfish on my fly rod. I had previously tried to catch both species on a fly rod but had proved unsuccessful. At Ron's suggestion I went to the feeder stations at Clinton Lake and cast Wooly Buggers and Carp Candies. I ended up catching several channel catfish and carp. The Catfish were all between 2-3 lbs and the Carp were between 2 and 6 1/2 lbs. Some days you could only trigger them when the feeder went off, other days we were able to catch them using a VERY slow retrieve on the periphery. While I know to Carp purists I still have a long way before sight casting with a fly, it was a great time and a blast to fight some larger fish.
My first Carp, ever... 2 lb's Green and Brown Wooly Bugger.
3 lb Channel Cat, First Ever on a Fly Rod. Green/Brown Wooly Bugger.
4 lb Carp Bret Wrangled from feeder of Dock 3. Black Carp Candy.
1 1/2 lb Catfish. Green/Brown Wooly Bugger.
4 lb Common Carp. Feeder by the Marina at Clinton Lake. Green Carp Candy.
The "magical" Wooly Bugger responsible for so many of these fish.
2 lb Channel Cat. Green Carp Candy.
2 lb Carp. Green/Brown Wooly Bugger.
3 lb Carp Green Carp Candy.
Thats right, double trouble! Bret and I both with carp on at the same time in the Kayak.
4 lb Common Carp by Bret. Carp Tease Fly.
6 1/2 Common Carp. This monster put up quite a fight and was the last one of the season. Good way to end the season. Green/Brown Wooly Bugger.
