Find A Pond Near You

 

For many fishermen, their first experience with catching a fish was at a small pond. Hooking that first sunfish has put a smile on the face of many kids. I know that was the first fish I caught almost 65 years ago. In my case, I caught it in Marblehead, Ohio, near Cedar Point, long before the park became a popular destination. Now, maybe in an attempt to reinforce my belief that the size of the fish doesn’t matter,  or to smile like that kid again, at least once a summer I head to one of the local ponds near my home. It’s usually during the hottest and driest portion of the season, when the rivers are low, and in need of a good rain to freshen the flow. 

 

Hot summer day on a small pond.

Instead of a cane pole and worm, my tackle of choice is now a 3wt fly rod and a small popper. But, any lightweight rod will make catching these willing panfish a lot of fun to land. And, if you happen to hook a bass, so much the better. Panfish are not shy. They will sip just about anything off the surface.

Panfish love small poppers.

So, find yourself a pond, and spend an hour putting that kid smile back on your face.

Go out and fool a fish!

Bits And Bobbers

 

I’ve been away from the writing desk for a long time but now feel the urge to say a few words about a lot of nothing. Sit back and enjoy….or not.

The older I get the more I gravitate to warm water fishing for bass. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to swing a fly for steelhead but my body is telling me warm weather is better. Besides, I only have one more year with a leading 6 in my age, so maybe I should listen to my body. Problem is, my mind gets in the way. I know come September I’ll start having thoughts of steelhead that will pull me to the river. Talk about conflicted!

For various reasons, I put the rods away last Thanksgiving and didn’t fish for almost four months. That was my longest break since I got back into fishing 10 years ago. Ended up missing most of the steelhead season. And, I’m still alive, so I guess it didn’t kill me.

Having all that time over the winter allowed me to check out several fishing websites. I happened to see a post someone made about wanting to report a spin fisherman for poor handling of a fish. Why specifically mention the method of fishing?  I’m sure there are fly fishermen and centerpinners who have handled a fish poorly. Sometimes it just happens no matter how hard you try to protect the fish. Unless you were born with a fly rod or centerpin outfit in your hand you started out with a spinning or baitcasting rod. Let’s not forget how we got our start in this great sport.

Congratulations to all the fishermen who participate in organized river clean-up activities. The sad thing is we have to have organized river clean-ups. Too many people rely on the other guy to pick up their trash. Check out the CLE Fishing Company. They have a bag that you hook to your belt or pack and can be used to hold trash. Just a great idea. 

 

I can be happy on the water and not catch a fish.

 

                                     Warm weather smallie.

There are a lot of people who try to take advantage of others. Watch your equipment when you’re on the water. Put a pack down and someone may just walk off with it. And, don’t leave a rod behind in the parking lot. You won’t get it back.

A strike indicator….it’s still just a bobber!

Go out and fool a fish!

 

I Like Fishing Videos, But…..

 

If you are an avid, or even a casual fisherman, you occasionally like to kill some time and watch fishing videos. I like them because they expose me to water and scenery that I might never experience in person.  And, with technology now available, everyone can be a videographer. Cameras that can be mounted to your body, selfie sticks, and phones all make it easy to capture “the moment”. Then, social media allows you to share these moments almost immediately. Unfortunately, there is no guidebook that someone can use to help them make a quality video. I’ll be the first to admit I’m no expert, but I know what I like and more importantly, what I don’t like. So, I’ve put together a list of areas that could act as a guide to making videos a little more pleasing to watch.

But first, if you want to see a quality video do a search for Todd Moen. He is, in my opinion, the standard for top shelf videos. Sure, he is a professional with high quality equipment but it is his technique that makes his videos easy to watch. He captures the location, the hunt, and the take better than anyone.

So, let’s take a look at ways to improve fishing videos.

Get away from mounting cameras on your body. There is nothing more aggravating then clicking on a video and seeing nothing but a close-up of a rod, reel, hands and arms. Most of the time the viewer is not shown the strike, which for me is the most exciting part of a video. Secondly, if the camera is mounted on your body there is no stability. I suffer from vertigo so watching a video where the camera moves all over isn’t any fun. So, if you are by yourself invest in a small tripod, and set-up the camera on the bank with a view of the water you are going to fish. Turn on the camera, step into the shot, and fish.

Fishing videos are about fishing not about driving or talking. I’ve watched more than a few six minute videos where the first three minutes is devoted to driving. Same with talking. Keep it short. Introduce yourself to your audience, let them know what your fishing for and what lure or fly you’re using. It’s a fishing video. Show the action.

Watch where the sun is. Filming into glare makes viewing difficult. I know this isn’t easy to control but if you can minimize the effect of glare your video will be easier to watch.

Longer fishing videos are not always better…unless there is a lot of action. Ten minute fishing videos with very little action are not as good as a three minute one with a lot of action. Edit, edit, edit.

Keep the quick cuts to a minimum. I am not a fan of quick cuts where the scene is on screen for a second or less. For some videos these cuts go on for a minute or longer. I want to see the scene not guess what I just saw.

Whatever you do when making a video remember you have an audience. Think of your audience as a customer. A customer won’t buy (watch) if they don’t like it.

Go out and fool a fish!

How To Kill An Hour

Do you have an hour of free time? If you do, find a pond near your home and rig up a small panfish fly or a worm and bobber. Then, spend that hour catching some gems.

This hour will be fun not because you caught something huge, but because you were able to steal an hour on the water. That time will recharge your batteries. You may not catch a monster but that won’t matter. In fact, save trying to catch something big for another time. What will happen is you will have a lot of fun. But if you do catch something, more than likely it will be a nicely colored bluegill or sunfish. And, with an ultralight rod you will be surprised how much fight they have.

This is the darkest bluegill I have ever caught. It couldn't resist a black popper.

Another panfish fooled by a popper. Find an hour, find some fun!

So, if you want some quick fun, find that hour, and find that pond.

Go out and fool a fish!

Summer

Summer is here. Low water, temperatures reaching the 90’s and bluebird skies means hitting the rivers early. Forget the waders, it’s time to get wet. And, if you are targeting bass, load up on topwater poppers.

Since the weather turned hot in late June I haven’t had a subsurface bite. It doesn’t matter the size or color of the streamer, the bass don’t want it. But, the topwater action is making up for it. Tossing a popper up against the bank or next to a rock has produced some explosive takes. Not much beats having a smallie hammer a popper. I believe that the smaller sized bass think they’re two pounders, they fight that hard. Even the rock bass are getting into the action.

My last outing was unusual. Every one of the six takes I had was immediately after the popper hit the water. One was so fast it took me by surprise and I whiffed the hookset. Next time I’ll be ready.

Go out and fool a fish!

Even the small ones fight as though they are a 2 pounder.

Rock bass want their meal too.

Every once in awhile you rewarded with a prize. This 3 pounder smashed a popper.

The Perfect Morning

Driving to the river early yesterday morning I witnessed a fantastic sunrise. The combination of high cloud cover and the rising sun turned the sky to various shades of pink and blue that stretched for miles. It was one of those times where a photo could never capture what the eye is seeing. Maybe this perfect sunrise would carry over to a perfect morning on the water. For a couple of hours, it did.

Early mornings in the summer is a favorite time of mine to hit the water. Add warm, humid conditions along with some cloud cover and I can’t wait to throw a popper. I seem to have my best days under these conditions. With all this going for me I walked into the river with confidence. The third cast of the day reinforced that confidence. A smallie hit the popper, and little did I know but this first fish would the smallest of the day.

I only fished about a 150 yard stretch of river. Fishing the main flow I couldn’t buy a bite. But just off the current in slower water the fish were aggressive. Each hookup produced a bigger smallie than the previous catch. I laughingly thought that if I caught 10 the last one would be a state record. But then I hooked one that made we wonder if I was on to something.

There is a section of the river that is about 30 yards wide. I can wade down the middle and hit both banks. One side has a fast flow, the other side is very slow. Starting out, I did pick up a smallie on the bank on the faster side. Moving downstream, I placed the popper right against the bank on the slow side. I could see the bottom of the river and it was maybe 6” deep. A couple of strips moved it away from the bank into slightly deeper water. I saw a flash and then it was like a toilet flushed. A smallie inhaled the popper and about a gallon of water. I set the hook and the fish wasted no time going airborne. To be brutally honest, when it did jump, I had a holy $&#t moment. It was a tank. This fish ended up being the hardest fighting smallie I had ever hooked, and had to be one my top three smallies in terms of size. After landing it, taking a quick photo, and then releasing it I took a minute to smile. Every fisherman that has had a similar experience knows that feeling just doesn’t get any better.

Hardest fighting smallmouth I've caught.

Unfortunately, the sun broke through the clouds, and just that fast, the bite was over. But it was a perfect morning.

Go out and fool a fish!

Sometimes It’s Not About The Fish

I know it sounds like a cliché, but sometimes it’s not about the fish, especially this time of the year. Being an early riser, late spring / early summer is my favorite time of the year. First light is before 5:30AM. Throw in a warm morning, and it’s a perfect time to hit the water. As the pictures show, you can’t beat being alone on water at that time of the day.

A great morning to be on the water.

There’s a local pond that I like to fish at least once a year. I use the pond to kill a couple of hours, practice casting and maybe catch a fish or two. Sunfish, largemouth bass, and catfish populate the water. A light fly rod or ultralight spinning outfit is all that is needed. When fishing the pond I take my 4wt and use a popper. After six months of using an 8wt for steelhead, the 4wt is a welcome change.

This week I hit the pond at the right time. It gets pressure in normal times but because of the lockdown even more fishermen were showing up. Now, Ohio has opened up, and some of the added pressure is coming down. The parking lot was empty when I showed up at 6:00AM. The water was a mirror except for a few active geese. Nothing beats casting a popper on a glass surface.

 Smooth as glass.

I started with a large popper, hoping a bass would key on it. But, anyone who has fished ponds knows that sunfish can be a nuisance. They always seem to be around the popper no matter where it lands. If it’s a larger popper, all the sunfish seem to be able to do is bump it. And, that’s what they were doing.

Meanwhile, the bass were having nothing to do with the large sized popper. So I switched to a smaller size, one that even the sunfish could inhale. Sure enough, a sunnie hit the popper and inhaled it. Several casts later a large wake followed the popper and a nice size bass hit it. It went deep into the weeds and hung me up. I finally managed to free the fly but the fish got off. After that I managed to land a couple of sunnies, but I reminded myself that sometimes it’s not about the fish.

 Could have been a 20" bass or a 5" sunnie. It just didn't matter.

Find yourself a warm summer morning and hit a local pond. You’ll be glad you did.

Go out and fool a fish!