ALWAYS talk to strangers

If you're a regular reader of mine, you know that for the past several weeks, I've been getting anonymous tips on different places to go fish around Peoria, IL.

Well the anonymous tipster invited me out to do some fishing.  So, without having any information other than a codename to call him by and a location, I headed out yesterday morning to take advantage of one of the few days off I have that will still be fishable this year.

Troy ended up being a pretty cool dude.  He's an avid fly fisherman, gave me quite a few flies to restock my almost bare fly box, and was happy to put me in position to catch the most fish all day.  Anybody willing to do all that earns my gratitude and trust. 

I've been asked to keep our location on the downlow but when we got to where we were going, we basically drifted smallish streamers under Thingamabobbers just a few feet from shore and it was only a few casts before I was able to scratch another goal off my list for the year.

A few casts later, yet another elusive smallie.

And so it went at this first spot, four smallmouth bass in a row.  Keep in mind that I might have caught 4 smallmouth bass in my entire life up to that point, the last being when I was 7 or 8 years old. 

After the fourth smallie, my indicator shot down again.  Only this time whatever it was on the other side didn't really move when I set the hook.  It sat there for a second and then started steadily stripping off line till he was about 30 yards out.  At that point, he'd let me reel him in until I could just see my leader and then "zeeeeeeeee" out another 10 yards or so.  This is the game we played for quite some time:




Action pictures courtesy of Troy.

 Finally, after 10 minutes or so, I was able to beach the monstrosity.

The biggest fish I've caught on the fly so far.

Caught another smallmouth shortly thereafter and then the bite died off so we moved along, casting as we went.  I'll let the rest of the pictures tell the rest of my story.

I don't know how I managed to take this picture upside down but whatevs yo.  I ended up with  9 total smallmouth of similar size.

First common carp on the fly!

Second common carp on the fly!  This one booked it off the bat, almost took me into my backing.

Troy caught a couple smallmouth, a grass carp about the size of mine and two catfish.  

So there you have it.  If someone you've never met anonymously offers to take you fishing, you better take them up on it.  

Thanks again to Troy, I appreciate the flies, the location, and all the tips you gave me.  I'm up for it again anytime.

I need to set up an anonymous tip hotline.

I've been getting anonymous tips over the past few weeks with different fishing locations around central IL.  The last one paid off with a couple bass the day I got my new fly rod so I figured to try out the other couple locations I was made aware of.  The one I visited yesterday is a public lake in Brimfield, IL.  The commenter had said that he and a friend hit up this pond and caught 100+ bluegills, a nice crappie and several small bass.  Sounded like a hell of a time to me so I packed up and headed out.

My first intention was to get some use with the Pflueger reel and Sufix braid that OBN provided me with to review.  I tied on a flourocarbon leader, bullet weight, and 7.5" black and purple Culprit worm.  On my second cast, I had a hit in some reeds along the shore.  Felt like a decent fish.  He thrashed once, got tangled in a reed and then my leader snapped. 

I took the time to tie on another leader, weight, and hook and got to casting again.  Not a dozen casts later I had broken off again.   I'm gonna spool up some mono and give the Pflueger reel another chance before passing judgement on it, though I'm much more impressed with it than the line.

I had only two worm hooks going in and I foolishly didn't pick any up before heading out so it was time to switch to the fly rod.  I tied on a smallish popper and (anticipating the bluegills) a dropper rig with some kind of nymph thing with shiny copper wire that I was given.  For anyone who isn't familiar, a dropper rig is when you tie about 1 1/2ft of tippet onto the hook of the popper and tie on a smaller fly that doesn't float.  The idea being that if you attract fish that are too small to eat the popper, they'll eat the dropper fly.

It worked like a charm.  I had a quite a few swirls at the popper and a few even drug it down but didn't get the whole thing in their mouths.  However, every once in awhile I'd see the popper shoot under, would set the hook and it was fish on.  It's like combining the simplicity of bobber fishing with the fun of fly casting.

There were fisherpeople every 30 yards or so along the bank, bobbers bobbing along or poles propped up on Y-sticks.  I gave the usual nod and "Any luck?" as I passed each one.  No luck to be had, with only one guy with a little bluegill in his fishtrap.

The fishing definitely wasn't as good as had been indicated by my commentor (I blame the varying temperature here lately) but I was getting hits just about every 3rd cast or so.  I missed alot of the hooksets, leading me to believe the fish were too small to eat even my tiny dropper fly.  The seven bluegill I brought to hand were nearly identical to this:

Better than what all the bait fisherman were catching

Eventually, something drilled the popper under and was putting up a good fight when I set the hook.  I was convinced I had a bass on the line.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled this guy out of the water:

My first crappie that didn't involve a bobber or tube jig.

That makes four species on the fly rod this year: Largemouth, Bluegill, Trout (At the Hooked on Fishing event), and Crappie.  At least I accomplished one goal that I set for myself.  (Don't think I'll be setting goals next year, it makes doing outdoorsy stuff feel like work.)

After the crappie, I worked along the side of the lake with no shoreline trees to get hung up on.  I caught a couple of the 7 bluegill, missed a few more hooksets and had a few fish fight their way off the line.  A good way to spend a couple hours on a day off. 

I realized my fly box is getting pretty bare just in time for fall.  I have a bunch of dry flies, a couple poppers, that nymph, and two woolly buggers.  I think I might have to invest in a vise and tying equipment in the next couple months to replenish and keep myself sane over the winter months.  Any suggestions as to a relatively inexpensive setup?

Bass Pro Shops!

Ok, before we get to the good stuff, I gotta bitch for a second.  The area of East Peoria that now holds Bass Pro Shops has the most confusing roads ever.  Add to that the fact that Bass Pro hasn't been added to Google Maps and "Bass Pro Road" doesn't exist on any map and I circled the place twice before actually finding my way to the right road.

The place is huuuuuuge.

Like HUUUUUUGE.

There's a giant 27,000 gallon fish tank holding all the native IL river species.  I just stood and watched the fishies for awhile, blocking the view of the children behind me.  

Here's a moose.

When I had enough of the fish I went straight for the footwear department and asked if they had any boots in size 15...

One pair. 

They don't fit.

Oh well, guess I'm not getting boots.  This opens up a majority of the money I had available to spend.  

Excellent.

I head over to the fly fishing section and start bumming around.  

I had thought of maybe picking up one of their $20 Bugger rods if I had enough money left over after boots but with boots out of the picture, I didn't really know where to start.

I was approached by a John who pointed me in the direction of a complete White River setup.  While we were talking about it, another employee named Dustin came over and gave some input too.  We were discussing the best weight rod to go with and I brought up that the trout at the Hooked on Fishing pond (remember?) were probably the biggest thing I'd be catching.  

Dustin goes "I knew I recognized you from from somewhere.  You were the guy in the corner catching all the fish!"

Hehe.

So I settled on a 6wt Dogwood Canyon setup and we drifted to the counter and I think I asked about looped leader connector thingys.  Dustin pulled out a tackle box and showed me how to use a nail knot tool to make quick nail knots, how to make a perfection loop out of mono so I'd always have my own looped leader connector thingys, and a couple other things my mind was too slow to absorb.   (When I asked about looped leader connector thingys at Gander Mountain awhile back, the guy handed me 8wt fly line.)

I learned more in the 15 minutes at the counter than I could learn in 3 hours surfing online and looking at knot illustrations.  

Anyone interested in learning how to get started in fly fishing in central IL should head over to Bass Pro and talk to Dustin.  He'll get you hooked up with a decent set up and teach you the knots.   Then get ahold of me and we'll go catch some fish.

(By the way, when I told Dustin I had a blog called Intro to the Outdoors to ask his permission to do a little write up of what he helped me out with, his response was "I know.  I've read it."  My brain exploded.)

So, after learning a bunch, I walked out of the store -$110 and +one complete 9ft 6wt setup and a nail knot tool.  

A little over a week ago, the same anonymous person who tipped me off to the gun sales at Bass Pro also left a comment that just said "NorthTrail Park pond in Peoria...Go Fish".  With a new rod all set up to fish sitting in the back of my Explorer and my fly box in the center console, I Googled "North Trail park"  and off I went. When i got there I tied on a brown Woolly Bugger and walked to the water's edge.

Both of the fly rods I had before were older.  Like 15ish years old.  You could strip out line, false cast until it was all out and then fling the fly in the general direction when it was all out but it wouldn't shoot line.  The Dogwood Canyon setup shoots line. 

My first full cast with it was two false casts and "shhhwwwt!"  The 10-15 yards of line I had stripped out shot out and the fly tumbled over and landed in the pond.  That felt good.  I did that a couple more times and then got down to business of trying to catch something.  

I headed up on top of a pier and cast down the bank about 6-7 feet out from shore and after a few strips, I got a hit!  I had to play him to the side of the pier, swing him onto shore, lower my rod down and run around the edge of the pier to go get a picture:

First fish on the 6wt!

He was missing an eye, pirate style.  (Probably why he was fooled by my erratic stripping of the line.

I got him back in the water and I tried a few more casts down the shore to no avail.  I moved along, trying to find open space to get some casting going.  Eventually I cast out and had my fly sitting on the bottom for a moment when a fish came to the surface nearby.  I jerked the rod up to cast to that spot and nearly pulled this fish out of the water:

Had no idea he had picked up the fly.

I kept moving along until I got to a good spot with at least 30 yards clear of foliage.  I stripped out a bunch of the line and started to let her loose.  I don't know exacts but I'd say I was getting to the point of shooting out 35-40 yard of line before getting to the point that I felt I was putting my face in danger of being hooked.  Felt good.

I stayed in that area and casted until my back and shoulder started to get sore, then walked the rest of the way around the pond, flicking a few casts here and there.  

I'm very happy with my purchase so far.  I'll keep you updated on the Dogwood Canyon setup's progress.  If you live in central IL or are visiting, take a minute to check out the fly fishing section and chew the fat with Dustin and the other employees.  The way he explained it to me, the more people we get in there, the more cool fly fishing stuff he can order.  

Who wants to go fishing?  I wanna wear this thing out.  


EDIT:  Clif from Lunker Hunt went to the Grand Opening ceremony Wednesday night.  Seems like he came away with a similar opinion of the fly shop and its employees.  Check out his coverage here.

Charter Oak North 5/1/11

Made it out to chase after some bass today, inspired by so many other bloggers who have found the hot bite recently.

I didn't have much time so I tied on one of the poppers Clif made and put up for a contest.  Mike won these poppers, and since he doesn't do much bass fishing, passed them on to me.

I had a couple small splashes next to the popper, I'm guessing little bluegills that couldn't get the whole thing in their mouths.  When I can afford it I'm planning on buying some wet flies to set up a popper-dropper rig and see if that brings a few more sunfish to hand.

After a dozen or so casts, there was a little "bloop!" a couple seconds after the popper hit the water and popper disappeared.  Kind of a sluggish fight but better than no fight at all.  

Sorry to interrupt your meal Ms. Bass.

She was about 10 inches long and pretty chunky.  The popper was halfway to her stomach by the time I got her in.

A couple casts and another likely-bluegill strike later, I switched up to a black senko and casted around a bit, not getting any bites.  I thought it might still be a little chilly, when it gets a little warmer I'm gonna take an expedition out to a bigger body of water and and do some wandering, really try to get into some fish.

Thanks to Clif for making the popper and Mike for passing it on to me, I'm glad it was able to catch me a fish.  

Hope you all have a good week.

Losing my mind.

So my plans to go up to Chicago changed kind of last minute.  My cousins' parents decided they weren't ready to let him go (can't blame them) so I stayed home with pretty much nothing to do all day except watch playoff football.

Then Clif linked to a blog with amazing flies and my day was done for.  I've spent the rest of the night looking at  warm water fly fishing blogs and regretting my decision to pursue higher education rather than bluegill and bass last fall.  Here's a rundown of the few that I pored over:

Warm Water Journal:  Amazing flies, some of which look like they should be thrown by a baitcaster rather than a flyrod.  Also some awesome fish pics.

Blue Gill on the Fly:  Outrageous amount of panfish/bass flyfishing pictures and stories, with alot of other species mixed in.  This is pretty much what I want 1/3rd of my blog to be.

Pondbass:  Guy who seems to be quite a bit younger than me but is already way more experienced and accomplished as an angler.  Lots of good fish pics.

All this reading of flyfishing blogs got me thinking, perhaps I should upgrade my fly equipment a little before spring.  Not to a $1000 setup or anything, just something that's a little more modern and cheap, rather than cheap when I bought it 10+ years ago.  Plus my rod has a crack in the plastic threading where the reel sits and one of the guides are kinda rough....

So what do you think?  I was thinking of a Eagle Claw Featherlight in the 8 foot 5/6 weight.  Mainly because it's inexpensive but also because the author of The Fiberglass Manifesto uses them from time to time and he's a self-professed "Glass Geek."

I'm very open to suggestion though, please let me know of any other relatively (I'll leave relatively open to interpretation.) inexpensive options.

At least I don't need a new fly reel.  Yet....

Banner Marsh 6/13

So between 85 degree weather and storms every other day, the weather has been pretty miserable here in Central IL the past couple weeks. I braved the humidity and oncoming storm briefly this morning and headed back out to Banner Marsh to do some more exploring.

I headed past the entry points I previously checked out in search of something a little more remote and less pressured than before.  I ended up driving down a road with lakes on both sides and a crossroad in the middle, with two more lakes on the other side.  I cruised really slowly and could see literally hundreds of bluegill splashing in the shallows of the first lake I drove past, it was probably the most fish I'd seen in one spot, it was pretty awesome.  Past the crossroads and towards the end of the second lake, I got out of the Explorer with my Shakespeare baitcaster combo texas-rigged with a Culprit worm.  I tossed a few casts towards some promising looking weeds and along the shore without any bites when I started hearing thunder way back behind me. 

I decided to give up on bass fishing for the day.  I knew it was going to be a learning experience trying to find the fish and a remote spot that would take longer than Mother Nature was going to give me.  I really feel like I need a majority of a day to really explore and find a "honeyhole."  Also, I had some new flies/floatant that my buddy Rhett from Central Ohio Fishing tied and sent along to me to get me started until I get my own kit.  So, I figured I'd head back to the first lake and try to salvage the day while I still had a chance.

I tied on what I think is a little mosquito fly and let her rip.  The bluegill started rising to my fly as soon as it hit.  I learned that when a fish comes up close to inspect your fly, you shouldn't twitch it or strip in line to try to entice it to bite unless you're planning on scaring the hell out of every fish interested. 

It wasn't long before I hooked this guy:


























Followed by this guy on the next cast:


 A little bigger.  Then I realized that I was taking more time taking pictures of little bluegill than I was catching little bluegill, with time at a premium due to the storm clouds and thunder rolling closer.  So I decided to just try to catch as many as possible before having to take off.  I ended up catching 4 more bluegill, the largest being about the size of half of my hand ( the technical measurement).   

As soon as the thunder got overhead, the fish stopped biting.  I kept trying for the next ten minutes or so and the fish would come up and look at the fly but they wouldn't touch it.  I stuck it out until I saw lightning and then headed home just a few minutes before the heavens opened up for yet another heavy rain.  I really hope the weather settles down before next weekend so I can have a good trip with my dad. 

If all goes well I should have some pics of my first trout on the fly as well as a bunch of bass.  We'll see how it goes.  Even if we get skunked it should be a good father-son trip.

Till then I'm gonna go chill and watch some more of my new favorite show: Expedition Great White.  For anyone who hasn't seen it, its like if you took Jaws and made it a Discovery-esque educational show.  They use giant circle hooks and bouys to tire the shark out, tag it and release.  It's pretty awesome, I highly recommend it.

Well have a good one ladies and gentlemen, hopefully I'll have a little more exciting post for you all next week.  Thanks to Rhett for the flies/floatant, they saved the day!

Veni, Vidi, Vici

I got a chance to go out fishing for the first time since leaving for Vegas last week.  Went out early this morning to Charter Oak North, only to find every pier already taken at 6:30 AM.  I threw a Gander Mountain Trick Stick wherever I could from shore.  Had a couple hits but couldn't set the hook.  I got the fly rod out with the same result: missing hooksets.  This continued for a little over an hour and a half when a storm rolled in and the thunder started so I went home to get a nap and spend some time with my new wifey.

A little after 3:00 PM (after the sun came back out), feeling very inspired by Clif's post from yesterday, I put aside my recent fishing frustration and headed out for Banner Marsh, a local  hotspot that I've heard alot about but hadn't experienced yet.  I followed my Google Maps app to the general area and turned into the first access point I came across.  I ended up at a part of the Marsh called Wheel Lake, parked and got all rigged up.  I hooked up a 7" Powerworm texas style with no weight.

There is a little channel that runs next to the road and leads to the boat ramp that I decided to start with.  It was about 4:00 PM at this point and very sunny so worked down the channel, trying to cast into the areas of the bank that had overhangs from being washed out due to the boats or had downed/overhanging trees.  About fifteen casts in I overshot the water to the other bank and tugged the worm down into the water.  I felt a thunk and the line went slack.  I reeled up and set the hook, finally had one on! I swung him up onto shore just as a couple guys were coming in with their boat.  The Gamakatsu hook (that comes free with every pack of Gander Mountain plastics!) went through the side of his lip, came back and hooked him in the jaw on the outside.  I had to get my pliers out and work the hook out and guide it back through his lip to get him back in the water.  According to the tape on my pole, he was just under 12 inches.  I apologize for not having a pic but I had him out of the water for awhile and didn't want to do any damage while scrounging around for my camera.

The relief that came from that fish is almost indescribable.  Bass fishing is something that I've invested alot of my time into lately and I've come up empty handed more often than not the past half-dozen trips, especially when at a large, unfamiliar body of water.  I know there was some luck involved with tugging the worm off of the bank but I caught that fish by looking for shade and cover and working methodically down the bank.  It gave me a sense of accomplishment that's hard to explain.  It might sound silly but it was just what I needed.

I continued to work my way down around the boat ramp but two boats came out and one put in and they shut down so I jumped in the car and headed back up the road.  There are little channels that run alongside part of the road so I drove a little while down one of the roads, got out and started working down the channel with my Powerworm.  I eventually overshot the bank again, this time I got hung up and had to break the line (something that is much harder/scarier to do with 14 lb fluorocarbon than with 8lb mono, I found out).  I saw a few bluegill rising to the surface so I went back to the Explorer and grabbed my fly rod, which still had a little floating black fly with a red tail on it.

Bluegill love little floating flies.  I think they could honestly care less what it looks like, as long as it's small enough to fit in their mouth and it floats, they'll bite it.  I had a couple takes that I missed the hookset on and then I finally hooked this little guy (I had the camera ready this time):

I got him back in the water and then couldn't get the fly to float anymore and they lost interest.  Does anyone know of a way to keep flies afloat without floatant or know of a cheap alternative to floatant?  Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

It had sprinkled rain on and off while I worked my way down the road so I was a little damp and about ready to head home but I wanted to try one more spot right by where I came in. This little spot looked promising, with alot of grass and shade, but as I walked up I remember thinking "this path leading down is pretty steep, better be careful"  about three steps before I ended up at the bottom of the path on my butt in the mud.  I dusted myself off, (luckily no one was around to see) and grabbed my poles from where they landed in the grass and tried a few casts with the Powerworm and a silver/blue Rat L Trap knockoff.  After a couple dozen casts with no bites, I was ready to head back up the path and head home... Or so I thought.

Before I go over what happened next, let me explain that I'm a big man.  At 6'5" and pretty top-heavy, I sometimes have trouble keeping my balance while walking down a hallway or up stairs.  Apparently trying to climb up a muddy path just after a storm while holding two baitcasters and wearing 6 year old Nikes is a bad idea.  I got a few steps up, started slipping, did a Scooby Doo run in place for a second and then somehow simultaneously dropped my poles, fell to my knees and slid down into the lake up above my ankles.  Awesome.  At that point I was VERY happy no one was around.

I extricated myself from the muck, checked to make sure my reels weren't crushed or muddy and started up the hill again.  This time I extended my poles handle-first up the hill so my hands were free to grab hold occasionally and made my way up to the Explorer very awkwardly.

I know that sounds completely insane but that was my day.  It may be weird but I still consider it a success.  I may have looked like an idiot and my beautiful wife was quick to point out that I fell down as many times as I caught a fish but I accomplished something I hadn't done before:  I caught a bass in a large, unfamiliar body of water.  As long as I came home with nothing broken it would have been a good day.

Hopefully someday way down the line when I'm a super experienced fisherman and get bummed out because I didn't catch any fish over 4 lbs or something ridiculous, I can look back and remember not to take myself so seriously.

I decided I'm going to work on coming up with a few realistic goals to accomplish before the summer is over and my fishing time is restricted by college again.  Not sure exactly what yet but I'll be working on it over the next few days, I'll let you guys know what I come up with.

Hope you all had a good memorial day and good luck the next time you get to wet a line!

Don't need a frog to keep the skunk away today!

So I decided I'm gonna stay away from big lakes unless I have someone with me who knows the water.  I get too overwhelmed with all the open water and different opportunities and I think I get a little lost.  I definitely get frustrated.


Today I went and checked out Spring Lake (which is actually two lakes) outside of Pekin, IL.  There were alot of weeds so I went with a texas-rigged Powerworm and a Purple/Silver Rat L Trap on my other rod for whenever I got some open water to throw it in.  I worked along the edge of one of the lakes, working the worm and trap all the way down.  Long story short, I got to the end of the lake about two hours later with no bites.  I lost my Rat L Trap on a submerged tree, got pissed off and decided to head back to Peoria.


Just like the other day, I decided to head to Charter Oak North to try to salvage the day.  I pulled out the fly rod with a little orange foam ant tied on and got some more casting practice in.  I got to experience fish "rising" to my fly for the first time today.  It really gets your heart pumping to see even a little fish slowly stalking up to your fly on the surface.  I had a couple little fish come up and nip at the fly and I missed a hookset on the one that actually took it.

I abandoned the fly temporarily, switching to the Powerworm from earlier.  I tossed a few casts to the weeds with no takers down the bank on both sides.  I eventually went back to the fly rod, this time with a little white and pink popper.

It took me a few casts to get used to the little bit of weight on my fly line and to get the right speed of strip to get a good pop but eventually I got it going.  On my third or fourth cast with the popper, I popped it a couple times, looked at my phone to check the time, heard a splash and felt a tug on my pole and it was my first decent bass on the fly!  I actually reeled up the slack and got the play him a bit on the reel, let him tire himself out.  I swung him up on the dock and snapped a pic for you all:

Just under 12".  Not huge but my biggest on the fly so far.  I tossed him back, went to cast back to the same spot and smacked the popper into the dock midcast, obliterating it.  D'oh!

Now in a pissy mood, I picked up my baitcaster and tied on a buzzbait, figuring if they hit a popper they might hit something else loud on the surface.  After a couple dozen casts with no bites, I went to a white Walmart spinnerbait.  No dice.

Back to the fly rod.  I still don't know the difference between a dry and wet fly but I picked out a little black one with feathers sticking out all over and a little red tail.  It floated!  And the bluegill loved it, they were sneaking up from underneath, taking shots at it.  I had one on but it got off about halfway back to the dock.  After that, the fly wouldn't float and the fish didn't like it nearly as much.

So I switched to a smallish brown fly with little white wings.  I got it out there and it floated too!  Once again, they love it while it's floating and I actually hooked a little guy:

The fly stopped floating after that and they stopped hitting it again.  Note to self:  buy fly floatant.

It was about 12:30 by this time and I was getting hungry and tired after being out fishing/driving since 7:00 so I decided to head home, happy to have at least gotten a decent bass and had a bunch of fish rising to my bait.

So a decent day, I wish I would've just gone to Charter Oak first and not wasted time driving to a place I'm not comfortable.  Oh well, lesson learned.  Also, since starting with the fly rod, I've got four fish on it and no fish on conventional tackle...  What the hell?  Is that why people convert?  It just gets impossible to catch anything on anything but a fly? :)  Probably not but it definitely keeps things fresh.

I appreciate everyone checking out my blog lately, hope you all are having better luck than I have been lately. Have a good one.