Went back out for another round of fishing this evening. Decided to give a Foam Damsel Fly a try at Kroger Park Pond. Slow action with little bluegill nipping at the fishing fly but no hook ups. Then, started working pockets in the algae and caught two Bass. Then, worked the shoreline and got one more Bass to take. Afterwards, switched to a Tube Popper Fly and hooked a Bass! Fun stuff! Here is a picture of the last Bass and video of the action:
Looks like the Summer pattern is setting in; time to fish early morning and evening. Fished Bethany and Sonic Pond with only one Bluegill to show for it. Went mid-day in the heat; saw virtually no activity save for a couple of little Sunfish and a Bluegill.
Brought the Switch Rod and fished Plano East Senior High School's catch and release ponds. Slow action this time but did manage to hook up with four fish. First one was a little Bluegill that went for a Purple COAF Damsel Fly. Second one was a Sunfish that also went for the Damsel Fly. Next, was a Catfish that went for a Tube Damsel Fly in purple marabou. Last one was a Bass that took the Purple COAF Damsel Fly as well. Took a quick measure of the Bass; went just under 15"! Fun stuff!
Question from a Reader on how long the 9 volt battery will last in the light. So far, this one has been on for over 54 hours.... and still counting! This one uses the same circuit as designed in our article - Making a Simple Green LED Fishing Light - Part 1 LED Circuit. The difference is a Sealed Glass Container is used instead of a PVC Body!
Fished Bethany Creek Park Pond and had a missed strike. Moved on to Bethany Lakes and fished the Lower Pond. Caught a Bluegill but missed several other strikes. Then, one more time back to Bethany Creek Park Pond; missed one strike before calling it a day. Not sure why; "mojo" was not on today with so many missed strikes! Going to try again another day.
Started fishing Bethany Lakes. Had one strike and a miss, so headed down the road to try Bethany Creek Park Pond. No bites for about a half hour, and then hooked up with Bass. Caught four Bass, missed others... going to blame it on the pretty woman in the white shorts that walked by! Largest Bass went 15" in size! Used a Red with White Marabou Tube Popper Fly to catch three, and a Yellow with White Marabou to catch one. Here is a picture of the Freshwater version of the Saltwater one. Looks like it works!
Posted information about the Tube Popper Fly and the Mini Balsa Wood Lathe in the Fly Tying Forum. A member posted pictures of Tube Popper Flies used for saltwater fishing which led to the idea of making a freshwater version of one! Here is a picture of a prototype freshwater version; it's made with Marabou and a Balsa Wood Head that has been colored with a Sharpie. No eyes and a quick coat of nail polish instead of epoxy. Was in a rush to test it out.... So, tested it out at Plano East Senior High School's Catch and Release Ponds, and caught a Bass before losing the popper to a nice Bass that broke the line. Oh well, put another Tube Popper Fly on the line (not like the prototype) and was able to catch Catfish! Going to make more of the prototype freshwater version Tube Popper Fly. Easy to shape and easy to make, and it catches fish! Cannot beat that...!
Quick trip this morning to Bethany Lakes. Fished a Balsa Popper Fly and missed a Bass on the first cast. Came off as we were landing it. No worries... kept fishing and got a Bluegill take! Worked one bank quickly and caught a Bass before moving on to another pond down the road. This one is by Sonic, calling it the Sonic Pond for ease of reference. Had fished one several years ago and caught mainly little Bluegill and Sunfish. Others have caught Catfish and Bass more recently. Today, it was two Bass and one missed Bass. All went for a Balsa Popper Fly. Stay tuned... working on another article on tying a Balsa Popper Fly. Will post soon as it is done! Did get video of one missed Bass jumping out of the water; even looked like it did a flip as it went for the popper!
Slow action this round but did manage to get three Bass to take a Balsa Popper Fly. Had used an Extended Body Damselfly that had a number of missed strikes but nothing solid. Switched to a Blue Balsa Popper Fly and had several good strikes but no hook ups. Then, lost the fishing fly, so switched to a really beat up Red Balsa Popper Fly. Missed a couple of strikes but finally hooked up with three Bass! Stay tuned... will post a link to an article on Balsa Popper Flies in the near future!