The Pond Was Calling...

[BrokenolMarine]

We were working on the berm for the range this morning...

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and I kept hearing it. Can you hear it?

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Listen closely.... put your hand to your ear... it's faint, but it's there... it's saying .. "Fly Rod."

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After we finished the day's allotted time on the berm project this morning... I took the gear and put it away, sat in the AC and recovered from the heat and the heavy work... (Gimps have a limit) and then looked at the rod rack and chose a fly rod, loaded a paddle and some flies and stuff in the UTV, and Miss T did the same. WE haven't fished from the kayaks in nearly four years due to the move prep, the sale of the house and the move, closing, move, moving in, and then the BS we went through with the new place. We pulled the kayaks out and prepped them.

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You have to get them ready if you are going to tow them any distance. This was a long trip, we towed them almost 100 yards to the pond. If you look over the dam across the pond, just to the right of the willows, you can SEE the barn roof where the kayaks are stored.

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Once unloaded it was just a matter of rigging the fly rods, the paddles and assorted gear and sliding the yaks in the pond. Miss T caught a bream from the shore before ever sitting in the kayak. I had a massive blowup on the pond mouse the first time it hit the water and hooked a nice little bream first thing. We didn't get the action we expected, but it was the heat of the day. Next trip we'll come early in the morning or late in the evening when the temps are dropping. Those long drives (two minutes) are a killer.

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Miss Tina hooked up four or five times, and I enjoyed my time on the water as well. But, with the broken wrist and my right leg issues, I didn't want to push it. Miss Tina is paddling a Wilderness Systems Commander 120, one of our favorites. It's not made any longer, but we love them. I have one as well, but mine is very special. Something for another post.


Below is my Bonafide SS127. A great kayak for those with physical challenges. The most comfortable kayak seat I have fished from. The kayak is stable, easy to paddle, and designed by a good friend of ours... the owner of YakAttack. Therefore it's a fisherman's kayak.

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Expect to see us fish more than the farm pond this summer and fall. We'll haul the trailer with the Titan if we leave the farm, and check out some of the great spots in Oklahoma.

[Sir Henry]

That looked like a fun day. I moved here to enjoy Timms Hills and the 1,500 miles of trails in the area and haven’t as much as gone once. It seems all the other stuff takes up too much time.

You are ahead of me with your berm. I can only work half a day and then need two days off. This getting old sure isn’t for the young at heart.

[BrokenolMarine]

Try my method, limit yourself to an hour to an hour and a half each morning. Then you can work each morning, don't over do it, and don't overheat. The docs warned me about that risk.

[Hatchdog]

Something about a 100 yard tow makes $5 gas pretty insignificant.

I’ll have to look up Bream, not familiar with that fish.

[Sir Henry]

Try my method, limit yourself to an hour to an hour and a half each morning. Then you can work each morning, don't over do it, and don't overheat. The docs warned me about that risk.

It took me five hours to mow my lawn! Then I had to water hanging baskets, then I had to……..

It’s not all work as it took half a day to get my Wisconsin drivers license. Almost a full day to deal with paying quarterly Wisconsin state income tax. I have my motor home for sale and have shown it a few times.

If I want to do the simplistic project I need to run into town to buy something. I’m preparing for winter and expect a lot more free time then.

[BrokenolMarine]

Something about a 100 yard tow makes $5 gas pretty insignificant.

I’ll have to look up Bream, not familiar with that fish.

It's a sunfish, bluegill, or perch... Similar to a crappie.

[Hatchdog]

Something about a 100 yard tow makes $5 gas pretty insignificant.

I’ll have to look up Bream, not familiar with that fish.

It's a sunfish, bluegill, or perch... Similar to a crappie.

Thanks, all three (four) are very common here just never heard the bream term before. Slayed many a perch in my day, yum dipped in a beer batter and fried yum.

[BrokenolMarine]

WAY back when I first started fly fishing, we fished another farm pond in VA, in the middle of a 500+ black angus farm. Our favorite place ever to fish. I hooked this bream on a 4wt fly rod and it was like hooking a tarpon. This thing was a beast.

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I hooked him, and I was hooked on fly fishing forever. All these years later, I have fished Fresh and Salt water, drifted rivers and fished under major bridges in the ocean at night. Hooked stripers and mystery fish that towed my kayak, landed monster bass and hooked Gar 4' long that broke beautiful fly rods in half. (Orvis replaced that one without question.) I walked streams with a 3wt, in search of elusive trout, and took a guided trip along the Smokey Mountain Waters, learning that even in May, they ice cold, River Rocks are covered in slimy green snot, and Nikons can't swim under water.

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We not only learned to love fly fishing, but Tina became a master fly tyer and I became a hack at it. I can tie them, but NOT like she can.

[BrokenolMarine]

The other thing we learned, is that wild trout strike like cobras... you have to be lightening fast... or you miss it.

[North Country Gal]

They sure do, most of the time. Largest trout I ever took on a dry fly, though, just barely sucked in the fly, more of a sip. The fish was in an eddy and was large enough to have it all to itself.

[cooperhawk]

It's a sunfish, bluegill, or perch... Similar to a crappie.

OK, I just have to clarify something. Perch is not a bream, sunfish, or bluegill.
https://fishingbooker.com/blog/types-of ... th-america

They are more a member of the pike family and long and slim unlike the so called bream which are
short and fat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_perch

Up here we fish for perch through the ice all winter and they are good eating,
although not as large as a pike.

Crappies are much larger than bream and white with black
speckles. They are really good fried crispy in a pan and much loved by fisherman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crappie

[BrokenolMarine]

Cool. Never knew that. It's a regional thing I guess. The proper names for fish aren't always used. Striper for example, are called rock bass in some states, because they fish for them among the rocks on the jettys and harbors.

Crappie? We have caught a LOT of those. Tina ties a realistic cricket fly that kills fishing for Crappie. When I get to my desktop, I'll try and find the pictures.

[BrokenolMarine]

We brought a couple guys down from our veterans group to fish that private pond. Special permission was granted. We pulled a huge amount of Crappie out of the pond. The owner NEVER wanted Crappie in the pond, and they were seeded in the pond without his knowledge by someone who thought he should have them. The old man had brought two or three dozen in a cooler he caught in the river and dumped them in his pond without permission. THAT resulted him denying everyone but Tina and I and his family permission to fish it from then on. He knew that Tina and I were catch photo and release folks.

Caught on the fly with one of Tina's Crickets:

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The boys with their haul, taken home for a big fish fry in Virginia Beach. Nearly every one of these Crappie would qualify for a Virginia citation.

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He didn't like Crappie in the pond because they upset the balance. They eat the bass and sunfish babies and he paid BIG money to stock that pond. He also stocked the pond with thousands of feeder fish and the large aggressive Crappie were devastating to that population as well.

"If you catch a Crappie, toss it on the bank for the Raccoons to eat." he said.

THIS is why we loved the pond.....

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[cooperhawk]

Our lakes here are full of crappie, sunfish, perch, pike, and musky. we also have bass but to me a
bass is not good to eat. We don't fish for them except for tournaments.

The most fished for fish is the Walleye Pike. Not so boney and sweet meat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walleye

Most restaurants here serve walleye either fried or grilled. They're really good.

Of course we also have carp, bullhead, (otherwise known as a yellow bellied catfish), catfish ect.
I grew up eating bullhead. They're abundant and pretty good eating. We also would catch carp and
brine and smoke them, now that's really good.

Also of course the Great Lakes have salmon, trout, and herring. I've had fried herring out of Lake Superior and
that was really good.

[North Country Gal]

Musky is king in our area, here in Wisconsin lake country.

[BrokenolMarine]

Musky is king in our area, here in Wisconsin lake country.

Isn't musky called the fish of 10,000 casts? I've never fish for them, but read about it, and about how collectable the lures are.

[cooperhawk]

Isn't musky called the fish of 10,000 casts? I've never fish for them, but read about it, and about how collectable the lures are.

Minneapolis has many lakes within the city limits. Our neighbor's son fishes for Musky only in the city lakes and catches a lot of them.