Spring has sprung; much earlier this year
than in years past, probably because of the very mild winter the Pacific
Northwest has had. Steelhead season is slow; trout season hasn’t opened on most
local streams, and it is 57 degrees and sunny for the weekend, but there is
hope early this spring. I made my way to the locked rusty gate at the farm
ready to roll; my fins, rod, and tube in tow; my 4wt rod rigged with a possie
bugger nymph for some bluegill action.
After making my way downhill the small pond becomes visible,the sun above the trees beating down on it. Upon launching my tube I realized that fishing
may be a bit tough, nighttime temps got down to the mid 30’s and chilled the pond making the fish lethargic and less willing to eat a fly.
I worked my way to the northwest corner that had the most sunlight and began to
slowly work my fly at a drop off; soon enough there was a wiggle of hope on the
end of my rod, a bluegill splashing around on the surface signals the start of
a good day on the water. After catching 4 gills I made another cast tight to the
drop off and slowly worked the fly until it suddenly stopped and my line went tight
“snag” I thought, though I set the hook and pulled up; only to have what I thought
to be a snag start moving and shaking its head, I knew I had hooked a bass, but
the question was, how big? For the next three minutes the fish pulled all over
the place and bent my 4wt in two; then it finally surfaced, a large bass had
somehow found my size 12 nymph appealing. I chuckled, took a few pictures and
released the fish in hopes of catching another; and it so happens on the very
next cast I hooked into another strong bass, but this time smaller.
 |
| Very healthy early spring bass |
 |
| Small bass taken on a possie bugger nymph |
After the bass bonanza I caught a few nice gills,then another one of those "I think I’m snagged on a log hits"
but knowing there are no logs where i was fishing i assumed it was yet another bass,
as this fish went wherever it wanted and bent my rod almost as much as the
large bass I caught. I yell to my friend” I have another big bass”, only to
have a huge bluegill come to the surface...in shock I grab the big gill and
admired its size while taking a few pictures, then released the beast. Content
with experience I caught a few more bluegill and headed home. It just goes to
show you never know what Mother Nature will hand you on an early spring day.
 |
| Huge bluegill almost broke the pound mark |
No comments:
Post a Comment