6/6 a day outside

With the river temporarily out of service I decided to indulge in one of life's great pleasures. Maybe even a bit of a guilty pleasure it's so easy and unpressured if your at the right pond. That's catching big bluegills on a fly rod. I took a little 7.5 foot four weight and a box of flies containing some dry flies and some beadheads. About half of each tied in bright colors and about half tied in natural tones. Really four options, on top or underneath either gaudy or subdued, for the four possible moods a sunfish might be in.
It was a beautiful morning a lovely change from the last few sticky days. There was such a heavy dew the grass was as wet as if it had rained. I took a cool photo of a dandelion head covered in water crystals.A pretty fog was rising off the pond as I arrived right after sun up.

 

 

 

 

 

I tried a dry fly at first and caught a few. But there were way more swirls that hearty takes so I switched to the beadhead. In my mind a beadhead nymph in a small size like a 16 is just about the best bluegill fly there is. It's also the best practice there is for learning how to detect underwater strikes later on from smallmouth and trout. I'd cast the fly and let it settle for a second before slowly retrieving it in short strips. The trick is to watch the end of the fly line, you will see it pause during the strip even though you feel nothing. That's a big gill eating your nymph. A bright beadhead fished slowly out produced the dry fly I had been throwing at least three to one. Pretty much par for the course in my experience. But I always try to get them first on the dry. It's so much more fun I'll put up with a few less fish some days. Once I made the switch the action was fast and furious as I retrieved it thru some beds of spawning gills. Then in search of some bigger fish I threw out to deeper water and really slowed down my retrieve. The fish came a bit slower but when I caught one it was a dandy.

 

 

 

 

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I also threw for a bit a deerhair bug for bass. The pond is overrun with small bass. This is the reason I'm sure for the size of the bluegills, the bass population keeping their numbers in check. I caught a few ten or twelve inch bass and one gill whose eyes were bigger than his mouth.

I decided I'd rather catch big gills than tiny bass so I switched back to the nymph

After lunch I took a hike in a nearby woods and found some cool plants.

 

 

 

 

This is squawroot or bear corn. Its called bear corn because bears feed on it heavily in spring when it's one of the first foods available to them. It's called squawroot because of its use by Native American women to relieve the symptoms of menopause. Squawroot is parasitic to oak roots and grows in clusters under oaks where it is found. Because it's parasitic it has no chlorophyll and lacks all green pigment giving the plant it's weird look.

I also found a few ginseng plants growing in some dark hollows of the woods. All in all a pretty cool day.