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Freshwater

Summertime

June 13, 2012
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Music, Video, Warmwater
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It is summertime and in between rain storms, watching LSU baseball get beat by a VERY good Stony Brook team, and catching up on UEFA Euro highlights, I have been squeezing in some fishing (both fly and spin) after work. The usual suspects are around, like bream….

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bass….

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and catfish….

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But this gar made my week. I caught it in a ditch not far from the house. It is not the first gar I’ve ever caught on the fly, I’ve had some luck with poppers, but believe it or not, it is the first fish I’ve ever caught on a fly I tied. With inspiration from Kent Edmonds, it is a very simple nylon rope fly that doesn’t even contain a hook. I tried to get a self portrait of this monumental occasion, laugh with me through the picture progression:

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I probably caught something else in that ditch too, E. coli perhaps, it is nasty, with an outfall right under the bridge, brownlining at it’s very core. The ditch produces at times though, last year it produced quite the variety of fish, upstream of where I was at. This spot has a ton of gar though, hopefully I can perfect the technique, the hook set is a bit different than I’m used to. I had 3 eats before I landed this one, I pulled the fly right out of their mouth each time. Need better water clarity too, it had just rained that day and it was tough to see the fish. Hoping for even better results next time out………..and no illnesses in the interim! Fingers crossed.

Pond symmetry

June 6, 2012
Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Warmwater
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Fished the neighborhood pond after work yesterday. Caught 5 bass and 5 catfish, most on this big brown woolly booger. Nothing too big, the catfish fought pretty hard though.

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I also caught a bass on a slider and in his gullet were 3-4 snails, I tried to get a pic, but the macro focused on his gill rakers instead. You can kind of see a snail on the right. I had no idea bass would eat snails, this pond is loaded with them. Should keep the bass fat and happy. The more I fish, the more I realize that bass eat everything.

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North Georgia finale

June 1, 2012
Coldwater, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Freshwater, Retail, Wade Fishing
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Sunday

Day 4 was not much of an encore for Blake and I, but more a much needed day of rest before we packed up and headed out. I did some halfhearted fishing, but after breaking off a few times I gave up. I hooked a few fish before then, but landed none of them. Mom caught a pretty nice trout though, on an inline spinner that Blake had tied for her (think wooly bugger with an attached spinner).

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That afternoon we all took a ride to the Toccoa to check out the footbridge on the Benton Mackeye trail. We all agreed it was over-engineered for the pedestrian traffic it sees, but our wives took comfort in that fact as it swayed while others passed us by.

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That night we sat around the campfire, a perfect way to end a trip up to the cabin.

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Monday

Monday morning we headed out with the Subaru packed to the gills. While Blake and I fished, our wives had a good time at the outlets in Dawsonville and the Arts in the Park Festival in Blue Ridge. They did get a chance to stop by the new Blue Ridge Fly Fishing to pick up some swag and flies for Blake and I. I didn’t even have to ask – that’s love. I think they enjoyed the trip as much as we did. There is just something about those wild trout that gets my adrenaline going. I know they aren’t big, but they hit dry flies with reckless abandon and when you do hook into something bigger than 8″ – it is exciting! Especially with our 1 and 2 wt rods. It was sad to leave the cabin, but we’ll be back.

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