Great Sunday at the Pond!
TomFly
Greetings TPFRers. I’ve
been a long time lurker, very part time contributor to this board for a
while. So I am making an effort to participate
more this year as I do fish as much as humanly possible for a person in my position
(married, employed full time etc) and pretty well obsessed with all things fishing, fly fishing, fly tying etc.
So for my first report….
I recently moved from Fairfax, VA to the South Riding
neighborhood in Chantilly. If you hate
suburban sprawl and rows upon rows of similar looking houses then this is not
the place for you. However, if you are a
fan of catching bass and sunfish on a fly rod, then this neighborhood or any of
the hundreds just like it that dominate the DC metro area provide a seemingly
endless selection of perfectly manicured ponds that in my experience are ALWAYS
full of willing sunfish and usually plenty of bass as well. While it’s a far cry from trophy destinations
most of us probably dream about, being <1mile from home it’s a fantastic way
to spend a few hours on an overcast Sunday.
A few days earlier I had received in the mail two new rods
an 8wt and 9wt that my pops and I ordered for an upcoming trip to Mexico in
July. To give them a test drive we took
them out to neighborhood pond yesterday.
Tied on a few wooly buggers and went to swingin. Only took a few cast and we were into the
bass, and if they missed it the sunfish would go to town before you could even
strip your line back in. After landing a
few fish each, getting some slime on our new grips and realizing the absurdity of
catching a tiny fish on 8 and 9wt rods,
we switched to the 2wt I brought along which was a lot more fun. Got a few bass that were close to a pound and
an absurd quantity of sunfish. Even
caught a bunch on a elk hair caddis that was still tied on from a recent trip
to the yellow breeches.
So nothing huge, not even worth a picture, but an awesome
few hours out with my pops. Next two weekends
going a little bigger as I head to the bay for my first saltwater trip of the
year. Supposed to be a banner year for
specs and redfish in the lower bay! Will let yall know
how I do.
Any other unashamed suburban pond fly fishers out there?
Tom
Vic Velasco
Matt S.
To each is own, but I suspect a lot of people who spend a lot of time casting aspersions on bluegills and those of us who fish for them are either being dishonest or just missing out on a lot of fun for no good reason. I've no shame admitting that bluegills have saved me countless times from an otherwise-skunked day, and I'm even grudgingly grateful for them when they drive me nuts beating other fish to the hook. Moreover, a really BIG bluegill is something special.
And as Vic says in his reply, they are key to getting our kids into fishing, and to feeling like one again yourself. Just look at the million-dollar grin on my son here in NoVa a few weeks ago:
On Monday, May 20, 2013 11:07:52 AM UTC-4, TomFly wrote:
