Visited another small pond yesterday across the road from the pond where I caught some green sunfish on my flyrod a week ago or so. This second pond is a bit smaller and I wanted to see what it had to offer.
Once I got out in the water in my kayak, I realized I had strung up my fly rod with the wrong spool of line. Normally with poppers I would use a floating line but the line I discovered on the reel once I got out on the water was a sink tip, which would drag the popper down below the surface after a few seconds. Well, I decided to go with the sink tip for a little while and see what happened. Turns out, it worked pretty well. A couple of largemouth bass came up and smacked the tiny popper I was using just after it splashed on the surface. Then other fish, including some green sunfish, attacked it once it had sunk down below the surface a few feet. So the sink tip line actually worked out pretty well.
This pond is quite small. In fact, I circumnavigated the whole thing three or four times in the course of the morning. Nights have been cool lately, so the water temperature in the pond was 70 degrees. Had it been in the upper 70s, maybe some of the larger bass would have come to the surface to check out my popper. All in all, though, it was a good morning.
Here's a link to the video: http://youtu.be/barMEvcqNZI I shot it with my iPhone, instead of my camera. At one point I held the phone upright instead of sideways, which is why the image goes from "landscape" to "portrait" and then back again.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Indian River redux
We had a pretty strong cold front come through Wednesday night and all day Thursday. But the forecast for Friday was sunny, if a bit cool. Usually following a cold front you get a strong north wind coming down the Indian River that can make things "sporty," as they say, out on the water. That wasn't the case yesterday. Even out in open water, there wasn't much of a breeze. There was 100 percent sunshine all day. And with the temperatures in the high 60s, it was quite pleasant out there.
Because of the drop in air and water temperature, I figured the fishing wouldn't be too great. I have two water thermometers; one registered the water temperature at around 70, the other at 65. Can't explain the discrepancy of those two readings but the water was definitely on the cool side.
High tide was around 10:30. And since there was a full moon last night, the water level was way up in the mangroves when I launched my kayak. By mid-afternoon there was a strong outflow from the creek where I spent much of the day. At the Loxahatchee River in Jonathan Dickinson Park, that amount of current often makes the fish active. Not so yesterday. I did manage a very nice sea trout that hit a soft plastic mullet imitation. This happened around 12:30. Later I hooked a smaller fish of some kind that came off before I could pull it up close and identify it. Generally, it was a pretty slow day for fishing, even if the weather was great for being out there in a kayak.
At one point I noticed several pelicans following a slow-moving dolphin that was breaching every few seconds. I've not seen that behavior before. You'd think fish would scatter when that dolphin would come along. Yet the pelicans must have thought the dolphin was going to help them find food. If anyone reading this knows what was going on there, please add a comment.
The video gets a little ragged toward the end. My finger blocks the camera lens for a while. Then I forgot to push the record button for the final segment near the end of the day, so the video just stops, rather than "ends." I'll try to do better next time.
For what it's worth, here's a link to the video: http://youtu.be/pYXusL7Nj50
Because of the drop in air and water temperature, I figured the fishing wouldn't be too great. I have two water thermometers; one registered the water temperature at around 70, the other at 65. Can't explain the discrepancy of those two readings but the water was definitely on the cool side.
High tide was around 10:30. And since there was a full moon last night, the water level was way up in the mangroves when I launched my kayak. By mid-afternoon there was a strong outflow from the creek where I spent much of the day. At the Loxahatchee River in Jonathan Dickinson Park, that amount of current often makes the fish active. Not so yesterday. I did manage a very nice sea trout that hit a soft plastic mullet imitation. This happened around 12:30. Later I hooked a smaller fish of some kind that came off before I could pull it up close and identify it. Generally, it was a pretty slow day for fishing, even if the weather was great for being out there in a kayak.
At one point I noticed several pelicans following a slow-moving dolphin that was breaching every few seconds. I've not seen that behavior before. You'd think fish would scatter when that dolphin would come along. Yet the pelicans must have thought the dolphin was going to help them find food. If anyone reading this knows what was going on there, please add a comment.
The video gets a little ragged toward the end. My finger blocks the camera lens for a while. Then I forgot to push the record button for the final segment near the end of the day, so the video just stops, rather than "ends." I'll try to do better next time.
For what it's worth, here's a link to the video: http://youtu.be/pYXusL7Nj50
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Indian River
I haven't been back to Hutchinson Island and the Indian River since last April. I've been wanting to get back up there but the weather has been sketchy. It's about a 90 minute drive and I'll usually fish closer to home if there's rain or strong winds in the forecast. Also, I've never done particularly well there, even though the Indian River is considered one of the best shallow water fishing destinations in the country. In recent years some of the sea grass has been dying off, which has affected the fish, which like to hide in it. Quite a bit of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee has been dumped into the Indian River. But since yesterday's weather forecast looked OK, I decided to give it a try.
When I arrived, the wind was pretty calm and I was seeing mullet out in the creek where I launched my kayak. Within a few minutes a small snapper hit my Mirrodine lure. It's always good to get the skunk out of the boat as soon as possible.
I continued pedaling on out to the mouth of the creek, where it empties into the Indian River. I found a school of small snook hanging around the mangroves in that area. I had about four of them come up and attack my lure but none of them managed to stay hooked. There were some white caps further out in the Indian River proper, as the wind had picked up a bit. I didn't venture out too far beyond the creek mouth. But the area looked like it might hold some sea trout. I let the wind push me south across the mouth of the creek. Nothing was hitting the Mirrodine, so I switched to a plastic shrimp imitation on a jig head. Almost immediately a small sea trout nailed it. I stayed in that area for another hour or so. There was no further action and the wind got a bit annoying, so I headed back up the creek toward the kayak launch.
At one point I looked at my watch and saw that it was only 2:30 - too soon to call it a day. So I pedaled back out toward the creek mouth, hoping I'd given that school of snook enough rest that they might be interested in hitting one of my lures. Along the way I helped a gentleman fishing from shore save a snapper he had hooked that had gotten tangled around a branch. A few minutes later, a snook darted out from one of the mangrove pockets I'd been casting into and managed to stay hooked long enough for me to release it at the boat.
For a little while I threw a white and red deceiver fly into the mangrove pockets, hoping to entice another snook to come out and play. But by then the wind was blowing briskly up the creek from the ocean, so casting the fly rod became more trouble than it was worth, so I went back to spinning tackle for the rest of the trip.
I called it quits around four o'clock. Three not very big fish doesn't make for a great day. But I'd done better than I thought I might.
I like the area I was fishing. Maybe I'll try it again in a week or so with a different tide pattern.
Here's a link to the video: http://youtu.be/pdByUDlwQxo
At one point I talk about a school of dolphins. Actually at that point I meant to say "snook." But I had just seen a couple of dolphins further out in the Indian River, so that's why I mis-spoke.
When I arrived, the wind was pretty calm and I was seeing mullet out in the creek where I launched my kayak. Within a few minutes a small snapper hit my Mirrodine lure. It's always good to get the skunk out of the boat as soon as possible.
I continued pedaling on out to the mouth of the creek, where it empties into the Indian River. I found a school of small snook hanging around the mangroves in that area. I had about four of them come up and attack my lure but none of them managed to stay hooked. There were some white caps further out in the Indian River proper, as the wind had picked up a bit. I didn't venture out too far beyond the creek mouth. But the area looked like it might hold some sea trout. I let the wind push me south across the mouth of the creek. Nothing was hitting the Mirrodine, so I switched to a plastic shrimp imitation on a jig head. Almost immediately a small sea trout nailed it. I stayed in that area for another hour or so. There was no further action and the wind got a bit annoying, so I headed back up the creek toward the kayak launch.
At one point I looked at my watch and saw that it was only 2:30 - too soon to call it a day. So I pedaled back out toward the creek mouth, hoping I'd given that school of snook enough rest that they might be interested in hitting one of my lures. Along the way I helped a gentleman fishing from shore save a snapper he had hooked that had gotten tangled around a branch. A few minutes later, a snook darted out from one of the mangrove pockets I'd been casting into and managed to stay hooked long enough for me to release it at the boat.
For a little while I threw a white and red deceiver fly into the mangrove pockets, hoping to entice another snook to come out and play. But by then the wind was blowing briskly up the creek from the ocean, so casting the fly rod became more trouble than it was worth, so I went back to spinning tackle for the rest of the trip.
I called it quits around four o'clock. Three not very big fish doesn't make for a great day. But I'd done better than I thought I might.
I like the area I was fishing. Maybe I'll try it again in a week or so with a different tide pattern.
Here's a link to the video: http://youtu.be/pdByUDlwQxo
At one point I talk about a school of dolphins. Actually at that point I meant to say "snook." But I had just seen a couple of dolphins further out in the Indian River, so that's why I mis-spoke.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Micro-popping for panfish and bass in south Florida
Haven't posted in over a week. This doesn't mean I haven't been fishing. I've been out a few times but the action wasn't all that great.
Today I tried a small pond not too far from where we live. We had heavy storms yesterday afternoon and the same was predicted for today, so I thought it prudent not to take a long drive somewhere if I might get rained out.
I fish this little pond about once a year. There are some nice bass in it but the pond tends to be overlooked, as there is a larger pond just down the road. I had planned to throw plastic worms on spin tackle, at least to start out. But once I got my kayak in the water I saw how calm the water was - ideal for throwing popper flies. I tied on one of the tiny poppers that I bought in a local fly shop last week and within a couple casts I hooked what I'll call a green sunfish. Not sure what name they go by down here. You can see them in the video. If anyone knows their proper name, please feel free to add a comment to this post.
I kept picking up more of these sunnies as I slowly made my way around the pond in my kayak. I was casting toward the cattail-lined shoreline and jerking the popper three or four times. At one point something much larger than a sunfish busted out from the shoreline and blasted the popper. I thought it was a big bass but it turned out to be a snakehead, which is a long, skinny fish with a mouthful of teeth. This is only the second snakehead I've caught. The other one was in the nearby, larger pond last year and that one went after a rubber worm. Snakeheads fight very hard. There's some concern that once they get in a water system that they will pretty much out-compete every other species there and take over. Not sure how long they've been in the system of ponds I fish down here but they're not yet in danger of over-populating them.
Over the course of the morning I caught about 15 fish. I threw them all back, of course. It was a lot of fun catching them on the fly rod.
Here's a link to the video: http://youtu.be/ilocYVXkCls
Today I tried a small pond not too far from where we live. We had heavy storms yesterday afternoon and the same was predicted for today, so I thought it prudent not to take a long drive somewhere if I might get rained out.
I fish this little pond about once a year. There are some nice bass in it but the pond tends to be overlooked, as there is a larger pond just down the road. I had planned to throw plastic worms on spin tackle, at least to start out. But once I got my kayak in the water I saw how calm the water was - ideal for throwing popper flies. I tied on one of the tiny poppers that I bought in a local fly shop last week and within a couple casts I hooked what I'll call a green sunfish. Not sure what name they go by down here. You can see them in the video. If anyone knows their proper name, please feel free to add a comment to this post.
I kept picking up more of these sunnies as I slowly made my way around the pond in my kayak. I was casting toward the cattail-lined shoreline and jerking the popper three or four times. At one point something much larger than a sunfish busted out from the shoreline and blasted the popper. I thought it was a big bass but it turned out to be a snakehead, which is a long, skinny fish with a mouthful of teeth. This is only the second snakehead I've caught. The other one was in the nearby, larger pond last year and that one went after a rubber worm. Snakeheads fight very hard. There's some concern that once they get in a water system that they will pretty much out-compete every other species there and take over. Not sure how long they've been in the system of ponds I fish down here but they're not yet in danger of over-populating them.
Over the course of the morning I caught about 15 fish. I threw them all back, of course. It was a lot of fun catching them on the fly rod.
Here's a link to the video: http://youtu.be/ilocYVXkCls
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