In recent weeks, I have thought about getting back to basics. The purpose is to put myself in a positive frame of mind. Honesty, I think that by continuously chasing smallmouth bass on the same water year after year has made me tiresome of fly fishing. My blog used to get several hundred hits per day. I think that was due in part to the panfish flies and photos. Once those started decreasing, my site traffic slowed.
Well, those panfish are what I used to love most about fly fishing. I even sold my beloved Tom Nixon book which contained wonderful panfish fly tying instructions. All because I wanted to participate in a bit of "Basscar" with some local fellows. I became burned out on chasing smallmouth. I didn't enjoy it because I was gritting my teeth and squeezing my rod. I was hitting the water every Friday and sometimes followed up with a Saturday and Sunday outing. I was fishing in the heat and making myself sick just to show my friends that I was landing smallies.
Yesterday evening, I went to the city lake. It's mainly a catfish lake and man where the folks lined up along the banks. I worked what stretch of the banks as was possible and landed a number of crappie on a black articulated Circus Peanut. After dark, I took several small crappie on a Bett's popper.
I really enjoyed being out there on a lake and doing something different than wading a stream. I had one or two solid strikes from something large. I talked to some folks who wondered why I let fish go and why would I fly fish at a lake. I rarely ever run into people when I fish. So, it was a treat to talk about fishing with folks who think it's neat for a fly fisherman to come and fish where they chuck chicken livers for catfish.
Bass tournament? Yup. I'm going to try and get up the gumption to fish alongside some bait casters or folks that toss terminal tackle, lol. I may just pay the fee to fish the Big Bass just to see what it's all about. I have to get back to basics which for me is lake and pond fishing - chasing panfish and treating a bass strike as something special. Year of the Bluegill was supposed to take me to my happy place this year but chasing smallmouth bass got in the way.
After the first relaxing outing on the water I've had in such a long time, I tied up a few large flies including Matt's Llano Critter (pictured above). I am preparing some tournament flies for next Sunday in the hopes that I can land at least one bass. I have a lot to learn about bass fishing on impoundments. I've done OK but I haven't spent nearly the time chasing largemouth as I have smallmouth.
Hoping to post some bass tournament info soon. Tight lines.
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