Recapping An Unusual Weekend...

Had a weird 4th of July week/weekend...

We started with the pre-requisite neighborhood fireworks (that never photograph worth a crap). Much like everything else, Fireworks are legal in Florida so my neighbors do it up every year. It was pretty much this sight in any direction you looked. I value my fingers, so I'm happy just watching.

Tried a little fishing, but the rain foiled my plans. Went out locally (instead of the beach with the fly rod) due to some rainstorms on the radar. I still got soaked from head to toe by a sudden downpour... Guess one to hand is better than none to hand...

Did I mention we ended up in the ER on Friday night? Not me, my wife. She's okay, nothing life-threatening, but the aftermath kept us more or less in the house the rest of the weekend. I'm certainly not complaining, just very unexpected.

Oh, the folks in the room before us left this cartoon on the whiteboard. Looks like Street Fighter to me... Hadouken!

So hanging out in the house most of Saturday & Sunday, I did get to watch this YETI/catfishing video. F'n A that looks like crazy fun. Say what you will about their coolers and cups, YETI makes some captivatingly cool videos...


Closed out the weekend with a nice walk around the neighborhood on Sunday night (after yet another downpour). I was greeted by this...

So that was rad. Not as many fish as I had hoped for when I wrote last Monday's post, but I'll take it. I'm locked in the next two or three days as I'm off to Philly, then Atlanta for business. Downloaded two audiobooks for the travels. The first, I never read... the other, I started the physical book about 5 years ago but never finished. I'm excited about tackling both for different reasons.

Bring on the work week...

Quick Pond Hop To Start A Long Weekend

With this Memorial Day weekend's weather forecast not looking too good, figured last night was as good as any to try and steal an hour or two at dusk and go fishing at one of the neighborhood ponds...

The fishing was a little on the slow side, but passable. Caught a few bass like this...

And a few bluegill like this...

Those chunky "copperhead" bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus mystacalis) are damn good fighters on light tackle.

In any event, thought this picture summed up the evening rather accurately...

I made the mistake of not shooting my ankles, arms, and neck with bug spray... and damn if those yellow flies and mosquitoes weren't out tonight. I will say, if that ever happens to you, that Itch Eraser in the photo above works well, and the relief comes quickly. I got it in a Cairn box once upon a time, and this is the first time I've used it.

I dusted off the Tenkara USA Ayu II too... or should I say "as well"... I haven't fished that rod in forever, but it's a sleeper in my tenkara rod collection. Since I'm in the process of streamlining some of my fishing tackle, I might sell it, or I might hold on to it due to some sort of warped sentimental value because it's not produced or sold anymore. Whatever...

Oh, and you might have noticed those little metal tabs on my rod. I finally got around to attaching the line holders that Jean Santos skillfully engraved for me around the New Year. He lives in France and is a true artisan. Knowing I live in Florida, he even etched a largemouth bass chasing a kebari on the one holder. They're gorgeous in person, these zoom shots below don't do them justice... (and I really need to attach them properly, not with gross o-rings).

If you want to see more of Jean Santos' work, you can check out Isaac Tait's article in Tenkara Angler, Adam Trahan's article on Tenkara-Fisher, or Jean Santos' YouTube. This embedded video is a great start:



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Fishing Fitness Footnotes:

• Date: 5/26/2018
• Current weight: 208 lbs ( -8 since start)
• Current waist size: 38, but pants not quite as tight
• Today: Plan to ride bike in AM, walk Gourd Island trails after dinner.
• Yesterday: Walked after lunch... oh and fished for an hour!

Better Late Than Never...

Sunday... was a pretty good day.

I finally got out fishing for the first time in 2018. Wow, that took a long time.

This was the first fish of the year, a pretty undersized and gnarly bass. Not certain if you can see but it's got some sort of wound on its back (underneath all the muck).

Regardless, the weather was really nice (a bit windy, but I'm not complaining), and I brought about a half dozen cookie-cutter bass to hand, with the random bluegill or two thrown in for good measure.

More importantly, Sunday was also Lilly's 12th birthday. And I only bury this at the bottom of the post because I don't think she likes Dad writing about her on the blog much anymore, but man I love this kid so much...

Happy Birthday Lilly!

Trout On The Brain, Bass On The Line

Hadn't fished the neighborhood ponds in a while, so went out last night to wet a line once the sun started getting low(er) in the sky. It had to be in the mid-90s yesterday, so I was hiding indoors most of the day.

Really wanted to catch a few fish, as I probably won't be able to do any fishing (or consistent blogging) for the next two weeks. It's all good though, the bass and bluegill cooperated to the tune of a baker's dozen, so it was a fun evening by the water.

I couldn't help notice how the small bass brought to hand reminded me a bit of catching rainbow trout. They're about the same size as the small stream rainbows I chase, both species like to jump and take flight, and as you're stripping that fly around underwater structure and see that "flash," you know it's game on. I think I just have trout on the brain...

Since this might be the last post for a bit, sure don't mind leaving these photos up for a while. Warmwater fish can be damn pretty too.

Georgia (Trout) On My Mind...

Haven't been trout fishing yet this year. A little birdie chirped in my ear that this weekend was regional"Opening Day" back in my old stomping ground of Southeastern Pennsylvania, so that definitely got me obsessing thinking about trout again. (Any of my SE PA readers get out this weekend?)

Anyway, looking at my upcoming schedule, the first chance I'm going to have to escape Florida in search of trout appears like it will be April 21-23, so that's the plan... and praying to the weather gods to keep things calm that weekend.

It should be a good opportunity to really stretch the legs on the new Confluence rod from Three Rivers Tenkara I picked up the other week. It's a two-length zoom rod that I'd like to do a solid review of here at some point. (If you can't wait for that, Tom Davis did a "dry" review recently as well).

I've already taken it out retention pond fishing in the neighborhood a little bit and liked what I've seen so far. While fishing for bass and bluegill with a tenkara rod will not really show how it will perform in a true high-gradient tenkara envornment, I'm looking forward to testing my/it's casting mettle on some more technical pocket water and whatnot.

Fishing Forecast: Hot, Humid, & A Chance of Bass...

Got out for a little fishing the other night. It's been so hot and humid, I haven't been eager to sneak out to do much angling lately. It'd be one thing if I were in a trout stream, where when you reach down to handle your quarry, you're greeted by cool, refreshing, moving water. Instead, warm, stagnant ponds don't do much to re-energize after standing in the sun, ugh...

No worries though, with the proper amount of action, warmwater can be a lot of fun too, especially when fishing a light tenkara rod...

This was the first bass of about a half dozen...

The bluegill bycatch was in effect too...
Guess the mini-hopper was just too tempting...

Nice bend in the Dragontail Hellbender tenkara rod...

Brought this one out to cast a shadowy silhouette in the setting sun...

Tried a little video, excuse the excessive grunting, not sure what's up with that...

With a still of the same fish.  Big head, skinny body...but who's judging?

Will probably do a little more fishing this weekend, we'll see. Have actually been trying to get in a little better shape recently, so I'm taking to riding my bike and playing pickup basketball again. See, when I lived up North, it wasn't uncommon to put on a few extra pounds of "winter weight" when it was too cold to want to do anything outside. Here in Florida, it's the opposite, and the jeans are starting to feel a little tight.

More time on the court means less time on the ponds, but willing to make that trade if it helps drop a few pounds.

A Little Sunday Sink Tip Bass

Gonna post a fishing report here today, haven't done many of those lately, well...because I haven't been doing much fishing!

Really didn't go out for long on Sunday, about an hour and a half. Took Lilly to see the Jungle Book around noon (quite good BTW), and K.C. had a roller derby bout she had to leave for at 4:30, so it left a nice little window in between activities to wet a line.

Dink bass munching on a Clouser

Speaking of line, I fished with (gasp) my 6-weight rod and reel and not the tenkara setup for a change. I wanted to give the new Scientific Anglers Frequency sink-tip line I picked up to go chase shad & hybrid bass a test drive. Figure it'd work just fine for the largemouths in the pond near my house too.

Bass in the land of the sideways trees

As you can see above, I did catch a few bass. The first being the definition of dink bass, and the other more on the "medium" spectrum. The second bass did put a nice bend in the L.L. Bean Silver Ghost, and leapt out of the water a few times before coming to hand. Probably could have caught a mess of bluegill too, but I was fishing a Clouser minnow that was just a bit big for them to get a hold of, felt more than a few swipes in the shallows though.

I'm sorry that I didn't take more pictures, and the ones that I did are sort of on the sucky side. One of the fun things going around the internet these days is people freaking out if you hold a bass of any substance anyway except with two hands or vertically from the jaw, or happen to lay it in the grass next to your rod for scale.

No more than 10 degrees, bring your protractors

I get it, and I'm cool with it, but until perhaps I figure out a tripod solution, pictures of bass will probably be on the lame side. I don't even catch big bass, but I'd rather have bad pics than be virtually tarred and feathered by the internet fish handling police. Those folks are vicious.

In any event, hope you all got out fishing this past weekend, perhaps even more than an hour and a half. Seems like the weather is turning everywhere across the country (except maybe in parts of the Rockies), so time to stop tying and start fishing.

The Freaks Come Out At Night - Tenkara at Dusk

Hadn't fished too much over the holidays, so I decided to hit the neighborhood ponds at dusk last night to squeeze in about an hour or so fishing session.

Wasn't having much luck with the normal tactics, so waited until the sun went down and switched over to some leech patterns, hoping the bass would become a bit more active in the dark. Fortunately, it seemed to be what the bass were looking for, as the activity picked up and I brought about 8 or 9 to hand of all shapes & sizes, and probably lost 3 or 4 during the fight.

Small

Medium

I missed out on a really nice bass, that I'm kind of kicking myself for not landing. I survived the initial run and head shakes, but when it dove deep I thought I had a tippet or knot failure - but it just kicked my hook.

Next time I suppose, at least I know where it lives!

Large

Pardon the photography, it was taken with my phone in the dark. My phone doesn't really care for the dark.

Gear Used:

• DRAGONtail Tenkara HELLbender zoom rod (390/340)
• 12.5' Moonlit Fly Fishing Oudachi furled tenkara line
• 4' White River 5x mono tippet
• Driftless Angler Size 10 Tungsten Blood Leech

Ebisu - Don't Call It A Comeback

I had forgotten how much fun the (discontinued) Tenkara USA Ebisu rod is to fish with.

Yeah, it's a little bit heavier than some of the 12 foot-ish rods that I've been using these days, but it slings a real nice line quite easily...from 3.5 level line to furled. I used them both yesterday.

The fish were pretty active, brought 20 to hand (give or take a few), mostly bass. It's a blast sight fishing small bass like the one in the first picture, the way they'll rush up out of nowhere to slam an offering on the drop. Had a few takes from some bigger bass too, the biggest broke me off as it darted toward the center of the pond upon hookset. I need to work on my knots.

Could have been more I suppose, but the one thing I've learned is that if the fishing is good...there's always another angler crowding your space...

Nice to sneak out for a few hours while everyone was crashing from the morning's sugar rush and get the Ebisu it back into the rotation. Weekends are far too short.

Dink Bass - Tenkara Edition

In lieu of a good post, check out this video of a little dink bass I caught yesterday.
Still trying to get a feel of where to position the GoPro when I'm wearing it...

One of these days I'll actually make a worthwhile edit. Or not.

Oh, and I guess while you're just clicking on random things, check out Fishlicker tees on Teespring... because who doesn't need a new fishing tee? I'm partial to this one, although there are a few others that are pretty sweet too...

Warmwater Fly Fishing Is Warming Up

Hadn't checked the neighborhood ponds in about a month, so I snuck out for an hour or so on Sunday. Happy to report the fish seem to be waking up from their winter slumber.

Saw quite a few large bass cruising the shallows and tons of active panfish. Was fortunate to bring about a dozen to hand as I quickly circled the pond's perimeter.

The bigger ones appear to be on the move too. I had a really nice sized largemouth come up to smash a fly on the fall...but it got me hung up in the dense weeds lining the bank. I had to break it off, I was using a tenkara rod and I didn't want to horse the fish out of the thick tangle of vegetation.

Here's a pic of a little one though...you know...just zoom in to get a similar effect.

Sight fishing these dinks was actually a blast, each racing up to slam the fly as soon as it hit the water.

I think now that the temperatures are on the rise, it's time to venture outside the neighborhood ponds and try to find some legit largemouth action.

The First In What Will Surely Be A Hot Mess of Go Pro Video

One of the "perks" of being into fishing when none of your friends and family have any interest in it is that on holidays...be it birthdays, Christmas, you name it...they undoubtedly gift you with either Cabela's or Bass Pro Shops gift cards.  This holiday season was no exception, and my stack of plastic from Bass Pro was quite formidable.

I decided to spend that funny money on a GoPro.  4 Silver to be exact.  Not that I'm going to make awesome videos or anything, just because I was kicking myself that I didn't take more video out in Colorado last year, and I didn't want to repeat that wherever I went to fish this year.  Plus, I can mount the sucker on my kayak, or Lilly's bike, or K.C.'s roller derby helmet or whatever...

Long story short, I snuck out to fish for like an hour and a half yesterday.  The weather was nice, but pretty breezy.  Caught a few fish, and goofed around with the GoPro for a bit too.  No sick edits here...ain't nobody got time for dat...but this is a quick video of a bass I caught on the tenkara rod yesterday...


Note to self - hold the damn fish closer to the camera next time...

First Fish of 2015

I didn't get out on New Year's Day, but had to take a few minutes yesterday to catch a fish to wash the skunk off of 2015.

Now it wasn't the biggest fish...or the most dramatic fight, but I used some PicMonkey magic to certainly make it the most fabulous...

Hell yeah.  Who says fly fishing isn't hardcore?

Oh, I Fish (Sometimes)

This is a fishing blog...right?
Yeah, but my last "fishing report" post was in October...  Wow.  Pathetic.

It hasn't been that I haven't been fishing, it's just that the outings have all been kind of pedestrian.  No big fish (no surprise), no exotic locales, and well...not really the best blog fodder.

But I did go fishing yesterday, and here's a post really uninspiring post about it.
(Sorry if you happened to see these pictures on Instagram yesterday).

So it was something like 80 degrees here in north Florida yesterday.  Sunny, with a little breeze, I apologize in advance to those of you suffering through much colder temperatures (although from what I can tell from social media, most places in the country seem to be sort of warm themselves).

I thought I'd take the bike for a ride and hit one of the neighborhood ponds on the outskirts of our development.  I brought the tenkara rod, the 6-weight (in case I ran into big bass or carp), and my Vedavoo sling pack...because I rarely fish without it.

When I got to the pond, the first thing I saw was a big splash into the water with my peripheral vision. Not thinking much of it, I went to rigging up the Tenkara USA Sato and walk the perimeter of the pond to see if I could coax out any bass from the edges of the shoreline weeds.

About 5 minutes into fishing, I saw a log in the water.  But it wasn't a log.  It was a 4-ish foot long alligator.  Oh.  That's new.

Now I knew it wasn't going to do anything to me...and it didn't...as I walked around the pond it seemed to swim in the opposite direction most of the day, hence the horrible photo.

Unfortunately, that was kind of the highlight of the fishing for the day.  I picked out about a dozen bluegill while walking around the pond, but the fishing was really slow.  I do thank the fishing gods for bluegill though, because when all else fails...

I saw some bass, but they just weren't interested in my offerings.  I even strung up the 6-weight and launched some flies toward the middle of the pond (you know, 50+ feet out where tenkara doesn't travel nicely), just to see if anything basstastic was lurking in the depths...besides more alligators.  No dice...other than some bluegill bycatch.

That was really it.  Nothing much to really write about, and aside from the gator, it was pretty representative of the last month or two's fishing.  It's all good though.  2015 is right around the corner, and I've got some things in the works...

Anyone know anything good about Calgary, Alberta?

Weekend Recap (In Pictures) That You've Probably Already Seen On Facebook Or Instagram...

Because I know you want to read all about MY Labor Day weekend too...

The wife & kid were out of town on Saturday and most of Sunday.  With no agenda other than making sure our newly "rescued" dog didn't use our carpets as a toilet, I had a little time to do some things on Saturday; such as clean up some unwashed dishes that were sitting in the kitchen sink and starting to smell, get my hair cut, and watch meaningless college football.  How about those Nittany Lions?

However, I did get a few fishing-centric activities in; the first being that I stopped by the Floodtide Festival at Blackfly Outfitter...

Afterward, I spent the rest of the evening downing a Jersey Mike's Sub and finished up my tenkara rod build.

Both were pretty fun, but the sub, hoagie tasted better.

On Sunday, I snuck out in the morning to try the tenkara rod out on some local bass...

Yes, I'm probably holding that second one "wrong" and it's jaw will never recover from being held at such an angle...  Go ahead, call BASS, or even PETA on me...

Anyway, as for the rod, it's a bit heavier in hand than what I've been fishing with lately, but far from unyielding.  It tosses a #3 level line like a champ.  The Winn grip performed well too.  It's actually more sensitive to vibration than I thought it would be, and since I tend to hold my tenkara rods with the butt end in my palm, the short length of the grip didn't pose a problem.  I'm pleased with the build, and will happily put the rod in my normal rotation.

The rest of the day I went over to a co-worker's house for some backyard food, drink, & games.  I'll spare you the pics of dudes in the swimming pool.  I left a bit before the party was over as the wife & kid were due home around 8PM.  So curtain closed on Sunday.

Monday.  Labor Day.  We all pretty much slept in...well, except Lilly who woke up early to sneak on the computer and watch Minecraft YouTube videos.  I don't know if any of you have kids who like this Stampy Cat character, but holy crap...FML...


Not going to tolerate a "video game day," we packed everything up and went to the beach after lunch...

The surf was pretty rough (although it doesn't look too bad in the pics), and kicked all of our butts...we didn't last too long, instead retreating for dinner of chicken tenders and Coke Freestyle machine...which is by far the best invention in the history of soft drink dispensing.  They really need to make a home version.  I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

Now, it's Monday night, I'm knocking out this blog post while my wife is downstairs watching the Unauthorized "Saved By The Bell" Story on TV.  I guess my efforts to block the Lifetime Channel from our cable service when we moved down here were unsuccessful. *Sigh*

And that was it.  Long weekend over.  Gone too soon...and not exactly enthusiastic for the work week ahead.  At least we've got the NFL to look forward to...which kicks off on Thursday with the Packers & Seahawks...but more importantly (once again for me) is the Eagles vs. Jags on Sunday.  Original hometown vs. current hometown.  Go Birds!

Eh...who am I kidding...I'd probably rather be fishing.