FishnDave Posted March 9, 2020 Posted March 9, 2020 The local ponds here in central Iowa were still iced over as of March 1 & 2, 2020. Then I spent March 3-5 in St. Louis, MO. Iowa had some warm weather and STRONG winds during that time...so by the time I got back on March 6, the ponds had opened up. I grabbed the fly rod and hit a couple public city ponds on Saturday, March 7. Pond #1: I spent about 2.5 hours here. Saw one 4" fish swim out of the shallows...that was the only live fish I saw the entire time. Didn't catch anything, obviously. Pond #2: Spent about an hour here (had some evening dinner plans that sent me home). Caught a lotta fish. Mostly crappies, as well as a few bluegills, and a 17.5" bass. Most fish were caught on a microjig about 18" below an indicator. I also caught a few of the crappies on a Micro Gamechanger. These fish were surprisingly active for being in water that had been iced over just days before. First open-water fish of the year: 2nd open-water fish of the year: Johnsfolly, ness, Greasy B and 3 others 6
JUNGLE JIM 1 Posted March 12, 2020 Posted March 12, 2020 The crappie must be hungry to take a bigger bait like that. I noticed you use a chartreuse body jig quite a bit. Looks like Trilobal antron chenille, my favorite color as well and have tied thousands of jigs with it. Got tired of buying a couple packs at a time and purchased a 300 yard spool of the stuff twice. Finished one and started the second, still have about 250 yards of it left. When you need more I have some you can have free. BilletHead, Johnsfolly and FishnDave 3
BilletHead Posted March 12, 2020 Posted March 12, 2020 13 minutes ago, JUNGLE JIM 1 said: The crappie must be hungry to take a bigger bait like that. I noticed you use a chartreuse body jig quite a bit. Looks like Trilobal antron chenille, my favorite color as well and have tied thousands of jigs with it. Got tired of buying a couple packs at a time and purchased a 300 yard spool of the stuff twice. Finished one and started the second, still have about 250 yards of it left. When you need more I have some you can have free. You are a good fellow Jim! FishnDave 1 "We have met the enemy and it is us", Pogo If you compete with your fellow anglers, you become their competitor, If you help them you become their friend" Lefty Kreh " Never display your knowledge, you only share it" Lefty Kreh "Eat more bass and there will be more room for walleye to grow!" BilletHead " One thing in life is for sure. If you are careful you can straddle the barbed wire fence but make one mistake and you will be hurting" BilletHead P.S. "May your fences be short or hope you have long legs" BilletHead
Johnsfolly Posted March 12, 2020 Posted March 12, 2020 On 3/9/2020 at 1:49 PM, FishnDave said: I also caught a few of the crappies on a Micro Gamechanger. These fish were surprisingly active for being in water that had been iced over just days before. Fake News! That fly won't catch fish ! Congrats on getting into some hungry fish! FishnDave 1
FishnDave Posted March 12, 2020 Author Posted March 12, 2020 2 hours ago, JUNGLE JIM 1 said: The crappie must be hungry to take a bigger bait like that. I noticed you use a chartreuse body jig quite a bit. Looks like Trilobal antron chenille, my favorite color as well and have tied thousands of jigs with it. Got tired of buying a couple packs at a time and purchased a 300 yard spool of the stuff twice. Finished one and started the second, still have about 250 yards of it left. When you need more I have some you can have free. You are an astute observer, Jim! And that's a very kind offer, Jim, thank you! Clearly you go through a lot of the chartreuse as well. Yes, I've tried other colors....and some days other colors can work better than chartreuse. Crappies always seem to love it...and its a great color for bass as well. I've found gold microjigs produce trout very well. Black with a hint of red seems to work well for Redears, but I haven't experimented to widely for them. I have some chartreuse yarn that I used to use on the microjigs...but after a number of fish, the bodies would start to fray and the fly would eventually fall apart. The trilobal chenille holds up really well to many many fish. I've had the hooks weaken and break off or the lead fall off the jighead before the chenille deteriorates. Good stuff! JUNGLE JIM 1 1
FishnDave Posted March 23, 2020 Author Posted March 23, 2020 Got out on Saturday to a couple local public ponds with the fly rod. Caught crappies, bluegills, bass and a hybrid sunfish. Biggest bass measured 19". See the microjig in its mouth? The jighead with the eyes was made by @Jungle Jim @JUNGLE JIM 1 BilletHead, nomolites, JUNGLE JIM 1 and 1 other 4
JUNGLE JIM 1 Posted March 24, 2020 Posted March 24, 2020 Amazing how those little jig heads will stick and hold bigger fish. FishnDave 1
FishnDave Posted March 27, 2020 Author Posted March 27, 2020 Stopped by a local public pond for 90 minutes on my way home from work yesterday evening. Flyfished the downwind end of the pond. Found crappies, bluegills and bass. nomolites and BilletHead 2
FishnDave Posted March 31, 2020 Author Posted March 31, 2020 My buddy Jay's 14" White Crappie: Johnsfolly 1
Johnsfolly Posted September 14, 2020 Posted September 14, 2020 On 3/31/2020 at 11:54 AM, FishnDave said: My buddy Jay's 14" White Crappie: Those are just slabs! FishnDave 1
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