Make Ponds Great Again!

For us fly anglers, small waters are a delight to fish!   They rarely produce big numbers or big fish, but they can be quiet areas of solitude from the roaring engines of bass boats and jet skis.  And regardless of the conditions, they’re almost always fishable.

Wait… did I say they rarely produce big fish?   Well, I could be very wrong on that!   In fact, some of my biggest fish have come from small waters:  an 8.8 pound bass (100 acre public lake), a 9.6 pound bass (private pond),  a 3.1 pound crappie (9 acre pond) and numerous bluegill and redears a pound or more.

What did these “big fish” ponds have in common?

• Good water quality
• Bathometry
• Hard structure – both deep and shallow
• Vegetated structure
• Fertility
• Forage diversity

I like using examples to illustrate my points.  In this case, the  “Wedgewood Lake Revival” is a great case example. 

Let’s prequel this story first.   One of the joys of my youth was fishing the numerous farm ponds scattered across St. Martin Parish (county).   As part of his job, my dad - who worked for the U.S. Agricultural Soil and Conservation Service (ASCS) - continually advised landowners with ponds on maintenance and productivity.  Many of the landowners expressed their gratitude by extending frequent invitations to come fish.   These ponds were incredible fisheries!  

A few years after my wife and I were married, we moved into Wedgewood neighborhood in Baton Rouge.  Just two blocks from our new home was a nine-acre lake, dug out to create an overpass and elevated roadway.  It didn’t take long for me to discover that the lake’s finned inhabitants severely lacked in both quantity and quality.   

I decided to take action.  In addition to consulting my dad, I had another valuable resource to call upon right under my roof.  My wife had a degree in zoology with an emphasis on fisheries.  Between their expertise, and some great advise from one of my dad’s good friends over at LSU Extension Service, Larry DelaBretonne, I got a quick education and lots of great ideas.

A group of us approached the homeowners association with a comprehensive plan and a small budget request, and they approved.   Each of the six characteristics mentioned above was evaluated, and action taken to address each.  

1. Bathometry

An ideal lake has shallow areas for spawning and deep water to escape winter cold and late summer heat.  Ridges and humps also help, but the important thing is sufficient depth.  My dad used to advise landowners to have a sizeable maximum depth of at least 8 feet in their ponds.

WWL project:  As mentioned, the lake was dug out to build an interstate.   Most of the lake was 6 to 8 feet deep.  There was an extensive flat on one corner of the lake between 2 and 5 feet deep, and an area with maximum depth around 14 feet.   Being ideal, no action was necessary. 

2. Water quality

If you have a pond that is constantly muddy, chances are it’s a poor lake for gamefish.  White crappie seem to have less problem with such water.   Even so, having a good clean water source is ideal.  If you do have a pond that frequently muddies up, there’s a couple solutions for that.   One is occasional liming (see fertility below).   Another is adding a sediment trap just above where the main water source enters the pond.

WWL project:  no problem as the lake was spring-fed.  However, it did have a yellowish-brown color, an indication of very low pH / alkalinity.   We address that later under “Fertility”.

3. Vegetated Structure 

This is basically submerged grass or varieties of shore weeds that provide cover.   You’ve probably heard the saying – “no grass, no bass” – and it’s not far off from the truth.  Hydrilla and certain other weeds are highly beneficial to bass, sunfish and other centrachids… provided they don’t overrun a lake.  Most biologists agree that around 30 percent coverage is ideal.

Not all vegetation is good.  In fact, salvinia and alligator weed are the devil!

Hydrilla can overtake a lake – especially if the lake is shallow.   I strongly recommend using triploid (sterile) grass carp as a solution.  One carp per vegetated acre is enough.  Although chemical spraying is advised by some state fisheries, the chemicals in those sprays have proven to be persistant and create far more problems than they solve. 

WWL project:  Wedgewood Lake was already in good shape.  There was hydrilla and pondweed along the banks, and some patches in the flats.

4. Hard structure

Hard structure is sunken logs, brushpiles, trees, stumps, PVC piping, etc..  The best lakes have both vegetated and hard structure, with the hard structure found in all areas of the lake and at all depths.   In addition, deep structure should have a vertical component.  For example, a log flat on the bottom is not as attractive to fish as an upright or leaning tree.

Some folks use PVC piping set in concrete buckets as structure.   While this is good, even better is scraping the PVC thoroughly so algae can more readily establish on the pipes.

WWL project:  We collected a couple dozen discarded Christmas trees and about a dozen small sweetgum trees from nearby woods.  We then set them into plastic flowerpots and poured concrete into the pots.   This resulted in our sunken trees keeping a vertical orientation when we sunk them.  The trees were then evenly distributed across the lake. 

In addition, the developer of a lot in our neighborhood dumped several short tree trunks off the banks, giving us nearshore hard structure.  Prior to dumping, all the limbs were cut back.  

How important is vegetated and hard structure?   Extremely important!   I compared LDWF samples of a lake that had four times the fertility (alkalinity) of the lake I live on.  That particular lake is shallow, and is void of any grass or structure.   The biomass of bass and sunfish in that lake was only slightly higher than my lake (which is loaded with grass and structure).  Most of that other lake’s biomass is non-game species (catfish, carp, buffalo, freshwater drum).   Something to consider.

5. Fertility

"Alkalinity is the limiting factor in aquatic biomass production."

This statement comes from my wife’s college aquaculture textbook.  Alkalinity is the capacity of water to neutralize acids. This capacity is usually based on the water's content of calcium carbonate (CaC02).
In waters with low alkalinity, pH will be low and important elements like calcium and phosphate - building blocks for the food chain - are tied up in bottom soils. Certain aquatic insects, as well as grass shrimp, scuds, crawfish, may be rare.  In addition, fish may exert energy trying to compensate their internal pH. This is energy taken from growth and reproduction.

Liming a lake not only increases the pH, it also releases calcium and phosphate to organisms. It also aids in the effectiveness of a fertilization program.

WWL project:   Recall I mentioned that the lake color was yellowish-brown.  I measured the CaCO2 level to be 18 mg/L.   This borders on sterile. 

To address this problem, we had 6 tons of agriculture lime delivered to the park in early January, and with the assistance of neighborhood residents, we spread the lime out in one weekend.  The alkalinity soared to around 80 mg/L (moderate) by September of that year.  It remained above 60 mg/L for the next several years despite above-average precipitation (flush effect).  During that time, we saw a substantial increase in numbers and size of bass, bream, and crappie.  Incidently, the color of the lake took on a greenish-clear color for many years after.

Success with a liming program requires the following:

• liming program must be done in winter. The solubility of CaC02 is inversely proportional to water temperature.
• the lime should be spread out and distributed in such a way to insure as much exposure to bottom sediments. 
• any followup fertilization program (optional, using 8-8-8 or 12-12-12) should be done in Spring after the alkalinity has increased.

Ag lime is fairly inexpensive, about $50 per ton. Some sellers, such as co-ops, may charge extra for delivering. 

6.  Forage diversity

Liming will automatically result in an expansion of organisms – mostly crustaceans – to the food pyramid.  Still, many pond managers have broken away from the historical bass-bluegill only scenario to include other prey fishes like threadfin shad.

During the 1990s, there was a popular outdoors show where the host went fishing in Florida for trophy sized bass using golden shiners on a hook.   Golden shiners became the live bait rage across the country even though their native range was the eastern seaboard.  As a result, these shiners became widespread due to “bucket dumping”. 

I don’t recommend stocking golden shiners.  But there’s no doubt in my mind they were responsible for the very large crappie we caught out of Wedgewood Lake.  Both bass and crappie eat goldens like I eat chicken nuggets!

A great success!

Consider this:  the first net seine we pulled on Wedgewood Lake yielded only one bass over 3 pounds, and few bluegill over 6 inches.   Two years later, the sample seine yielded several bass 4 to 6 pounds, and a few dozen bluegill over 7 inches in size - some even over 8 inches.   The lake also ended up producing four state record crappie, ranging from 3.30 lbs up to 4.13 lbs (this was when public waters were eligible).  And I caught my largest bass on fly rod up to that time – almost 6 pounds!

Regulation

This should be the 7th characteristic of a great pond.  Because without proper harvesting guidelines, even the best ponds can go whack in a hurry. 

Eventually word got out that Wedgewood Lake was producing lots of nice bass and crappie.  Because our park wasn’t gated, it was open to public access.  Fishermen would come and line the banks and sometimes load up on stringers.  While I never witnessed anybody breaking any game laws, realize that Louisiana’s very liberal regulations allow 10 bass and 50 crappie per day per angler.  The lake just couldn’t sustain that level of harvesting.  

We tried – to no avail – to have special regulations placed on the lake.  While it didn’t get fished out, the result was an explosion in the threadfin shad and bluegill populations and we ended up with tons of smaller gills and few big ones.  And few bass and crappie.

Now’s the time

Whether it’s a pond on your property, a friend or relative’s pond, or perhaps a small urban lake that your club wants to help improve, now is the time to take action.  As mentioned, liming needs to be done when the water is cold, below 70 degrees, since solubility is higher in cold water.   Sinking trees, logs, or other organic structure should also be done when water is colder and dissolved oxygen is higher.   Use of PVC piping for structure can be done at any time, but I also like winter to do this.

Ride The Bull Bream!

Normally this weekend I'd be down in Grand Isle participating in the annual "Ride the Bull" kayak fishing tournament. This year I was expecting to be out-of-state, so I didn't pre-register.

For those who don't know what Ride the Bull is, a brief explanation. It's basically a big weekend party for kayak anglers, with a tournament thrown in. The tournament takes place each August in a confined area of Caminada Pass. Usually by now the pass is flooded with mature red drum doing their spawning ritual. These fish can weigh anywhere from 10 to 40 pounds. Hooking and landing these brutes from a kayak is more fun than the law allows!

RTB is a contest of luck as much as skill. Folks gather in pods to fish and at times, you can watch dozens of fellow puddlers waiting for a bite. Add all the other activities and it's the reason why there are usually over 500 participants, with 732 anglers in 2015 setting a world record! 

When my plans got delayed, I thought about going down to Grand Isle and registering onsite. But the delay is only a week, and there are still a number of things that need to get done before I leave.

So yesterday morning instead of heading to the coast, I put my kayak in at the nearby launch here on Cotile Lake and did something I've not done in a few weeks - fished for bream.

The full moon of late August is a good starting point to the Fall bream season.  The shadows of the trees have gotten longer, and there are many good shaded bedding areas.  Thanks to radiative cooling, the water temperature has already dropped in the last couple of weeks from 88.1 degrees to 85.3 degrees.  Not much of a drop, but trust me, fish do notice! 

Got to the launch about 9:00am and slid my Native U14 in the water. The peace and solace was almost unreal. Only three boats on a 2,000 acre lake. Along with an osprey, a blue heron, and a small alligator.  Quite the antithesis of the world's largest kayak tournament!

I began working a shoreline. Almost immediately I had bream attacking a size 10 blue popping bug. Most were small, a few keeper size (7-inches or more).  As I came past a point, I could see a large group of beds in 2 feet of water descending past the point of visibility. A cast anywhere in this huge circle brought a dark shadow to the surface. Most of these shadows rushed up, then quickly rushed down. In a few cases, the shadow smacked the bug with great verocity.

For the next half-hour, it was as good as it gets. While most of the surface eaters were around 7 inches, when I switched to subsurface fly, the bream got bigger. It's very rare when the water temp is this warm for bream to fight this hard, but they put a big bend in my 5-weight rod and even pulled my kayak inward to the bedding area. On many occasions, I had to paddle back out after hooking one up. Most of these were bluegill in the 8-inch range, with the chinquapin (redears) slightly larger up to 9 1/2 inches.

Continuing on, I worked the shoreline for another half-mile, occasionally finding a small bed here and there, with very little action in-between. Just before noon, I hit another large bed. Mostly hefty redears. Again, most of the action came in 3 to 5 feet of water on either a Coma Minnow or a Rosborough Hares Ear.

I was just amazed how strong their fight was in 85 degree water. Anyone who fishes bream in September and October will tell you about "fall vigor". When the water temp drops below 80 degrees, sunfish - especially redears - get very active, have more energy, and start putting on weight that was lost during the hot summer months. This is my second favorite time (after early Spring) to fish redears.

By 1:00pm, the heat (92 degrees) had turned off the fish. And me too. The humidity has been low the past few days, so the weatherman says it's a "dry heat" that's not as bad. When you're inches above the surface of a lake, there's no such thing as "dry heat". After gulping down a bottle of cool water, started paddling back in - making a stop on the way at a deepwater dock for some shadow sacalait (crappie).

Total count was 53 bream, 37 keeper size.  Kept 8 bream for the skillet, released the rest. A few came on popping bugs, with most on a chartreuse/pearl Coma Minnow or a rusty Rosborough Hares Ear tied on jighead.

I guess I do miss all the comradery and fun of "Ride The Bull". Will probably be back next year. In the meantime, there are many more days of "Ride The Bull Bream" this Fall and next Spring.
 

Love Is In The Air

Late August thru September is when Louisiana gets invaded by "love bugs". These tiny black and red insects get their name from their mating ritual. Once a male and female are joined together, they fly around looking for automobiles to get splattered on. Or so it seems.

According to Alex Mangini, entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, lovebugs are actually members of the order Diptera, the true flies. They have two generations - one in Spring and one in Fall. The Spring invasion is minor compared to the Fall invasion - at least here in the Cenla area.

When I was young, the old folks used to say the bugs arrived three weeks before the first cool front. This year, the bugs arrived early, the third week of August. Sure enough, we've had an early and prolonged spell of cooler-than-normal weather here in central Louisiana. Today's high was only 78 degrees!

But there's another old tale about these sensual insects. It's that when the bugs stop mating, prime fall fishing begins. This could be because no fish eat these bugs. So when they leave, the bluegill start surface feeding again - making up for lost time! That's one theory. Another is that the bugs leave when the soil temperature reaches a certain point. Love bugs - and their larvae - originate from moist, warm soil. So when the bugs leave, the water temperature is also cool enough for bass and crappie to begin their fall feeding frenzy.

Whichever theory you believe, it seems there's a correlation between the time the bugs disappear and the start of the best fall fishing. I just hope the bugs don't stay around too much longer!

The Y2K Bugger

I've had a number of readers ask about this fly, it's origins and it's recipe.

Back in 1997, after a few previous trips to Yellowstone, we ventured to the east side of the park and Cody, Wyoming. There we fished the North Fork of the Shoshone River and it was love at first cast!  What it lacks in big fish, it makes up for numbers and variety - and a penchant for the trout to rise to dries.

At the local fly shop, we were told there were bigger trout in the tailwater below Buffalo Bill Dam.  What we needed to get those 20-inch browns to eat was a size 4 Yuk Bugger.   The Yuk Bugger is a bushier version of a Woolybugger, with crystal flash body and rubber legs.  We bought a few and sure enough, when one of those browns hit it was bone-jarring!

In 1999, I was about to tie some of these up for a trip when the thought occured, "Why not give it the SR71 treatment?".   The SR71 Woolybugger was my variation on Russ Blessing's classic.  Instead of saddle hackle, I use a schlappen feather.  The SR71B gets it's name because of the fly's swept-back look, much like the famous spy jet of the Cold War era.  I decided to renovate the YukB in the same design.  I called the revision the Y2K Bugger.  At the time, I was working on a project to make our systems Y2K compliant and up to ISO 9000 code. I figured this fly should meet those standards as well, lol.

The Y2K Bugger has been good for trout, but over the last 15 years it's been a major bass fly.  It may imitate small lizards or crawfish.  One thing is certain - it has lots of motion!

Prior to last year, I had used it for smallmouth a few times and did okay. Then last year on a trip to Maine, I broke it out while fishing with Kevin McKay on the Penobscot River.  On a heavy overcast day when poppers were ignored, the Y2K Bugger shined in landing a couple dozen nice bronzebacks.  Then in May, while fishing with Galen Westman on the South Fork of the Shenandoah in Virginia, the Y2K came through again that morning (later the smallies would go nuts on poppers but that was afternoon).

So now the Y2KB has become my favorite submergent fly for bass, whether their mouths are large or small.  There are times when other patterns work better, but I always start off with the Y2KB on one rod and a popper on another.

Now to the part you readers have been waiting for - the recipe!

Thread:  Danville 210 denier flat-waxed, black or burnt orange
Hook: size 4 Mustad 3366 or Gamakatsu B10S
Tail: marabou, olive or rust
Body: Krystal Flash Medium chenille, olive or bonefish tan
Legs: Sili-Legs barred, either yellow/gold-black or olive/green flake (for olive), or orange/orange black (for rust)
Eyes: Brass eyes medium black (Hareline code BEM11) or equivalent
Collar: Schlappen, olive or brown

Instructions:
Tie on the eyes close to the front of the hook. Tie in the marabou at the back end to just over the barb. Tail should be as long as the hook.  Tie in the chenille, then palmer forward. One-third of the way up, stop and tie in 1 or 2 strands of Sili-Legs on each side. Tie them forward, then pull them back and tie backward.  Continue wrapping chenille past the legs. Two-thirds of the way up, stop and tie in 1 strand of legs on each side.  Again, using the tie forward / pull back / tie over. Continue with chenille to just behind the eyes - but do NOT crowd!  If possible, leave a tiny gap. Before tying in the schlappen feather, first cut off the tip and the "webby" end.  Tie the feather at the truncated tip and wrap 3 times, then tie off with the thread. Pull the feather tips backward and build up the thread behind the eye. Coat the threads and eye with UV epoxy or other hard durable coat.

For you fellow pond gurus, this fly is a killer on pond bass when surface action is slow.  Give it a try and tell us (on Facebook) what you think!

IFTD 2017 - the preamble

Hey, Guru Fans!  I'm using this blog to report on what's going on this week at the International Fly Tackle Dealer (IFTD) in Orlando.  For the fourth year, it's being held in conjunction with the International Convention of Sportfishing Trades (ICAST).  The co-joined show is the world's largest fishing trade show and is open only to buyers and media.

What makes this show so exciting for many of us who live the fishing life - or write about it - is the opportunity to view the new products for the coming year.  They are usually unveiled at ICAST / IFTD each summer.  For me, it's also about seeing and testing a lot of products that the public usually doesn't see.  It's sort of a crusade of mine - to enlighten the fly fishing world.

You see, this all started with a column I write for Louisiana Sportsman (my Fly Lines column).   Many years back, I had looked at several magazines at new products and basically what I read was verbatim from the companies' press releases.  I felt this was "fake news" and that consumers deserved better.

I attended the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) Southern Conclave each year, which is held in the first full weekend of October.  It's the first major public fly fishing show following IFTD.  At that time, most of the major rod companies, and several of the reel and line companies exhibited at Southern.   So I used Southern as my opportunity to examine and test the new products and write up on them.

These columns were wildly popular - and still are.  Trouble is, some years back there was a rift between the FFF Southern Council and their show's exhibitors.  Don't know what it was.  All I knew is that suddenly I found myself without ample material.  Despite the added cost - and valuable vacation time - I started attending IFTD.

IFTD proved to be a gold mine of resources.  As good as it was, when AFFTA - the organization that puts on Fly Tackle Dealer - decided to merge it's show with ICAST, the good got awesome!  You see, fly fishing or conventional fishing tackle is only a fraction of the overall fishing universe.  Accessories, clothing, travel gear, maps, coolers, etc, etc, are a larger subset of both.  I saw very, very little of those at the original IFTD.

Which is why I'm a little saddened right now. Back in March, AFFTA announced that in 2019 and 2020, they would split from ICAST and hold their show in Denver in October.  There were many solid business reasons to join with ICAST.  And one big reason to depart - "Orlando in July".  Apparently, not only is ICAST returning to Orlando in July for 2019 and 2020, but on Tuesday they'll be voting to extend it in Orlando to 2024.  Yes, 2024!

The majority of AFFTA members are located in the West, Midwest and Northeast.  I realize that traveling to Orlando during the middle of "SweatFest" is no fun.  Much less having to put up with the worst traffic east of Houston (only a million families here for all the theme parks).
 
Tomorrow is the first day. Although the exposition doesn't start until Wednesday (and runs thru Friday)  IFTD will have a Demo Day in the morning, while ICAST has an "On The Water" event thru midday.  I hope to test several new rods and compare them to existing models. And get it done before the midday heat  (it was 97 today!).