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!).

Cokie masters the Smallmouth!

A few weeks back, Lisa, my daughter Cokie and I joined 24 other members of the Louisiana Hiking Club on a group trip to Shenandoah National Park.

Prior to the trip, our daughter Corinne received her Masters degree from Southeastern, earning several honors including Magna Cum Laude and  Outstanding Graduate Student honors in her department. I told her that my gift for her accomplishments would be a fly fishing trip. She thought it would be with me to the lake so she wasn't too excited.

However, I had something else in mind. Back in February at the Atlanta Fly Fishing Show, I attended a presentation on fly fishing in Virginia. I knew there was smallmouth fishing in the western part of the state, but didn't realize how truly good it was. Being that I love fishing for smallies, I decided to book a trip as soon as plans on the LHC hike were finalized.

My first call went to the guy who gave the presentation, but he was booked the first half of the week and that was conflicting with our best hikes. He recommended Galen Westman of Shenandoah Valley Fly Fishing. Turns out Galen had an open day on Sunday prior to all our major hikes, so that was perfect.

We met him in Luray about 9:00am and loaded up our gear. Although I'd brought my Redington Predator and Ross FlyStik bass rods, we decided to use his TFO setups which worked out great. We were planning to do a full day float in Galen's inflatable raft on the South Fork of the Shenandoah, one of five prime smallmouth rivers in the area. The only caveat was the weather - an 80-percent chance of rain that afternoon.

No sooner had we launched than we started catching fish. I pulled up a couple nice bronzies on one of Galen's crawfish patterns. I forgot what Cokie was using, but she was catching quite a few in the 8-10 inch range.

Then things slowed down and we began experimenting with different flies. I had brought my bass box and pulled out an olive Y2K Bugger which I killed the smallies with in Maine, Arkansas and North Carolina last year. As well as largemouths all the time here at home.  It did it's magic, and started hooking up smallies left and right.  Mostly small, but even a 12-inch smallie can double up a 7-weight rod!  As Jeff Guerin says, "they fight like wet cats!".

Things were still going slow for Cokie, so Galen suggested a popper. Especially since we now had heavy cloud cover. The popper worked okay, but it seemed they wanted something with a little more "show". Again I pulled something out of my box - Stephen Robert blue/white popper.

I don't know what it is about Stephen's poppers, but damn! They sure catch fish! Even moreso than my beloved Boogle Bugs. As it turned out, that was the only fly Cokie would fish the rest of the day. Twice the body fell off the hook from vicious strikes and Galen was able to secure it back on using UV epoxy. At one point she caught 13 in 19 casts! Including the biggest smallmouth of the day - 17 inches!

After losing my 3rd and last Y2K Bugger, I began trying different flies from the box. Two worked pretty good - my own Coma Crawfish and Daniel Moss' Kray Phish pattern. Not nearly as many smallies as Cokie was catching, but more decent fish on average, 12 to 15 inches.

We ended up with almost 100 smallmouth. We also caught about a dozen redeye rock bass and several hugamongously-thick longears. They must've been bedding because their bellies were 4-inches thick!

Not a drop of rain fell on us this day, and we even had a few periods of sunlight. Although shore lunches are pretty standard fare on trips, I must say this was one of the better ones we've had. I've been blessed to have fished with several wonderful smallmouth guides across the country, as well as some great guides for trout and saltwater, and Galen definitely fits that distinction. The young man was very patient, and knowledgable. And knowing that I was a certified casting instructor, he allowed me to give Cokie advise on her casting. Yes, she struggled a bit early and often, but by the afternoon she was laying out line like a pro! Let's just say after 4 years in graduate school her skills had gotten a little rusty.

In hindsight, booking that Sunday was a very wise decision. The rain did come - and stayed. The original forecast had called for highs in 70s and lows in the upper 50s. Instead we had highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s until Thursday. And heavy fog. Fortunately all the rain - and boy was it heavy - came at night so the club was able to enjoy our hikes. And even a day trip to Montpelier and Monticello. Wednesday night we had  heavy rain, 48-degrees and 40-mph winds!  Sleeping in a tent in those conditions takes a lot of faith that God will keep you safe!

On Galen's recommendation, I did make one more fishing trip for brook trout. We'd hiked along several of the park's many dozens of small streams and on each occasion, I spotted trout in the waters. Even a couple of 10-11 inch brooks which are considered big fish for these waters.

So I packed up my TFO Finesse 3-weight and hiked back one of those trails. All the rain made stream fishing difficult, not so much clarity but just difficult to get fish to rise in swiftly moving water. But I did manage a couple dozen, all 5-8 inches before finding a pool where I hooked up with two of those "big" fish. Got a few pics of them in the water and did a quick rod-tip release.

The bonus of this fishing day was that I sighted a black bear - my 4th of the trip. But before I could snap a picture, a little girl on the trail spotted it too and began yelling. You can't imagine how fast a scared black bear can disappear!

So long, Pete, until we meet again

Yesterday I received some heartbreaking news that Pete Cooper had passed away. It was somewhat expected. After a long battle with cancer, Pete had recently been placed in hospice care. Within hours of the news, Facebook was flooded with sympathies and rememberances from his many friends. And many others who had been influenced by the "Louisiana Fly Guy".

I'd known Pete since 1988. Back then, only a very few of us in this state had ever caught a redfish on fly rod, but Pete had been doing it for 17 years! Not just doing it, but writing about it. In fact, shortly after meeting him for the first time, he left his oilfield job and began writing full-time. The rest is history: he went on to pioneer offshore fly fishing in the state, write for several state and national magazines, establish the state fly rod record listings, give seminar talks across the country, author four books, and much more. For his written contributions to fishing, fly fishing, and hunting, he was inducted into the Louisiana Outdoors Hall of Fame.

Pete was the original Fly Lines columnist for Louisiana Sportsman magazine. I took over for him 17 years ago when the national magazines came calling. Since I organized countless events over the years, I was in frequent contact with him as a presenter. So we talked a lot on the phone, but never fished together. That was until a few years ago.

Most will remember Pete for all his saltwater contributions. But he loved fishing ponds and creeks. In fact, his last book was "The Fine Art of Creek Fishing". One of my favorites. He, myself and fellow warmwater fanatic and good friend Larry Offner would meet down at small pond in Jennings. It's a neat pond that offers good year-round fly fishing for bass, crappie, bluegills and redears.  One day, Pete calls me and tells me he visited the pond and caught some hefty redears. The next day I was down and sure enough, there were some big-uns! That's what made Pete so special... always willing to share a secret or two!

Another of his favorite spots was Kisatchie Bayou, just up the road from where I now live. Soon I hope to go there and revisit some of Pete's spots. Spotted bass, that is. Being the good conservationist he was, I know he left a few for us to enjoy. 

A Fathers Day recalled

With Fathers Day approaching, seems like a good time to flashback to one of my favorite pond memories.

A few years back, my two sons and daughter were all home for the weekend and decided to make Saturday "Take Dad Fishing Day". Mom cooked us all a hearty breakfast, then we were on our way to one of the local ponds in Baton Rouge.

This particular pond is managed by LDWF as catch-and-release for bass and bream, and there are good size fish of both species.

The boys - Cosmos and Tiger Jake - decided that a little competition would be fun. Cokie accepted the challenge although she hadn't been fishing in several months and her fly casting was a bit rusty.

I decided to tag with her, figuring she might need my help.

On her third cast, Cokie laid a yellow and black Accardo Spook between two clumps of matted algae.  Up from the depths came a big bass, swimming non-chalantly. It stopped just inches from her popper and stared it down.

She lifted the tip of her rod so slowly, as to only nudge the popper, and make it's legs flutter without the body pushing water.  That must've triggered an instinct, because then Ol' Bucketmouth rose a couple inches to the surface and slurped it up!  Then swam to whence he came.

Now I would've set the hook the instant the bass inhaled it. But Cokie waited just a second longer, until it turned back down.  Then she set the hook. Later I realized that action probably kept her from losing that baskeen.

Needless to say, it was a spectacular fight and the fish jumped at least three times! I kept giving advise, but I think it was largely ignored. She knew what she was doing... as if she'd been doing it forever.

As the morning went on, the bigger the deficit grew between her and her brothers. I began to realize that, while she hadn't mastered casting or knots like her brothers, she'd mastered  something more important - the art of observation.  She had taken notice of the insect behavior on the pond, the things I was doing to catch fish, and imitated those actions.

Even when it comes to fishing - being a successful Dad is leading by example.

Bass On The Fly

I've been wanting to fish Bass on the Fly since it's inception and there's always been a conflict.  Ted Warren does an excellent job on putting on this event, and the many sponsors are generous.  And it's for a great cause - Reel Recovery.  So I was very excited about making it this year.  And after a rough weekend at Paddlepalooza, a chance for some redemption!

This was my first trip ever to Lake Fork.  And while I've fished several lakes in east Texas, I discovered this is NOT one of the Piney Hills Lakes.  Rather it's a prairie lake much like Lewisville and Grapevine.  From what I researched, the best types of flies and colors were different also.

So I decided to leave on Thursday to get acquainted with Fork.  Not that it helped...  the wind was 25-30 out of the north when I arrived.  And it stayed that way on Friday.  But I was able to figure out a pattern for the bass and one for the bream.  Even one for the crappie, although that wasn't a target species for this event.

Friday afternoon got things going and there were a number of activities.  The Bream Fly Contest began at 3pm and ended at 6pm and had 14 participants.  Several went out in boats and kayaks, but I did my fishing from the bank at Lake Fork Marina and caught several big bream, of which 3 measured at 9 inches.  Eric Dilts came in 2nd with 8.5 inches.

Saturday was the main event and there were about 30 participants in each of the two divisions (kayak and boat).  I went with a Boogle Bug frog-colored popper early and landed 3 nice bass in the first two hours, largest was 19.5 inches.  An hour later, I switched to an olive Y2K Bugger and lost a bass probably 11-12 inches.  That would turn out to be my only disappointment of the day.  After that, it went dead cold.  I managed to catch a big bream on the Y2KB, so I pulled out my bream rod and proceeded to work that bed for about 40 bream, none of which was smaller than 8 inches!

Got back to the launch and talked to some commie anglers who had come in.  One boat had one good bass, and another had one dink bass.  So now I'm thinking I might have a real shot at winning this event.  Turns out that despite very tough conditions on the lake - barometer was off the scale!!! - some good catches were made by the fly guys.  I ended up 3rd in Kayak Bass, only 6 inches out of first place.  But well enough to get into the money (5 places awarded).   My big bass was 2nd place, and my big bream (for Saturday's pool) took 1st place.

Later, I also took 1st place in the Distance Casting Contest after Russell Husted and I had a "Cast Off" since we both  tied for longest distance in the contest.  And I won a Simms Boat Bag as a door prize.

A few observations about Lake Fork...
1.  I plan to go back soon.  It's only 4 hours away.  The fish are big for their length and fight like hell.
2.  I catch lots of 8 and 9-inch bream in the Kisatchie lakes, but Fork bream this length are totally different.  They're shaped like dinner plates and at least 2 inches thick.  Landing them on a 5-weight almost requires a gaff!
3.   What I said about bream - ditto for bass.  The smallest bass I landed in both "practice" and competition was 13.5 inches and was shaped like a damn football. 
4.  I won't be going on a weekend due to boat traffic.  Thursday afternoon and Friday morning were okay.  Friday afternoon was bad.  Saturday was insane. 
5.  It's a big lake but with many arms, and there are many good spots within a mile or less of a marina.  So except for boat traffic, it's kayak friendly.

So I did quite well for my first Bass on the Fly World Championship.  I might even go back next year.  Just kidding, I WILL go back next year.

Hodges Gardens

Since moving to central Louisiana, I've fished several area waters with large redear sunfish - otherwise known among us Cajuns as chiquapin (pronounced chick-a-pin). Maybe not as large as the four and five-pound giants that come out of Lake Havasu in Arizona, or Merritts Mill Pond in Florida, but large by Bayou State standards. I'm talking 10 to 12 inches in length.

Two of those don't require a boat. Anderson Pond near Pitkin and Hodges Gardens State Park near Florien. Both lakes are small, do not allow motorboat traffic and have large areas of clear bank. More in the realm of pond fishing than lake fishing.

On this day I went to Hodges. The wife enjoys the gardens and I get to go fishing. Win - win!

You can rent a jon boat with trolling motor, canoe or kayak. But I decided to do the bank thing. Not that I didn't mind spending the money, just that I was feeling lazy. I rigged up my 5-weight rod with a bass bug and my 4-weight with a size 14 Rosborough Hare's Ear until a tiny football indicator.

I started with the bass setup but managed only just one in two hours. The lake has a good number of bass, but once again a late spring cool front had pushed through and probably sent them deep. So I changed rigs.

No sooner than I cast the four-weight with the RHE, the tiny float plunged underneath and I set the hook. For a short time, I thought "maybe it's a bass". Turned out to be a 10-inch chiquapin. Turned it loose, then made another cast to the same area. Same result.

Each of these chinks was in the 10 to 11 inch range and full of fight. It was good to have brought the 4-weight rather than the 2-weight otherwise I would've needed a gaff to land them! Much to my wife's chagrin, I turned them all loose.

While it was a great day at the park, I received some sad news before leaving. Turns out that Hodges is on the list for possible closure due to state budget constraints. The Sabine and Vernon parish officials are working hard to prevent this.  They need the tourism dollars as much as I need my favorite redear bank fishing spot. 

Mardi Gras bassin'

In Louisiana, Mardi Gras is a holiday. My good friend Kevin "Doc" Andry is like me. We both love fly fishing from kayaks. And we both have the good sense to stay away from Mardi Gras festivities.

Doc does his own blog, "Kayak Fishing With Kevin", which has a fairly large following. It's my favorite, for sure. I knew if I invited him to come fish for Mardi Gras, he'd have material for his blog and I'd have material for my column in Louisiana Sportsman. Win - win!

Of course, that's all predicated on us catching fish. But when we fish together it seems God gives his blessings and we do quite well. He made the 3-hour drive to my house on Sunday evening, giving us two days of fishing.

I realize this is a pond blog, but the reason I'm posting here is because that first day was spent at nearby 70-acre Valentine Lake.  For all practical purposes, it's a really big pond and fishes as such. No motorboats are allowed, so kayakers love this place. Although the lake's fertility is fairly low, it has lots of submerged grass, deep stumps and artificial structure.  It also annually produces a few bass over 10 pounds.  The state's 2nd largest bass - 15.88 pounds - was caught here on conventional tackle.

What Doc and I were interested in was each getting a solid entry into the Bayou Coast Kayak Fishing Club's / Masseys Outfitters Fish Pix tournament. This is a year-long CPR event with a Fly Rod Division.

The morning started out great for me. Using a size 4 frog-colored Boogle Bug, and with the help of heavy cloud cover, I managed to get several bass in the 10-14 inch range to eat on top.  Then in the span of 10 minutes, I landed a 15 3/4" and a 16 1/2".

Doc was way behind, but catching up. His Crease Fly was getting some vicious strikes. I often joke that he's Louisiana's Crease Fly Ambassador. But on this day the joke was on me! I watched as he hooked and landed a solid 17-inch bass.

The wind was coming up, the storm clouds were gathering in advance of a front. The bite had slacked off completely. It was time to head back for some of my wife's famous gumbo and toast another fine day on the water. 

Want more, bigger fish? Act now!

Your pond doesn't produce big fish. Or lots of fish. Or both. There's potentially several reasons why. Let's address the most common.

If your soil has low pH, then probably your pond has low water hardness. You can use a pool kit to test, or bring a water sample to a pool supply dealer and let them test. If the hardess is less than 20 ppt calcium carbonate, then you have an issue.

Many years ago I took a pond management course and one of the first things I learned was that biggest impediment to fish production was low water hardness. Most community water coops define anything above 150 ppt as "hard". There are very few lakes in the country that measure over 100 ppt. One of those was False River near New Roads. At one time, it had one of the highest gamefish populations of any lake in America. The fly fishing on that lake was incredible. Due to environmental reasons, False River now gives false hope to anglers.

To get the hardness of a pond up, just add lime. Simple, right? Until you calculate the amount of lime required. For a 7-acre lake - like the one we had in our neighborhood - getting the hardness up from 20 ppt to 50 ppt required 8 tons of ag lime. Fortunately, ag lime in bulk is fairly inexpensive.  And if you have a little help from friends, delivering it into your lake can be done in a half-day.

However, timing and delivery method are extremely important. CaCO3 has very low solubility. It's also unusual in that its solubility decreases as the water temperature warms.  Another property is that carbon dioxide dissolves it readily. So... to get the maximum effect, the pond owner should apply lime in winter both directly to the pond in shallow water, or along it's banks. The spring rains - which contain moderate amounts of carbon dioxide - will help increase hardness even further.

With the 7-acre lake I mentioned, we undertook the project in early February. By late April, the water hardness was up to 40 ppt. At that time we went ahead with a fertilization. Let me make this clear: fertilizing a low hardness water does nothing for it. Period! Previous attempts at fertilizing this pond had no impact whatsoever.

After the liming - and the doubling of the hardness - the fertilizer worked miracles.  The pond color turned from dark yellow to a rich green. Within a year, the hardness had increased another 8 ppt and the bluegill and redears were big and thick. The shad population exploded. The bass took every advantage of all this protein and soon we had loads of multi-pound fish.

Now the liming and fertilization certainly made a big difference. But during this time we also undertook another project where we added vegetation and structure. The combination of all these things turned our neighborhood lake into a small fishing paradise! 

Bill Brown remembered

This past week we were very saddened to learn of the passing of Bill Brown. Bill was a longtime member of the Red Stick Fly Fishers, one of club member, one of it's most active members, and a good friend to all.  Over many years, he served in various positions on the club board, but most memorably as Warmwater Chair and Membership Chair. During his tenure as Membership Chair, he continually recruited new members such that our club maintained it's status as one of the largest fly clubs on the northern Gulf Coast. Equally as impressive was his dedication to our annual "Red Stick Day" event. His hard work and attention to details as a co-chairman of the Events Committee was reason for it's annual success.

Probably Bill's greatest contribution to our club - and even to the world of fly fishing - was his long-running series of "Eternal Novice" articles he wrote for "The Red Letter" newsletter. These were educational pieces often written in a storytelling format. It reflected his personal philosophy - one that many of us adopted - that in fly fishing, one never stops learning!

Christmas season crappie

Tough decision today.  Either go pick up a Christmas tree and decorate it, or go fishing.  Had to really think about it... for 2 seconds.

It's colder now and the sacalait are bunched up.  Belle of the Bayou - my faithful collie and sometimes fishing companion - joined me in the canoe.  She's as good a fish finder as my Hummingbird. 

Fished 3 flies - Two Fluff Butts under a tiny strike indicator and a Silli Butt. Both worked near structure.  Fluff Butt colors were body/tail of olive/olive and black/chartreuse.  Silli Butt color was a body/tail of olive / chartreuse flake. 

Caught 17 sacs, all were released.  Yeah, they eat well.  But it's Christmas season and I'm in a giving mood.