Teaching Kids to Fish Part Deux




On a sunny fall day, the Captains of Mikey D Fishing took on one of their biggest challenges to date... Teaching Jamie Pierce to fish.   After several mild corrections ("Its not a pole, it's a rod.  We're not cane fishing on a pond"), we arrived at Rainbow Paradise.   It truly was a Rainbow Paradise... lots of large, hungry, and captive trout of all variety, eager to help Jamie learn the fine art of Fly Fishing.  Captain CC provided excellent instruction, and soon Jamie was on the fish!   We caught a few tiger, rainbow, and even a brook trout, using both a San Juan Worm and a beetle.  Capt Joe was on hand to demonstrate different casting techniques, and both the Captains got some time to get on the fish themselves.  We followed up the day with a final few casts at Fishing Creek in pursuit of a beautiful golden trout, but he was not very interested that evening.  


Great day with Mikey D Fishing... teaching and fishing.  It's what they do best.



Teaching Kids to Fish


Sometimes in fishing, patience is the most important virtue.  This certainly proved true on a recent outing with Bill McHugh aboard MikeyDFishing. Bill had been aboard before, but conditions were less than ideal on past trips and we returned to the dock without a fish story to tell.  After viewing the blog post featuring a former squadron mate's success (See Oct 9, "Early Fall Blitz")  Bill was anxious to find a respectable fish versus the "dinks" that he landed the last time out. 


We entered Whitehall Bay on a cool autumn morning.  The sun wasn't strong enough to burn a fog bank lingering over the Severn to the east of us.  Water temperatures were finally below the 70 degree mark.  An ideal set up for larger stripers.  Just outside of the Mill Creek channel small pods of baitfish were breaking the surface.  Smaller terns dove in and out of the nervous water.  While that was promising, Captains DiPaola and Felker have noticed that the trigger are the larger gulls that sense when larger stripers and bluefish are slashing through the alewife and norfolk spot in order to snag the scraps.


With a dearth of sea birds above, we transitioned into the Severn to look for more activity and to see if the fog provided additional cover for stripers to come to the surface.  The Lowrance indicated a lot of fish below, but we were unable to produce a hookup by jigging metal jigs.


Time was running out before Bill and Joe had to start their work days, so we took another look in Whitehall Bay.  Small groups of gulls were gathering just off the shoreline where the water depth was 8-10'.  Captain Joe tossed a metal jig in the middle of breaking fish in an effort to get down below the action.  Simultaneously, Bill launched a "Smack-it" top water lure just outside of the bulk of the action.  A few short jerks of the rod tip soon produced a strike followed by a strong pull that was a clear indication to grab the net.  While Bill didn't land a keeper, he did find redemption!  



Tight Lines,


Mikey D Fishing!

Potter County Home Waters

I don't know if there are any truths in fly fishing.  But if there is one, it's that fly fishing is a pursuit that is at best aspirational.

I'll admit, though, that this morning challenged that truth a bit.  I glanced out the kitchen window and noticed deer in the field.  That's nothing new.  But this morning they were running around the field, which was somewhat odd.  So I grabbed my coffee and walked out on the deck to watch a four-point buck chasing eight does in the field.  The whole exercise lasted on twenty minutes or so, and all the buck seemed to get was exercise, as the does didn't seem favorable to his advances.

Though the buck failed (at least in the open) to achieve his objective, it seemed to me a good omen.  So around 1130 I lit off to check out the main stem of fishing creek, just below the property.  The weather was perfect; temps in the low 60s, trees just having passed their peak.  A great day to be out fishing.

But, and here's where the expectations hit the wall, the stream was almost impassable.  If it wasn't the swampy banks, it was the brush and shoulder high grass.  My sense is that the beavers have been busy, and not in a good way.  So after a half dozen slips and falls, I managed my way back to the truck and home.  I considered heading up to the Allegheny, but I was so beat from bushwhacking my way down Fishing Creek that I decided to head back to the cabin and try the west branch behind the cabin.  The lower stretch was holding about 5-6 trout, but the sun was still up and the fish were spooky.  So I moved up to the upper hole.  This spot held about 3-4 fish, including a nice Brownie and a really nice Golden.  

As I approached the hole I noticed the Brownie hanging up at the head of the pool, which looked to me an opportune time to toss a terrestrial.  So I tied on a foam ant, gave it a cast, and WHAM!, Mr. Brownie spooked and dove straight for the deep part of the pool.  Disappointed, I decided to keep the ant on and give it a few more casts.  Turned out to be the right call, as Mr. Brownie launched from the dark and inhaled the ant.  A short fight ensued, and a 15 inch fish came to the bank.

Having gotten the skunk off, it was time to make an attempt at the Golden.  Now, many have tried to tie into this fish, which goes at least 18 inches.  But to date the fish has refused anything thrown to it.  So I was not holding my breath when I tossed one of Breitmeier's caddis pupa nymphs in the clear water in front of him.  Expectations were set appropriately when the trout nosed the nymph and turned away.  But then it did the unexpected, swimming back and taking the fly on the second approach.  I set the hook and a brief fight was on, as there wasn't anywhere for the fish to go with the low water.  After about 2 minutes the fish had tired enough for me to get it to the bank for a quick picture before returning it to the pool:

Expect to catch fish and you're likely to be disappointed, and miss the whole point of fishing in the fist place.  Aspiring to catch a trout, though, seems to puts things into perspective.  You might not bring one to the net,  but you'll realize how lucky you are to be on the stream.

Tight lines
Mike D Fishing

Early Fall Bay Blitz

How do you describe what happens when the Bay water temps fall to 70 degrees … EPIC!

 

Last Sunday Captains DiPaola and Felker headed out to put some fish in the box.  Word from Anglers Sports Center was that the fishing was good up around Love Point, which a few miles north of the Bay Bridge on the eastern shore.  So our initial plan was to head north.  But as we left the dock around 1000 and entered Whitehall Bay we saw birds working the surface, and decided to stop and at least get the skunk off before we headed north. 

 

(Looking for working birds is the sign during the fall that there’s action going on underneath.  But it’s not just seeing birds work, but the types of birds working, that makes a big difference.  Terns dive for baitfish.  Seagulls, however, are lazy (or efficient), and only dive when they see a sure meal, like pieces of baitfish cut up by blitzing Stripers and Bluefish)

 

Hitting the first school turned out to be a good call, as we immediately tied into a 16 inch Striper.  From there the plan changed, which not only saved us gas, but gave us more time to tie into fish.  For the next 6 hours the action was white hot.  We spent the day chasing schools of 16-20 inch fish, catching at least 25-30 fish over 16 inches, and putting three in the box that all went just over 21 inches.  The fish were hitting underneath on metal jigs, and on top water lures as well.  It was amazing to see 20 inch fish slashing the surface.  We even managed a sea trout on one of the jigs, a first for Mikey D Fishing.

 

Tuesday morning the bite slowed a tad but we (including Joe’s former squadron mate Tom Dougherty still managed a dozen or so Rocks, another sea trout, and two keepers in the box in just under three hours of fishing.  Probably more important was the lesson we got from the WCO who pulled alongside of us to measure our smallest fish.  Normally a cause for irritation, this time the visit from our friendly DNR cop was beneficial.  We had initially measured the Striper at 20 inches, so we were confident it was a good fish.  Turns out we were wrong, but in a good way.  The DNR officer took our fish and put him on the tape.  But then I noticed that he squeezed the tail of the Striper, and actually took the measure from the snout to the tip of the tail.  We had been measuring from the snout to the fork, which would have turned a lot of the 18-19 inch fish that we had netted on Sunday into 20-22 inch fish!

 

Thursday the bite dropped off significantly, as we only netted a couple of fish in the morning.  But we’ll take one slow day for the two great days of action.  Forecast has the bay temps continuing to drop, which according to the experts means the bigger fish are going to be feeding heavily.