What's that smell?

Sometimes, I just get to feeling a little uneasy doing the same old things. Fishing the same old streams, catching (probably) the same old trout in the same old spots. So for that reason (and the enormous wild fire that blocked me from getting to some of my favorite spots) I decided that I should dedicate a few trips to try and get into some bass on the fly. 

First thing first, I needed to tie up some specialized bass flies. Now, I knew that I really didn’t need to tie up any new flies, I just wanted to tie something different. So I tied up some bass poppers that turned out pretty good (at least they look good to me!).  It was surprisingly easy thanks to a good video series on youtube (just search "tying deer hair popper").

After searching the internet for an idea of where to go, plus asking a couple of people on the fishing forums for their opinions, I decided to head down to Redmond Reservoir for the evening. I figured maybe I’d get a Large Mouth Bass, but if not I’d still have a shot at a Pike, Carp or Catfish.

Upon arrival I was almost instantly discouraged by the color of the water. It wasn’t exactly pristine, being what looked to me like the color of coffee with some creamer in it (but at least it looked like it had creamer in it right?). Having sworn that I’d stick to the destination where I told my wife I’d be, I decided to stay. I launched my sweet kick-boat (I’ve always referred to them as kick-boats because ‘pontoon boat’ always manages to conjure up images of the huge party boats where you and twenty-five of your closest friends can hit the lake) on the east side of the lake and quickly moved out to the closest island. The wind was just heavy enough to keep me from ever being able to stop kicking, but not bad enough that it was actually moving me away from where I wanted to be. I figured that later in the evening was when the Bass fishing would really pick up, so I tried for some of the carp that were clooping in the shallows (the whole lake seems to be pretty shallow, I’m just referring to where you could see their dorsal fins above the water as they worked). I managed to hook into a couple of these, although I didn’t land any thanks to the thick vegetation, still a rush to feel that huge tug though. 

Long story short, I worked around the island but never saw anything but carp. Good workout in the kick-boat, but a shoddy evening of catching. It’s always a little humiliating to come back home smelling of skunk, but those are the breaks. Anyone who says they’ve never been blanked while out fishing is taking the whole “fishermen are liars” thing too far...