Every year, I ask to go fishing around my birthday, and this year was no different. After much prepping, a new trolling motor battery, and several dry runs, the boat was ready. We loaded our fly rods, boat bags, fly boxes, and planned a day of catching.
Not long after we got out on the lake, we began to experience a engine problems. Being the handy person that he is, Cody had our engine problems solved, and off we continued. Seeing and casting to fish, and then having them chase the fly is oh so much fun. Cody had more fun, as he caught fish; first of the day, a Gasper Goo. I had followers but no takers. Then, Cody caught a rather nice Bluegill.
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| Gasper Goo |
Having targeted all the fishy spots and shady spots, we moved locales. I missed much of the trip as I needed to change from floating reel to sinking spool, and make a better fly choice. Cody continued catching, adding a Blue Catfish to his list. Finally, I was able to add a Largemouth Bass, not big, but I was thrilled I wasn't skunked.
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| Penguin Photobomber |
Moving locales, we found our attention was needed. We then set out to purposefully catch very small Sunfish, which Cody succeeded. My job was to keep them from escaping the net, I almost executed my duties completely, but Cody added Green Sunfish and Bluegill.
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| Sacrificial food source |
We moved again, and though the area looked incredibly fishy and fish lit up the fish finder, we both left the area with no catches. Cody let me pick the next area, and Voila! it was teeming with some of the biggest Sunfish I've ever seen in our boat. I kept getting hits, while Cody was catching...and weighing, yes, weighing Sunfish. Upon examining my well-fished GirlieBugger, it had NO HOOK! Yes, that's right, all the teasing hits, and the well placed casts with a 350 grain sinking line was for naught. Somewhere in the evening, I had a particularly enthusiastic hit that blew up my fly. Mollified that I wasn't as bad an angler as I had believed because I couldn't set the hook, I was disheartened because I waited so long to inspect the fly. Meanwhile, Cody continued catching a weighing Sunfish, all of which exceeded 3/4 of a pound, with one being an ounce away from weighing a pound. These were P-I-G hogs!
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| 1 oz. shy of a pound! |
I can't think of a better way to celebrate a birthday. Those were some nice bluegill taken on the fly. Never heard of a Gasper Goo. Do you guys eat that fish, or is it considered a trash fish? Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteHi, Bill.
DeleteA Gasper Goo is a colloquial nickname for a Freshwater Drum. Though we have never eaten one we have caught, we have eaten one, and they are a tasty fish. Our skiff has no live well, so we released it.