Monday, April 1, 2013

February/March


February:


The month of February was my slowest month of fishing in a long time, I only landed four fish.  Frigid temperatures and ice cover kept me at bay for most of the month. Chances were few and far between, when a fish did finally reveal itself it was do or die. This time of year the water temperature renders my favorite insects pretty much dormant, which makes throwing a damsel or a dragonfly nymph pattern a waste of time. The fish also seem to react better to a bright colored fly opposed to a natural colored one when water temperatures are in the 30’s. So my fly of choice was a sucker spawn.




Don't mess it up... It might be your only chance of the day.




March:


March on the other hand was the best month of fishing I've had in a long time. Air temperatures worked their way into the 40’s for most of the month. Despite a beautiful 50+ degree weekend followed by a solid week of snow, the fishing remained excellent. My tactics pretty much remained the same, fishing mostly to cruising fish within the water column. One thing I did do differently was I incorporated my Carp Dragon into the mix more often. My top fly for the month of March was again the sucker spawn. But as usual my largest fish of the month came on my Carp Dragon, the bigger wiser fish always seem to avoid the sucker spawn…they know.



Getting down and dirty with the Jumbo Spawn







Caught this fish over a dozen times in the past 15 years... Poor fish has seen better days.




The smallest of the month. One of my favorites.




Silo.



Weaponry 



Auto-capture fail






The fish of the month... Found the Carp Dragon irresistible. 







A pair of snow cruisers


So much for Spring...



There is no shame in casting at one pounders...


Putting my cousin on some carp...








Fly of the Month(s): Sucker Spawn




Carp Dragon doing work...


One fat comet...


Good photo, but I have permission to fish the pond.







4 comments:

Gregg said...

Great synopsis! Are any ponds spring influenced in any way? Here unless they are I find no fish, none, until early early March.

Gregg

Adam said...

Thanks Gregg. The majority of the ponds I fish are spring fed.

JM said...

Absolutely amazing. Do you retrieve the "spawn" at all ? Like a very slow hand-roll ? Or just like it sit there to be found ?

Adam said...

JM, I sight fish the spawn leading the cruising fish a great distance. I place the fly in their path and let it lay motionless as they approach it. They are very visual feeders, they will see the fly from a long ways away and meander over and pick it off the bottom.