Got the boat out today, finally!! Today was one of those days of many milestones in this thing called fishing that I'm obsessed with.
Got the boat on the water. I've had it for a few weeks now and just haven't found any spare time to get it out. Today I was able to take off work and we went for it.
I used my new Rainshadow switch rod that I built. This thing is a monster of a rod! I don't think I ever realized what shooting line meant until now. This thing throws line a mile! It was really cool to be sitting in the boat while trolling along and pick out targets like logs, rocks, and submerged stumps to throw to. Where I'd usually come up short with my 5 wt 9ft, with this rod I was actually over shooting my targets. The down fall is that it's so big and bulky that it's hard to be delicate when you need to be.
I tied some wooly buggers specifically in the hopes of catching bass. These were a size 6 hook with a bead head, lots of lead, flashing and rubber legs. All black. Now I'm thinking I should have made them chartreuse, so I'll be tying up more. Maybe I can ad a pic of these flies soon.
We fished from about 10 am until 12:30 with not a bite or sight of a fish. So we decided to eat lunch. After lunch we tried the other side of the lake. We drifted along the shore about 50 feet out. The wind was just perfect to keep us moving slowly and steadily at the same distance from the shore. I started throwing my fly at logs along the shore and sure enough I came up with the first one! Next cast another! Then another and another that got off before I could land them. Then I landed a third. At this point we had to get going, just when the fishing got hot! We had a good run for about 20 minutes.
The best part about today was getting my Father out on the water. We have not fished together in years...since I was a kid actually. Dad got a day license and decided to try out one of my fly rods. He's kind of hesitant about the fly rod. I gave him a little lesson on casting and he did good. With some practice I think he'd eventually get pretty good. Being his first time though he couldn't quite cast to the positions he wanted to get to. I'm not sure if he is totally sold on fly fishing...On a lake it's hard to pin point the advantages of the fly rod... I'm pretty sure he'll end up getting a spinning rod, but that's fine...whatever it takes to keep him interested. I wish he would have caught one, but I think he had just as much fun watching me catch a few. I was learning the lake myself so I think next time maybe I can put him in the positions to make a good catch. All in all it was a great day! Here are some pics:
