Fly Fishing On A Windy Spring Day

I made my way to a small farm pond about a ¼ mile from my home on Sunday night. The wind was blowing at a constant 25 mph and I knew the direction of the wind would help me make roll cast into a corner of the pond that is tough to reach due to trees and brush behind the pond. I used my 2 weight and a floating line with a wet spider, tied from mole skin and white rubber legs…allowing the fly to sink slowly…which is very attractive early in the spring when fish are still cold and inactive.

I stripped out enough line made a couple small roll cast and then a long roll cast and let the spider sink…all the time watching the end of my green floating line; a couple seconds later the indicator (end of my fly line) jolted and I quickly strip set the line and had my first fish, it was a nice 11 inch crappie. I quickly released the fish and once again another roll cast along the bank about 10 foot off the edge and just like the first cast my line moved and I set the hook on a 12 inch bass. This pattern continued for the next 30 minutes with catches of bass, blue gill and several nice crappie.

I like being creative while fly fishing and looking for ways to catch fish in inopportune circumstances and while none of the fish were huge…they were all fun on my 2 weight rod and if you let your mind wander, to go back to our hunter roots, you can have fun and enjoy any fly-fishing situation. So…the next time you can sit and watch 60 Minutes….or go fly-fishing; grab your gear and go conquer a small pond, it may just someday carry over to a quiet lagoon and a baby tarpon!