Gar hunt turned topwater fly bass session...
Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2009 3:07 pm
Well...let me give you a play by play...
5am - Woke up and took it easy getting ready
6am - Watching a beautiful dawn
7am - Dawn gave way to a beautiful sunrise
8am - Finally got to my first gar spot
8:30am - Got suited up and headed for a lily pad back bay
9am - Knee deep in loon $hit! Almost lost my boots, almost became a bog mummy
9:30am - Finally got out of the loon $hit bay and found a hard bottom flat, the surface was a mirror
10:30am - The flat looks prime, but haven't seen a gar yet
11am - Oh, there's a bill. Hey, there's another one over there!
11:30am - Damn stupid gar...stop following the rope lure! Go chomp on it!!!
12pm - Well, 10 gars followed, all 10 followed all the way in, saw me and ran away. Now there were no gar in sight
Okay...change to a Gurgler fly and work back where I came from...hopefully the fish will return...
12:17pm - Woosh! Good fight...but my 10-wt is too much for it...if it has even half a belly, it would have been 2lbs. First largemouth on the fly rod!
Love catching fish on flies I tied.
Time for some pictures of these guys practicing take-off and landing all morning...
12:39pm - Woosh! Again...no match for my 10-wt...just a little over 1lb.
Just as I was taking the picture, a plane from the Snowbird squad did a fly by and scared the crap out of me.
Still glass...
1pm - Opps...didn't see that gar...there it goes
1:15pm - There were two gar...perfect cast...strip, strip, pause, strip, pause, strip, strip, strip...here comes one...follow, follow...snap...wait...set! Damn! Hook couldn't penetrate. There goes both of them!
2pm - Changed to a #4 bonefish fly that resembles the Christmas Island Special.
2:15pm - Hit like a Mack truck...spirited fight...6" bluegill. Cast out again...bang. Another 6" bluegill. Another two or so cast later...one last bluegill.
These guys are awesome...should have used a loop knot when I was fishing in Hawaii with them...maybe I would have tempted a bonefish...
2:30pm - trying to look for a way around Loon $hit Bay...no go...everywhere is lily pads...which means more loon $hit...but found the little guy...
3pm - Junior Chicken Sandwiches for lunch
3:30pm - Drove to a canal to check it out...hm...road turned to gravel...then to 4x4 conditions...chickened out and backed my Camry out.
4pm - Another section of the canal...hm...there's a 3lb bass sitting in a hole in the weeds 2 feet from the canal wall.
4:04pm - Hey, where did that bass go? I just went to grab my fly rod...
4:30pm - Missed one rockbass on the bonefish fly...got one more 6" bluegill.
5pm - Okay...rush hour should be over when I get to Toronto...time to head home.
5:30pm - Change from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Linkin Park
6:30pm - Okay...need some of my trance music...
7:30pm - Blasting my trance music with windows down driving on Yonge street getting looks
7:40pm - Finally home...after 14 hours of driving and fishing hard.
I think the water was not warm enough this year to hold any significant number of gar on that flat...the dozen that I found were concentrated in a small corner of the flat. Definitely have to come back next summer to give it another shot.
5am - Woke up and took it easy getting ready
6am - Watching a beautiful dawn
7am - Dawn gave way to a beautiful sunrise
8am - Finally got to my first gar spot
8:30am - Got suited up and headed for a lily pad back bay
9am - Knee deep in loon $hit! Almost lost my boots, almost became a bog mummy
9:30am - Finally got out of the loon $hit bay and found a hard bottom flat, the surface was a mirror
10:30am - The flat looks prime, but haven't seen a gar yet
11am - Oh, there's a bill. Hey, there's another one over there!
11:30am - Damn stupid gar...stop following the rope lure! Go chomp on it!!!
12pm - Well, 10 gars followed, all 10 followed all the way in, saw me and ran away. Now there were no gar in sight
Okay...change to a Gurgler fly and work back where I came from...hopefully the fish will return...
12:17pm - Woosh! Good fight...but my 10-wt is too much for it...if it has even half a belly, it would have been 2lbs. First largemouth on the fly rod!
Love catching fish on flies I tied.
Time for some pictures of these guys practicing take-off and landing all morning...
12:39pm - Woosh! Again...no match for my 10-wt...just a little over 1lb.
Just as I was taking the picture, a plane from the Snowbird squad did a fly by and scared the crap out of me.
Still glass...
1pm - Opps...didn't see that gar...there it goes
1:15pm - There were two gar...perfect cast...strip, strip, pause, strip, pause, strip, strip, strip...here comes one...follow, follow...snap...wait...set! Damn! Hook couldn't penetrate. There goes both of them!
2pm - Changed to a #4 bonefish fly that resembles the Christmas Island Special.
2:15pm - Hit like a Mack truck...spirited fight...6" bluegill. Cast out again...bang. Another 6" bluegill. Another two or so cast later...one last bluegill.
These guys are awesome...should have used a loop knot when I was fishing in Hawaii with them...maybe I would have tempted a bonefish...
2:30pm - trying to look for a way around Loon $hit Bay...no go...everywhere is lily pads...which means more loon $hit...but found the little guy...
3pm - Junior Chicken Sandwiches for lunch
3:30pm - Drove to a canal to check it out...hm...road turned to gravel...then to 4x4 conditions...chickened out and backed my Camry out.
4pm - Another section of the canal...hm...there's a 3lb bass sitting in a hole in the weeds 2 feet from the canal wall.
4:04pm - Hey, where did that bass go? I just went to grab my fly rod...
4:30pm - Missed one rockbass on the bonefish fly...got one more 6" bluegill.
5pm - Okay...rush hour should be over when I get to Toronto...time to head home.
5:30pm - Change from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Linkin Park
6:30pm - Okay...need some of my trance music...
7:30pm - Blasting my trance music with windows down driving on Yonge street getting looks
7:40pm - Finally home...after 14 hours of driving and fishing hard.
I think the water was not warm enough this year to hold any significant number of gar on that flat...the dozen that I found were concentrated in a small corner of the flat. Definitely have to come back next summer to give it another shot.