This is really more of an eat-a-long report with a little fly fishing thrown in. Why? The beautiful weather we had was the result of a front rolling thru and it put both the insect hatches and the fish down. Still, fly fishing is more fun in good weather we throughly enjoyed ourselves plus managed to catch a few fish.

On Thursday I met Rich at Howell Pond for some Bluegill & Bass fly fishing. Rich did really well on the bluegills fishing a #14 Blue Nymph a few feet under and indicator, working it close to the shoreline weeds. I did well on bass with a White Halfwit Leech working the weeds and structure. Afterwards we hit the Gales Creek Tavern for Burgers before heading to Schmadeke Pond to set up camp.

Friday morning dawned clear but a little chilly & breezy and while the weather warmed up later in the day, the fishing didn’t. We had a few skunkings and no on caught more than two trout. Desperate for some action, I duplicated Rich’s bluegill rig, worked the woody shoreline areas and caught a bunch of crappie. Afterwords we headed to Smokehouse Chicken & Guns for good food and live music. That night we enjoyed some time around the campfire.

Saturday morning started out with a lot fishier feel with warmer temps, high clouds and rising fish. After some time around a morning campfire with hot coffee and snacks, we got to fishing. Unfortunately is was still tough, but sticking with it paid off. Brad Jonasson caught his largest trout to date, a heavy bodied 23 incher. Today, smaller size dark chironomids produced the best results.

Thanks to everyone for coming and making this fish a long a fun event. The next fish a long is May 25th at Lake Harriet.