Well I got the wedding over so tonight was my first attempt to recover my addiction and it was a great first step. Grabbed the 3 WT fly rod and hit my favorite pond for the last half hour of sunlight. First couple casts were blanks then I ran off 17 fish in as many casts it was so much fun. Then I had a blank cast and moved a little ways and next cast was fish on again. I got up to 32 fish without losing a fish or missing a hit and then it happened, as I was flicking the fly out a dragon fly grabbed it in midair and took off with it. I didn't set the hook and so it let go after a short battle (carried my line about 6' to the side) but no lie I've never seen anything like that before. Guess it blew my juju cause I started hooking and losing the next five or six fish then I caught a few, then missed hits and lost more on the way in. Ended up with 42 crappie a dragon fly story and about 15-20 lost fish. All caught fish were returned with minor piercings to grow up into fish dilinquents. Fun night good to be back on the water even if the skeeters ate me alive. Later J
[signature]
These Utah Dragon Flies are aggressive. LOL
Was with my Brother on the Logan about a month ago and had one take his fly in mid air, but it got the hook.
What do we feed those things. Fished my whole life and never saw that, and now Skunked has one play with his fly as well, WOW.
[cool]
[signature]
I had bats grab my fly several times, but I would have never guessed that dragon flies would take a fly! Sounds like an epic evening.
Mike
[signature]
Mantua has lots of Dragon Flies. Some are quite colorful, and they don't bite or irritate like the Horse Flies, Deer Flies, skeeters, no-see-ums, and all the others at Willard or UL. I've been at Mantua just quiet drifting and had Dragon Flies lined all the way up my fishin pole. Never had one try to catch anything I was casting, but then, top water plugs and worms are a bit bigger than they are. Have seen a couple Seagulls catch bait cast out at Roy Pond. Snagged the worm in mid-air.
[signature]
Man I was the same way, never seen anything as crazy as that. It was really cool the maneuver that thing did to catch that fly. Didn't think anyone would believe a story that crazy!!! Glad to hear I'm not seeing things. Later J
[signature]
Hey Mike, I've heard tales of bats taking flies but the guy that told me has been known to stretch the truth at times so I sort of took that with a grain of salt. Now I'm rethinking those tales, man I would not want to reel that in if I had a bat on the other end of the line. That would be as bad as a snake. But it was a great night even though they were small fish it was fun to test my reflexes, and the 3 WT made them feel bigger too. Nice to get back on the water. If the weather don't get too bad I think I'll try the cats this weekend. Hope I can find a good one. Later J
[signature]
I'm with you on liking dragonflies. They are one of the coolest bugs and nothing can fly like they do. They just hit a new level of coolness with me since they'll take a fly. Hope the DWR don't get me for not having a bug permit. 😜
I have seen seagulls take bait before, talk about no fun to get off the line. We got it in close so we could cut the line short, but that sucker was mean. Didn't have a bird permit either. Guess we get some crazy non target catches at times. Does make for good stories anyway. Later J
[signature]
Let me get this straight... you caught a fly on the fly with a fly?
Good job on the crappie but it looks like you are a poor "fly" fisherman.
Glad you got out and had a good time.
Lynn aka BLK
[signature]
Yup that pretty much sums it up!!!! Thanks Lynn was a fun get back into fishing trip... Now I need to try the cats and hope they'll still bite for me... Getting cool this weekend, hope they still want'a eat... So is this the time of year we switch back from night cat'tin to day time??? Probably get too cool up this way for wimps like me to stay out all night... I see lows in the 30's on the way.... daytime will work for me.... Hope the fish get that memo... Later J
[signature]
Man those are fun, they will be nice and big next spring. Hope the don't drain it again.
[signature]
I had something similar years ago on a small lake in the Unitas. Just as I was lifting my fly from the water a dragonfly hit it. Ended up hooking the dragonfly. While I was watching the dragonfly fly in circles just above the water and trying to figure out what to do a helpful trout took care of the situation. Craziest way I've ever caught a fish.
[signature]
How fast do they grow? I'm not sure if these are one or two seasons out from being nice sized fish... Pretty small so far, but still fun to catch... glad they are shallow so you can let them go without worry of killing them like happened a pineview last fall...
I haven't heard of any more spillway projects, so hopefully the pond will stay full this fall/winter.... However, seemed like the fishing was better those falls when everything was condensed into a few deep spots... just sucked the next year after that when the fish numbers were down so bad... Still think the cat fishing is suffering from those years of draining the pond... Might be why the BRBR is doing so well for cats this year... they flushed them all down stream... Later J
[signature]
Somebody asked me if a fish took mine after the dragon fly hit it, I thought that would have really made my story over the top, and you actually had that happen, that is so cool... I've been to lakes in the Winds where I'm sure that would happen if you had a dragonfly on your line... I had a trout leap over a foot out of the water to try and grab my tree branch make shift bobber one day, so I'm sure it'd love to nail an active fly... Thanks for relating that... Maybe my story wasn't that good afterall, but it sure surprised me... Later J
[signature]
I have a friend who "hooked" a seagull after it grabbed a Rapala out of mid-air. Craziness . . .
[signature]
Now that would be a tough decision on getting the hook out verses cutting the line. Maybe you just drop the hook so it doesn't have a nose ornament dangling. Those hooks in a bill would be very hard to get out without hurting the bird pretty bad. I've often wondered about Greebes taking my bait under water, but so far I've never had that happen. Hope that doesn't jinx me. Later J
[signature]
[quote SkunkedAgain]Hey Mike, I've heard tales of bats taking flies but the guy that told me has been known to stretch the truth at times so I sort of took that with a grain of salt. Now I'm rethinking those tales, man I would not want to reel that in if I had a bat on the other end of the line. That would be as bad as a snake. [/quote]
[font "Times New Roman"]
[/font]
[font "Calibri"]I’ll second the bat stories everyone is telling, been there. Generally the local bats have bodies that aren’t much bigger than a field mouse. Just reel the bat all the way up to your first eyelet and you’re able to remove the hook without much problem. I will admit the first time it happened I was a little perplexed on how to proceed.[/font]
[signature]
So you can get them out without getting bit? That's good those things freak me out. If I had gloves it wouldn't be too bad but I'd hate to bare hand them. Sounds like you've caught more than one, must fish after dark fairly often I guess. Thanks for the tip on getting them off in case it ever happens to me. Later J
[signature]
I know it's probably evil to admit, but way back when I was a scout, we would go up to Macks Inn to camp and fish every summer and my buddies and I would have a blast dangling our fly rods over the bridge that goes across the snake river and the bats would go nuts swooping at our flies on the end of the line. We hooked many of them over a few years of camping there (I know, what a jerk...right?). Forceps were more than enough to handle them once we were able to pin them with a stick or something. Had a lady that was watching threaten to smack me for doing it once she realized it had been on purpose!
Twice, while fly fishing at night with elk hair caddis flies on the green river below flaming gorge I've had my back cast nabbed by a bat and the only way I knew it had happened was the poor little bugger splattered down on the water in front of me as I was trying to shoot my line out!
Hehehe....Bats happen!
Now I'm gonna try to tease a dragon fly out of the air when I get a chance!
Mike
[signature]
Well as a scout you probably didn't know much better than to do such things. If'n I get caught doing it now I'm probably in trouble, but I have to admit it sounds tempting. Except for getting them off the line. Somehow I'm doubting I'll ever catch another dragonfly, but who knows. Been trying to get back out fishing the rest of the week and still haven't made it. Probably missed the good days now since the cold and storms roll in tomorrow. Don't know how I'm still too busy to get out but seems like something always comes up. Maybe Friday. Later J
[signature]