Mantua and Willard 5/17

[MBM1969]

I had never fished Mantua or Willard and have not fly fished much for warm water species so my daughter Kylee and I decided to try someplace new and try fly fishing for some different species than trout.

We started off going to Mantua and launched our kick boats on the East side.
[img][/img]

Kylee has been learning to tie her own flies this spring and typical girl that she is she had to tie them in "pretty" colors.

[img][/img]

At first we fished like we do for trout, just trolling around and hoping to find a fish. I watched a guy in a bass boat go along the tree line next too shore and catch a couple bass so we went over and I tried thorowing a black bead head bugger up toward the trees. That was the ticket and I ended up catching and releasing 14-15 ten to 13 inch bass.
[img][/img]

[img][/img]
[img][/img]
Was a ton of fun! Nothing was too big but it was a blast. A lot different than the trout fishing I was used too. Kylee tried using her spinning rod but the trees were giving her some trouble.

After Mantua we tried Willard bay. We went to the north marina and tried Eagle beach. Kylee saw all the kids swimming and declared that she was done fishing and wanted to swim the rest of the day.
[img][/img]

I launched my kick boat and just stayed within a couple hundred yards of Eagle beach so I could keep an eye on Kylee. I was using a olive crystal bugger and really started getting into the crappie.
[img][/img]
I caught upwards of 20-22 crappie keeping a limit of ten for dinner. At one point I had a good hit felt a heavy fish and thought I had caught a Wiper. It ended up being a nice cat fish. Never thought I would catch a catfish on a fly.
[img][/img]
After I caught all the Crappie I tried a white bugger to see if I could get into some Wiper. I didn't catch any big ones but did catch 3 about this size maybe 9 to 10 inches long. They are a fun fish!
[img][/img]

All in all I did pretty good at Willard.
[img][/img]

I really like fly fishing for bass and other species. I am going to have to come back and do more of this at Willard and Mantua. I am already scoping out other spots for bass.

Mark
[signature]

[Island20]

Great report, very nice pictures. Always good to see kids out fishing with dad. I have been trolling around the bay and have been thinking I should get out the fly fishing gear and give it a shot out at the bay. Thanks for the inspiration.
[signature]

[Flyfishinglover]

Did you see any bluegill close to shore at mantua???
[signature]

[Watershadow]

Great report and good on ya for taking your daughter! On those crappie, were they in tight to the brush or suspended? And they were taking an olive crystal bugger...? Nice report.
[signature]