Private Lake

[ryguyfi]

So tomorrow is the big day. There's a retired doctor at the church I go to, and every year he opens his private lake to the congregation for a fishing/pot luck cookout. There's typically about 50-75 people there, and plenty of room to fish. This place literally gets fished once a year and the aggressiveness of the fish shows that. There are mainly bass and bluegill. Bluegill are just slightly smaller than BOTH of your hands, and the bass are typically 10-15". I use an all white marabou streamer in a size 6-8 and take both species with regularity. It's pretty typical for me to catch 20-30 fish in about 2.5 hours. Unfortunately this year I have to leave early because I'm on baby duty as my wife goes to a wedding. (rather miss an hour of fishing than go to a wedding...) Either way I'll probably show up a half hour early like I usually do and get to the good spots before anyone else. It's also a great place to teach a new fly fisherman and I've done that 2-3 times.

Anyone else have access to a gem of a private lake/pond and take advantage of it?


(trying to pull a few strings to fish it again soon with a few of the pastors. One wants to learn to fly fish, and one already does :-D)

I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Ryan

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear ryguyfi,

I've got this place ratcheer.



No bass, put plenty of titty bream and trout that could easily eat a Jitterbug or Hula Popper.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[ryguyfi]

Well I had to leave a bit early and opted to continue to fish rather than eat so I ended the day with 23 fish in about 2.5 hours. Not as hot of action as I'm used to. Lots of algae this year, so I had to make some adjustments and fish mostly on top which equated to more bluegill than LM. I think the lake needs dredged soon too. No matter how you slice it, this place is a BLAST!

I'll post a few pictures of the lake from a few years ago and some fish from today. (was too busy trying to catch fish than take pictures). I haven't looked at the picture yet, but there were beds about 10 feet deep the whole length of one side of the lake. It was just incredible.

The bass don't get too much bigger than the pictures that I posted. There's just too many fish in the lake. The bluegill, when you hook them, are like pulling a kite in the wind. They turn sideways and it's tough to turn them. Biggest bluegill I've ever seen in there.

http://www.paflyfish.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=508

Ryan

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear ryguyfi,

Never mind the bass pictures, we see them on TV.

Those are some nice really sunnies! You had a good day dude!

I remember a pond in Springtown, PA that used to be open to public fishing way back in the late 1980's. A buddy who I served with in USAF introduced my brother and I to the place.

We'd fish it on occassion and catch nice sized 9 or 10 inch bluegills all the time. One day while catching 'gills my brother and I along with another friend all saw a bluegill the size of a large pepperoni pizza come swimming along.

We threw everything we owned along with some things we didn't trying to entice "Bubba" but we never got him. Sadly the pond was eventually posted so he must have passed from old age.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[ryguyfi]

Yeah we sometimes talk about fish having shoulders, and these are the first bluegill I've ever caught with shoulders. You can tell once you hook a fish what it is. The bluegill take a straight shot sideways, and the bass will either leap instantly or run straight at you to try to toss the hook. I use an 8wt to get some distance, but these are bluegill you need at least a 5 or 6 to handle properly. Hopefully I can pull those strings to fish it again soon.

 

[gfen]

Dude, that was was made for a 6wt Fenglass.

 

[tocar]

Ryan,

Those are some nice bass, but I'm with Tim on this one...beautiful bluegills!!! Looks like they'd give the bass serious competition for food, and grow to a size that may be too big for the bass to eat. I could happily spend the rest of my life catching bluegills like those.

Years ago I had permission to fish a pond that was less than a acre in size, but was loaded with bass and sunnies. Rarely did the bass grow larger than 15", but the sunnies were enormous and plump. Sadly, the owner of the land passed away and the land was sold to developers. The pond is still there, only now it has a decorative water fountain and goldfish.

peace-tony c.

 

[jjsjigs]

I have a private pond that a Dr. buddy of mine put LM's in. He has never fished his pond... he just goes and feeds bread to them. He lets me fish it since he knows I'm a C&R fly guy.

I'm astounded by the girth on these LM's. I have to bring an 8wgt with me to fish this pond. Those bass would bust my 4x leader on my 5wgt.

Good times!

 

[ryguyfi]

gfen wrote:

Dude, that was was made for a 6wt Fenglass.

If I didn't have the 5wt line that is spooled BACKWARDS on my medalist then I was planning on it. Maybe I'll use it if I can get another day on there in the next few weeks.

 

[gfen]

Those 'gills will put a big bend in the rod, which will consquently put a big smile on your face.