July 14, 2016

Date: July 14, 2016

Body of Water: Blue Springs Lake- Blue Springs, Missouri

Weather:  Mostly sunny with a slight wind out of the south

Air Temperature: Lower 80’s or upper 70’s

Water Condition: dropping after some recent rainfall and water being released through the dam

Wind Speed & Direction: Out of the south between 0-5 miles per hour with wind decreasing as the evening went on

Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous

Fishing Equipment: Medium heavy action spinning combo and 9 foot Cabela’s 6 weight fly rod 

Flies/Lures/Bait: Sexy shad deep diving crankbait, silver spoon, and The Brave

Hatches or Fish Behavior Observed: Fish were being marked in schools along the dam at 12 feet, then 8 feet, then 6 feet prior to feeding on shad at the surface at sunset.

Species Targeted: White bass and striper hybrids

# of Fish Hooked: 5

# of Fish Landed: 3

# of Fish Released: 3

# of Fish Kept: 0

Largest Fish Description: A hybrid between 1 and 2 pounds

What Happened:

I have felt a little lost in terms of fishing lately.  I have always struggled to catch “good” fish in the middle of the summer months and had started to feel like I should just take the rest of the hotter part of the summer off.  I felt like I was only able to catch nice bass on farm ponds and bluegill on a fly rod.  I had started to question my abilities as a fisherman and specifically a fly fisherman.  I felt like I was lacking the knowledge and ability to catch fish during this time of year and that maybe I was just a guy that could catch trout in trout parks, bass in overstocked farm ponds, and stupid bluegill that didn’t know better.  My confidence has always been fragile and I felt like cracks were starting to form in my fishing abilities.  Then an opportunity arose for me to hit the water and try and exorcise my demons.  I mulled over a few options but arrived on fishing Blue Springs Lake for hybrids and white bass.

After a successful hybrid and white bass fishing trip with Gary of Gary’s Fishing Guide Service, I decided that I was going to try and apply the information and practices that he shared with me.  We had some rain earlier in the week and I was aware of three things; 1. Water was being pumped out of Lake Jacomo and into Blue Springs Lake through what is locally known as “The Blow Hole” 2. Water was flowing out of Blue Springs Lake through the dam and into the Little Blue River 3. The evenings have been calm lately, there was current, and that it was late enough in the summer that whites and hybrids might want to chase bait to the surface.  Gary had also showed me recently how bait balls and schools of fish move up in the water column as they get closer to feeding time and that sometimes they would eventually end up feeding on the surface.  It seemed like I had everything that I needed to put the “fishing puzzle” together, but then again, I have been there before.  When it comes to fishing, I never fallen short of theories and plans, but rarely do they get carried out completely and actually work so you can see why I was a little skeptical about being optimistic.  

On this particular evening, there were a number of things that happened that were a little foreign to me.  First, my wife (we’ll call her the Show Me Fly Gal) agreed to fish with me.  This hadn’t happened in YEARS and can be traced back to the time before we had children.  It is pretty obvious why it had been so long, but she needed to get out of the house and this was the escape plan that I offered since she already told me that this could be a fishing night.  Second, I was conflicted between fishing the “Blow Hole” or the dam.  I have fished both spots before but haven’t ever fished either spot with water moving and in the evening.  We looked at the “Blow Hole” first and decided that it was a feast or famine situation that encompassed a very small amount of water.  The dam on the other hand offered more water to cover and more techniques to employ.  In essence, it was more diverse and seemed to have more opportunities.  Finally, I had never fished for whites or hybrids in the evening on Blue Springs Lake before so I didn’t exactly ooze confidence.

We launched off the boat ramp closest to the dam and started to troll spoons.  It was a nice evening, the boat ride was nice, and my wife and I were out of the house.  We started to mark some fish at about 12 feet on the fish finder and even vertically jigged for them a little without any success.  We then cast to the concrete sections on the dam that are responsible for the outflow of excess water with the same amount of success.  My wife asked a few times why I wasn’t fishing much and why I wasn’t using my fly rod and I told her that I was waiting for events to unfold.  She didn’t seem to know what that meant so I told her that I was hoping that schools of shad would be busting on the surface and that we might be close enough for me to cast a baitfish imitating fly into the school and get a bite.  She seemed to be skeptical of this since the surface was so calm on top of the fact that we hadn’t caught anything below the surface either.  Next, we trolled a deep diving sexy shad crankbait without any success but the fish on the monitor had moved up to 8 feet.  As the evening progressed, we started to encounter some larger schools of fish at 6 feet.  That’s when I stared to jig a spoon again.

Again, this seemed like a plan that would work but I had no idea if I was jigging a spoon correctly or if I was doing this at the right place and right time.  The fish finder showed a BIG school of fish that seemed to have small and large fish mixed in it and I assumed the bite was on.  Again, this was an assumption.  I started to jig again and was caught off guard by an actual bite.  I fought the fish for a while but guessed that I lost him due to a bad hook-set.  I started jigging again and this time set the hook with authority and the fight was on.  We tangled for a couple of minutes and I eventually landed a 1-2 pound hybrid.  I couldn’t believe it; my plan had eventually worked and I was starting to get my mojo back.  That was when things got downright crazy.

Shortly after landing the hybrid, we saw a school of shad busting on the surface in the distance…and then another…then another.  Before you knew it, there were schools all over the place being attacked by unseen predators.  I had to retie the spoon because I had to clip it off and pass it through the gills of the hybrid because it was so deep in the mouth of the fish.  As I reached for the spoon, I accidentally dropped it in the water and it sunk like…well, a dense piece of metal.  Goodbye mojo.  Drive safely and it was nice to see you for a while.  Tell my confidence that I said hello when you run into it or over it.

I’m just kidding (sort of) because while it was a little deflating to have lost the only silver spoon in the boat, I decided it was time to bust out the old wind staff and see if I could send The Brave into some water where it was going to need to be pretty brave.  I made a few casts into calm water and eventually got a subsurface bite.  I fought another hybrid for 3-4 minutes and finally landed him.  There wasn’t any time for pictures however because the bite was still on and I didn’t know how long it was going to last.  A few moments later, a school of shad was being attacked about 30 feet from the boat.  By now, another boat had showed up and we had struck up a friendly conversation with the other guys.  They were throwing topwater plugs and catching fish too so everyone was happy.  When one guy saw me get out the fly rod he said, “Are you throwing a fly rod?”  I replied “I am now!  I lose my spoon and this is my next best option.  I think I can get some bites on the surface with this thing.”  He seemed really interested in seeing me catch a white or hybrid and to be honest, I wanted a fish to validate my theory and to show off a little bit now that there was an audience.  There it is, I said it and I admit it.  What the heck am I doing, turning into an honest fisherman or something?  

So I made a cast into the feeding frenzy and my fly went untouched for about 5 seconds.  The fight was on and I started to hoot and holler along with the guys in the other boat.  I finally landed a nice white bass and one of the guys from the other boat asked to see the fly that I was using.  We had a great conversation about the fly, what it had caught, that white bass and hybrids COULD be caught on a fly rod, and about this website.  They were a great bunch of guys and we exchanged some great stories and information.  I hope I hear from those guys sometime soon and get to share some of their stories on this site as well.

Now up until this point, my wife had waited with a look of awe and reverence while her husband became a worthy opponent of Poseidon himself.  I’m just kidding, but she was a little surprised to see fish being caught when we had been skunked up until a few minutes ago.  While I wanted to keep catching fish on my fly rod, I wanted her to have some fun too.  I thought that a topwater bait might be too hard for her to work or cast accurately so we tied on a sexy shad crankbait.  Again, I figured that if the fish were in full-on feeding mode that a lone shad might look pretty temping.  We found a school of shad exploding on the surface and she was able to make a cast right on the edge of the boiling water.  She made a few cranks and then said, “Hey, I think I have one.”  The fish put a nice bend in the rod and she fought it masterfully.  She didn’t try to horse it to the boat but instead allowed drag to be taken out and for the fish to wear down.  The line did go slack for just a moment and she said “I think it’s off.”  After a few more turns of the reel, the line tightened again and the rod bent.  “Oh, there it is.” was her response.  She eventually got it to the boat and posed for some pictures.  Our agreement is that she will go fishing with me as long as it means that she doesn’t have to actually touch a fish and that policy was upheld.  I held the fish in front of the camera and she posed for shot.  

The sun was below the horizon at this point and we needed to get off the water soon since we didn’t have any running lights.  I trolled a fly behind the boat slowly (seeing as how the motor was dying) and missed another fish but hardly batted an eye.  It was almost impossible to get upset due to the events of the evening.  I had spent the night with my wife on the water, I was able to catch fish at a time of year and time of day that I had never attempted before, and I was able to assess the fishing situation as well as formulate a plan that accommodated the conditions.  I was pretty darn proud of myself and thrilled that the spoon, the fish finder, and the fly fishing had worked out just the way I thought they would and just the way I wanted them to.  This seemed to make up for the beat down that the carp have put on me this summer on top of the fact that I haven’t caught a big bass in months.  I’m not trying to brag here, instead, I am just reveling in the fact that one of the many darts I have thrown lately finally hit a bullseye.  For fishermen like me, we are a little like infrequent golfers.  If we have a little success here and there, by golly it will keep us coming back for more because the rare success feels so stinking good!  Here’s to getting skunked next time and being back to square one!  Also, I’m going back to the same spot tonight.  Surely everything will work out the same way again right?  (Heck no it won’t, but then again….).