First Bass Fishing Outing of the Year

Yesterday I was able to hit three farm ponds in the northwest Missouri area since I am currently on spring break.  By no means were the conditions ideal but most of the time I fish when I have the time to, not when the perfect conditions appear. In yesterday's case the water was up and pretty murky.  The air temperature was not as warm as last week and there was a wind out of the east as well.  However, my opinion that time of year places as much of a role in animal behavior as temperatures made me feel good about my prospects.  Also, the wind wasn't too strong so that meant I was throwing a fly.  Like anything else in life as well as fishing, "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...the facts of life."  If you're around my age and you get that reference, you're welcome.  Now go to YouTube and look up the original version or just click here.  To heck with it, here's the theme song.

I decided I was going to fish one fly and one fly only, the complex bugger. This is a fly I started tying this winter and I really like it in terms of materials, color and profile. It has also tested well in the fly tester and I was excited to see how it would perform on the water.  It's dark profile was still visible in the water so I knew that if I could see it then the fish could see it ten times better.  Enough about this fly for now though because there will be a lengthier write up about it later in the week.  I ended up catching three fish, one at each pond.  I missed one bite and saw another bass spook when I was bringing in one.  I also saw some dark-colored tadpoles in the shallows that were hiding out in flooded brush.  I also caught one bass that was STUFFED!  I'm wondering if he had been gorging on tadpoles and if my complex bugger looked close enough to a tadpole in murky water?!?!

So here is what I took away from my experience.  The bass in my neck of the woods are starting to turn on and the fishing is only going to get better from here on out.  Some of them have already started to prepare their bodies for the spawn and while their takes were aggressive yesterday (I had a gaudy 75% catch rate), I have to think that the best of this aggression will be coming in the next two or three weeks.  The bass in the ponds that I fish typically spawn into late April.  Also, my records show (yes, I keep a journal because I'm a scientific nerd) that all of the six pound bass and most of the five pound bass that I have landed in my life have been caught in the month of April.  As usual, I hope this information helps and maybe guides you towards catching more fish of your own.  Besides, that is ultimately the purpose of this blog and I never want to lose site of that.  It is supposed to be a tool that helps you catch more fish and hopefully that's exactly what it does!  Have a great day and hit the water if/when you can!