Adjust or Be Stubborn?

Yesterday's post left off with Waylon and I about to go fishing.  On the way to the lake, the beauty of the weather and the surroundings really hit me.  I hadn't been to the farm for months and memories and appreciation hit me pretty hard.  As I pulled up to the lake, I took in it's familiar beauty.  The sun was out, the birds were singing, and there was a little breeze.  It all seemed perfect.  I also had a pretty good idea where to find fish.  I wasn't planning on throwing a fly rod because at this time of year in this particular pond, most bass are holding on the edges of a well-established weed line and are looking for something slow to come by.  I typically tear up fish on a soft plastic worm on a spinning rod and that was the plan.  Too bad it didn't work.

After about 20 minutes of not catching anything (which is an eternity on a farm pond) and realizing that the weed line that I was counting on was surprisingly absent, I started to get nervous.  Was I really about to get skunked on a farm pond, and a particular farm pond that I have fished for over a decade?  I understood that the fishing might be slow because it was the middle of the day in August, but getting skunked had never entered my mind.  I had two options: keep grinding with the worm or change tactics.  

As I was pondering this very thing, I kept seeing bugs get eaten in the shallows.  At first, I thought they were just small fish eating small damsel flies but the splashes and activity pointed towards bass.  Throwing a popper in the shallows in the afternoon in August seemed a little ridiculous.  I mulled things over and decided to tie on a popper.  I didn't want to be stubborn and thought a little flexibility and experimentation might pay off.  I also couldn't help but see the neon sign flashing in the shallows that read "HEY MORON, FISH ARE HITTING TOPWATER!  STOP OVERTHINKING THIS AND THROW THE DARN POPPER!"

That's exactly what I did and what happened next was nothing short of epic!  I ended up boating about 12 bass on poppers and should have landed about 6 more if I'm being honest.  I ended up catching about 5 more on a worm where I DID find weed lines.  After a slow start, and putting a little bit of the puzzle together, it ended up being a pretty good day.  While I didn't catch anything big, it sure felt good to feel some 1-2 pound bass bend a fly rod pretty well.  Tomorrow, I will post about the popper that I used and why it has become my absolute favorite!