Third Fishing Outing of Summer Break- North Lake

The flies thrown on this trip can be found in my online store: https://theshowmeflyguy.etsy.com

A week ago, I decided to visit a lake that I haven't fished in a long time.  It is called North Lake 

and I can only assume it is because located north of Harrisonville Missouri.  I fished this lake a lot when I lived in Blue Springs and when the only boat I had was my plastic 8 foot Bass Baby.  I have caught catfish in thunderstorms on a fly, the biggest redear sunfish that I have every caught on a fly, and a 5 pound bass on a crankbait.  I have taken multiple friends to North Lake and even fished there with a former student as a pseudo surprise party for his birthday.  So yeah, we have a history. 

I had never put my jon boat on North Lake so I was excited to fish this lake with a new vessel.  I arrived early in the morning and the lake looked like glass.  The forecast was for the wind to stay down most of the morning which is always nice when throwing a fly.  My plan was to work the weed lines with a tandem streamer rig and then throw a bigger streamer on sink tip line for suspending fish.  Over the course of the morning, the weed lines and patches of vegetation near the bank were productive.  The suspending fish were uncooperative.

During my outing, the theme was variety.  I caught bluegill, largemouth, and green sunfish.  One bass that I caught was over twelve inches and my propensity for catching 10 inch crappie this summer continued to roll on like a freight train.  However, the most memorable fish that I caught was probably the longest and heaviest green sunfish that I have ever seen.  The pictures do not do this fish justice!  For a fish that commonly gets eaten before it gets time to get very large, this thing was a unicorn.  It was 9 inches long and THICK!  

The fly of the day was an olive unhackled bugger.  I fished two of these flies that were separated by about 15 inches of line.  As fish activity started to slow down, so did I with a Standard jig that was 1/80 of an ounce and suspended under a strike indicator.  I threw a couple of streamers for suspending fish with one being olive and white (The Brave) and one being an all white shad pattern.  I encountered 2-3 schools of shad that were 3-5 inches long which swayed me towards throwing something that shad-like.  While I didn't catch the big bass that I was hoping for, I'm excited to go back to one of my old haunts again.  One of the joys of fishing is that the next cast you make could be the one that creates a new, lifelong memory!

The flies thrown on this trip can be found in my online store: https://theshowmeflyguy.etsy.com