Minor changes in sum can make for major change...Started out the day driving around with the heat on full blast again. Pretty funny. By 830 AM I was covered in sweat... yeah man. I poked around Lake Zumbro - walked a really cool shore and blew a couple chances at carp - not much action though because the top end of the lake is so turbid. It's criminal that the public can't get to the tailwater of that dam... I trie dand tried and was turned away by private property signs. Finally I walked into a resort thinking I might camp there and pay for a day... only to find that it'd be tough fishing from shore, so I axed the idea and headed for Oronoco. As I pulled in, I saw a VFW pancake breakfast. Outstanding timing, so I stepped in - reminding myself that I was not in a rush.
The coffee was steaming, as you can see. There was a Schlitz beer light on the wall. The cost was $4 and the sausages were of unknown origins. You tell me - does this look like a corn free meal?
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The price I paid was greater than money though - I found out later that I left my precious Gazetteer and all my trout stream maps on the table. Hehe - too bad for me I guess. The door was locked when I returned. A friendly neighbor gave me a phone number to follow up... thanks to him.
From there, went to the local dam thinking I'd nymph up a storm. I didn't, but I did get more than my share of smallmouth action. The best of which is pictured here - caught dead drifting with indicator.
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All of these smallies were caught with the Wonderod - a fiberglass Shakespeare model given to me by my bro - he picked it up for $3 at a g-sale. I decided to fish it after some encouragement from JB and my neighbor. I like it.
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After smallies and no carp at the dam, I went back to the torture chamber that is the local carp water. I knew I'd see fish, but the question was: would I be able to fool them? This time - YES was the answer... thankfully. I hooked three and landed two great fish. I got that damn carp monkey off my back. I saw quite a few fish - the first one I had a good shot at I hooked only to have him come off right away... The second one was a dapping situation - money in the bank there. The third was a cruising fish... put fly in path and guessed right. That last fish hooked was one of the biggest I've seen in that water - probably 7-8 lbs or so (??). I'm convinced that it had a lot to do with the fly - JB's green mini-crayfish. Pretty much every fish that I didn't spook that saw that fly ate it readily.
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Also - I fell in love with the old 5/6 Pro Graphite for a carping rod. WHAT A DIFFERENCE it makes to have the right rod for the job... the 4 wt just doesn't cut it - doesn't cast well enough. I was putting money casts on fish left and right - even in strong wind. Then I broke the rod. Snapped it in two... Went well with the shattered fly box (happened when I vaulted up on a cement slab about five feet high and forgot that the box was in my pocket), lost Gazetteer, and lost dozen flies.
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All in all it was tough equipment day. THe fishing was not fast and furious but it was enough for me to be in harmony as I sit here writing. Heck, I just consumed two brown trout from the Zumbro system along with a few glasses of red wine... How can a guy complain about catching stunning brookies, hard-fighting smallies and a couple great carp on the fly? He can't.