Worms And Feathers

Do you have worms or minnows? What? Live Bait. I need to buy some. Preferably worms. We don't have live bait. You're out? No, we never sell it. This conversation seems to be coming up more and more these days. Everyone's a bait fisherman. It gets annoying sometimes. I don't have much against them, but they could do some research before coming in and wasting our time. We try and sell them a plastic float and a few flies, which sometimes works. Like my friend said a few days ago, it's the first step in the change-over. Maybe they'll see how well flies work, and eventually become fly-fishermen. Maybe. But Probably not. You remember my "Crazy People Live Among Us" post? It's like, the most looked at of all of them? Well, they're still here. Hoards of them, just walking the streets. There is a special kind though, the kind that really pisses me off. Those people who read but don't care. The people who walk right by the Catch And Release signs, stringer in hand. The I forgot-my-license-at-home people. The worms and bobber on your local stream people. I saw one of these guys on Boulder Creek the other day. Right in one of my favorite holes. Do you have your license with you sir? Oh, well, uh... Live bait isn't allowed here sir. Well.... What's in that cooler sir, this is all catch and release. It went on and on. I kept bugging him and bugging him, until he finally left. I fished on, hitting all the holes I could for an hour, and then went back to the hole he was in. First cast, my fly got hit. I brought the fish in, and found one of the guy's hooks in the fish's mouth. You gotta be kidding me.

Confessions, Worms, and Spring Fishing Blues

The weather report was predicting snow, I already felt like I had a cold, and my fly box was looking kind of skimpy. I still felt like there was a need to go fishing though. I'm a teen, so I guess I'm as crazy as all other teens. I just put my crazy into fishing. Anyway, I managed to find another crazy friend to go fishing with me. It was definitely going to be to cold for trout, and carp don't usually seem to be fond of blizzards. So that left bass. I woke up at around 5:30 and got my gear together saturday morning, and tied a few flies for the day. We got out to the water, and I got in with a mixed idea of what the day would bring. Luckily, it wasn't snowing, or quite as cold as the weatherman had said. So there I am, waist deep in water, the people walking by in coats and sweatpants, and i was in shorts and a tee shirt. Then, I see bass number one. A nice fish, probably around 4 pounds. A cast, nothing, Three more casts, nothing. The fish swims away. I must have tried casting to these fish a thousand times with a dozen flies, and they just would not touch it. I was cold, wet, and not happy with how the day had panned out. Me and my crazy friend drove back to his house, not sure what to do next. After the saying of something along the lines of "How 'bout that lake next door?" and a grilled cheese sandwich to think over, I found myself digging up worms from my friend's back yard. He was next to me, stringing up some old spinning rods and putting on bobbers. After a ten minute motor scooter ride, (which can be very sketchy with a rod in your hands) we were at the lake. It was sunny now, and the bobbers were in the water. As I watched and thought about the times I used to do this a lot, my bobber disappeared. I reeled in a nice little pond bass. We fished for awhile, until a thunderstorm rolled in and it was time to leave. It was nice to bring back some memories from my early childhood, and it turned an awful day into an okay day. Can't wait for Summer though, where I can catch bass, trout, and carp in a day on the fly!