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05-11-2020 - Booker Creek in Chapel Hill, a random pond and some FLY FISHING!

1K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  mindcrime 
#1 ·
05-11-2020
Booker Creek behind Eastgate Crossing, and at the bridge by Burger King
A random pond in CH

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Went to my recent favorite haunt, which is that little hole behind Eastgate Crossing. There was basically NOTHING doing there today. I did hook one little sunfish or bluegill of some sort but he shook loose before I could land him. Other than that, not even a nibble. Interestingly enough, the family of turtles that usually populate this hole were also gone most of the time I was there. A couple showed up again after I'd been there about 45 minutes or so. Looks like everything, fish, turtles, etc. had moved out for some reason. Water level? Weather? Phase of the moon? Other? Who knows...

Left there and went to the next place downstream where a road crosses the creek, and fished off the bridge a while. Caught a couple of little bluegill and a green sunfish. Didn't like that much, because the drop back down to the water was so far, and I don't like throwing fish that far to release them. I'm no crazy tree-hugging hippie who believes that "fish have the same rights as people" or anything, but I do try to be a decent person and not hurt living things needlessly. And while I may not "like" fish in the sense of developing an emotional attachment to them the way I like dogs (and some people), I do respect the fish. So I decided to abandon this and head to a nearby pond. Fished there for a few minutes with the hook/bobber and Powerbait just to see if I could find a little sunfish or something. So far I have yet to catch anything here, but people tell me there are fish in this pond.

After just about giving up and deciding to go home, I decided tonight would be a good chance to break out the fly rod and give it a whirl. And let me tell ya... that was something else. I know it'll get better, but just getting the reel mounted on the rod and getting the line through the line guides and getting the fly tied on was an exercise in frustration. I won't even tell you how long it took me to accomplish that, or how many times I lost my grip on the line and it all fell back down to the last line guide and I had to start over again, yadda yadda.

Eventually though, I got it all rigged up and made a few casts from the bank. Nothing fancy. The line went generally in the direction I was trying to cast, but I can't cast for much distance yet. And I kept getting tangled up in loose "stuff" (branches, bushes, etc.) lying around near the bank. I kinda think fly fishing works better when you're wading, or maybe from a boat, where you can get away from most stuff. Anyway, I didn't catch anything on the fly setup, but I didn't really expect to. I just wanted to finally break it out and start trying to learn to use it. Mission accomplished in that regard.
 
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