Saturday, January 2, 2016

HANGRY

It's good to start the year off on the water and after New Year's lunch at the in-laws, which is by far my favorite meal of the year (fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas, stewed tomatoes and onions over rice, and cornbread muffins), I pushed the kayak out into the pond for a couple of hours.


I was hoping to come across a largemouth bass but instead found a half dozen chain pickerel that would come out of no where to slam the fly.  Pickerel, much like their pike and musky cousins, are angry eaters.  It was so fun to cast into the structure lined edges, retrieve and swim the flashy white minnow fly back to the kayak, and for it be suddenly engulfed in the mouth of pickerel.







Here's to 2016 and a good start to the new year.  Cheers...

5 comments:

Coach Broesicke said...

What is the fly in the picture with the reel? It looks like it would make a nice rainbait/ anchovy/ silverside imitation..

RM Lytle said...

Pickerel are awesome! Been targeting them quite often lately.

Jeff said...

I'm envious of your family pond!

Interested to hear what you think of the Orvis 6wt vs. the venerable Epic 686??

Fontinalis Rising said...

Very nice Cam. I've only caught a couple over the years, but yeah, same dramatic aggressive feed, just a bit smaller.

Cameron Mortenson said...

Coach...I don't have any info on the fly name. It was part of a batch that was sent to me a few years ago. It's an awesome pattern, flashy, and swims great.

RM Lytle...they are a lot of fun. They get surprisingly big in the family pond.

Jeff...it's a great pond. I think I need to do a "shootout" of sorts review of the Orvis SFG and Epic 686.

Jason...I guess living in Georgia now that you might catch them some more.