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Cat on the Fly

Catfish caught with fly rod on a fly

Not much of a report here, but I will log it. I was not planning on fishing today as the shad fishing was slow last weekend, and the water is still outside of the banks of the St. Johns river. However, the river calls me this time of year, and I decided to make an impromptu solo trip. I thought about heading downstream to the turns before Lake Harney, but that seemed like a lot of work, and I was feeling lazy. I purposely avoided the mouth of the Econ as it was busy up there.

I spent time working around the bridge, creek mouths, and trying some new spots anywhere I found a decent current. I fished for about four hours, working the upper water column with the single hander, then the deeper water with the switch rod and did not hook a shad. They may have been slaying it up by the Econ for all I know, but I suspect the front moving through may have shut things down.

I thought the skunk was on me and double checked the kayak for bananas. Luckily for me the catfish pictured above decided he wanted a taste of the orange Shad Dart that was trailing behind a pink Kip Tailed Clouser I was swinging, and he proceeded to darn near spool me on the six weight switch rod. Good fun, but this is Shad on the Fly, not Cat on the Fly. 🙂

It was a productive day none the less. I probably made hundreds of Spey casts, taking my time and really working on technique to get the rust off of my fundamentals. My casting is coming in to good form again, just in time for a Spey casting clinic I am attending next week. When the fish arrive en masse, if they decide not to eat, it will not be because of a bad cast if I have anything to say about it!

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