Brian Davis' Fishing Journal

Neglected Pond

Brian Davis — Thu, 31 May 2012 05:56:31 +0000

After work I loaded up my wife’s bicycle to show it to someone who wanted to buy it. All went well, and I headed home with a little less in the back of the truck, but a little more in my pocket. One of my favorite urban ponds is not even five minutes off the road on my way home. It seemed just plain wrong not to stop and get a few flies airborne and water bound. The barometer was falling and the fish were really biting. I caught three bluegill and one bass on a # 14 H&L Variant. The bass actually surprised me a little. There is one small stand of cattails in a corner of this neighborhood pond. I dropped the little dry fly just in front of the weeds, and it was immediately inhaled by a little bass.

The sun was getting lower in the sky, so I switched to a popper. I managed to pick up another small bass on this little yellow popper, then headed to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for Julie. It was a pretty surprising evening with some unplanned fishing and I’ll definitely be going back to this pond that I have neglected for far too long.

A Beautiful May Evening

Brian Davis — Mon, 28 May 2012 05:58:29 +0000

Sunset Over My Favorite Park Pond

A Beautiful Evening

What Urban Fishing is All About

Warmouth in a Beautiful Sunset

Moments

Brian Davis — Wed, 23 May 2012 01:17:56 +0000

Recent moments from my life . . . These go in my favorites file

Sweating, Hot and dusty – and watching my wife driving up the gravel road to bring me an ice cold dr pepper.

Almost striking out while flyfishing my favorite pond, but photographing this sunset.

Finishing a set of flies that I am happy with, and getting a photo of them that I am equally happy with.

Listening to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra play movie themes. Awesome evening with my son.

These and so many more. I am a blessed man.

Brushing Up On Poppers

Brian Davis — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:14:28 +0000

For about a month I was getting concerned that the fishing on some of my favorite ponds was not quite heating up. FINALLY! A little pond not 5 minutes from my house has started producing some fish for me. It’s been like this … Come home from work, eat a little dinner, head to the pond for about an hour while the sun goes down, back home before my wife is finished watching Say Yes to the Dress.

Poppers seem to be the ticket. I’ve been painting some popper bodies and dressing them lately, and they are proving to be very effective on the bass in this pond.

Walking around this pond, and working these little poppers parallel to the bank is consistently landing me some decent little bass. Especially fun on my little 4 weight rod.

As usual, the sunsets have been very beautiful, and I take as much pleasure in photographing the sunsets as I do in catching they fish. More later . . . Tight lines, everyone!

Product Review – William Joseph Tsunami Bag

Brian Davis — Sun, 06 May 2012 04:17:14 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to take my family on a little getaway to the Texas Hill Country. One of the many activities available to us was kayaking / canoeing. Just the opportunity I have been waiting for. A while back I was the winner of a brand new William Joseph Tsunami bag. This is a review of that bag. And what is needed for review of a boat bag? Three things, as far as I can tell.

1. A boat
2. A boat bag
3. Stuff you don’t want to get wet.

I had this one around the house for a little while before I was able to review it. So I used it as a tote before I could get it on the water. It worked great just using it as a land locked camera and sundries bag, but getting it out on the water made things even better. I didn’t realize how much water is actually splashed by paddling a canoe solo. Or, maybe I’m just a sloppy paddler. But judging from the outside of this bag, I sling a LOT of water. For this test I placed my iphone and several boxes of flies in the bag and took out for open water. At the end of the excursion, I noticed two things.

1. My things were not wet.
2. My things were not even damp.

In other words, the bag performed as promised. I’m not sure what else to say, but I am hanging on to this bag and will be putting it to use on the White River in Arkansas, and maybe in Montana later this summer.

I like this bag a lot. $89.95 is a little more than I would be willing to spend, but if there is a con, that’s the only one I can think of.

William Joseph is a company that makes excellent gear. Their focus is on function over form, meaning, they don’t spend a lot of effort making sure you’re going to be keeping up with the joneses in the style arena. There are plenty of other manufactures who make gear that you want to buy just because it looks good. I actually like the design of this bag. It has two dividers that are arrangeable and handy for segmenting the interior of the bag. It also has a carry strap, which is a must for me.

All reviews on fishingjournal are my honest opinion. I received the William Joseph Tsunami Bag free of charge and agreed to provide a review in exchange. Fishingjournal is not sponsored by or associated with William Joseph and is accepting no other compensation, monetary or otherwise, in exchange for this review. My independent status may change in the future but, as of the date of publication, no relationship other than described above has been pursued or established.

New Species And A Personal Best

Brian Davis — Wed, 02 May 2012 23:18:45 +0000

A couple of evenings ago I decided (quite at the last minute) to go fishing for an hour or so. I went to a park pond five minutes from my house. Shortly after I started casting I caught a new species (for me) on the fly. I was pretty excited and a little confused to see a white bass laying next to my rod. I guess it makes sense since there’s a fairly large creek running right by this pond. My guess is that this guy got lost in recent flooding during our annual white bass run. This Sandbass was caught on a Chartreuse wing Black Ghost fly. Have I mentioned how much I like this fly?

I kept throwing that Black Ghost for a while, but didn’t get any more interest in it, so I switched things up a little. The sun was starting to go down, so I figured I’d have a few minutes to try a popper I had along with me. Good decision. I’ve caught a few decent fish in this pond on poppers before, but it had been a while. It was a really nice, cool evening with a little bit of a breeze. I made my way around to the side of the pond so I’d have the wind slightly quartering to my back. I started casting along the bank – about 2-3 feet out. The first bass to hit was kind of a surprise to me. This guy stayed down and did not want to come up. I figured if I just kept some pressure and him I could wait him out.

That fish made my evening. It was getting dark so I started casting my way back around to my pickup. I was still pretty excited about that fish, so I had to force myself to keep fishing slow. A friend once told me “If you think you’re fishing too slow . . . SLOW DOWN”. This second bass didn’t hit my popper all that hard, but it went straight down as well. This guy, however, didn’t stay down. This fish was about 2.5 pounds, and it took me 3-4 minutes to land him. Loads of fun on my 4 weight with 4 pound tippet. I’m Headed back just as soon as I can. I’m hoping for lots more popper action in the coming days.

My personal Best Largemouth Bass on the Fly.

My Day in Pictures (4/28/12)

Brian Davis — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:00:24 +0000

Today was a good day. It started with sleeping in, and then making breakfast for my wife and daughter. As we were finishing breakfast, high winds caused a power outage at the house. So Julie and JoAnn took a nap while I went to check out a creek I’ve been wanting to fish. Steep banks and lots of vegetation and tree roots made casting a little difficult, but also provided a good break from the wind. I threw several flies, but my single fish brought to hand was on a chartreuse Black Ghost (quickly becoming my favorite fly).

After picking up some auto detailing supplies (Sunday’s project) I went with my wife to the youth camp / ranch where she works. It was such a nice afternoon. These last two photos are a view from the barn, and a closeup of June, one of the camp dogs. Hope everyone had a great day, and here’s to a great Sunday!

Spring is Warming Up

Brian Davis — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:16:22 +0000

I’ve been waiting for some of my favorite local ponds to turn on for a while, now. A couple of days ago I was encouraged to find some small bass and bluegill action at a couple of ponds.

CHARTREUSE
What I found particularly interesting, is that most of the fish I caught over the past few days were caught on chartreuse flies or spinners (Cat’s Whisker fly and Roadrunner spinner). Also, the majority of the fish I have caught on a black ghost fly have been on a chartreuse bucktail wing. So . . . back to the tying bench to tie some more little green flies.

BTW – This was the first time in over a year that I have picked up a spinning rod. I really enjoyed using it, and felt like I could cover so much more water quickly compared to a fly rod.

Bass Taken on a Chartreuse RoadRunner Spinner

Bluegill Caught on a Llama Streamer

Spring Evening

Brian Davis — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 04:29:38 +0000

I hope you’re having a nice spring, and getting some good fishing time in. I haven’t been doing much fishing, but hope to rectify that soon. This evening i went to one of my favorite urban ponds and fished a while. For most of the day the barometer had been falling. By the time I got out to the pond the barometer was rising, and I didn’t get one single strike.

New Camera Lens

Last spring I lost my 18-55 mm lens for my DSLR. I still had a 55-200 mm lens, but it’s pretty useless for most of the shots I want. I found another 18-55 lens on Craigslist, and bought it just last night. it’s good to have a really useful lens again! Before I left the pond, I captured this image. For those who care, I have also posted a graphic with the exposure information for this long exposure image.

Waterfall At One Of My Favorite Urban Ponds

My Thoughtful Wife

Brian Davis — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 01:55:40 +0000

I’ve known for a long time that I married a really thoughtful, sweet and considerate person. I was reminded today of how cool she is when I received my welcome email from Trout Unlimited. I had the application sitting on our computer desk for some time, and she sent it in for me without telling me. Typical. She probably doesn’t think it’s a big deal, but it means a lot to me.

Thanks, Julie!