Getting down.
Went to Max K Rodes this evening. It was a little windy. 9-10mph out of the NE. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the grass line around the ponds was being properly maintained instead of sprayed with weed killer. There were spots of thick water plants called Pickerel weed (see pics). Most of them had been mowed down but, something good is better than nothing. The water quality has greatly improved from the last time I was there. I started off in my usual spot near the basketball courts. It is where I usually have the best luck and it was out of the wind. I tossed both the white pattern that has been getting hammered at the old golf course, and a fire tiger. Both were top water flies. Nothing, nada, zero, zink, zilch. Not even a Bluegill tap. I saw some activity around the shoreline but nothing wanted anything to do with my offerings. I worked my way up the west side of the pond back towards the entrance. Still nothing. I was using my 9' 8wt and casting into the wind was not fun. With the wind was fine but, I was still strike free for the day. I decided to switch to a subsurface fly. The water was cool and I had nothing to lose. I tied the fly a few months ago and had yet to give it a go. It did not take long before I had a fish on. I proceeded to catch four in the next 20 or so minutes. Three were caught on the west side of the east pond. One from the east most pond near the lillypads. I fished the fly in about 1-6 feet of water using a 9'+ leader on a floating line. I fished the fly slow with short strips. Three of the fish took the fly deep. All looked like they were eating well. The largest was 12". I plan to fish this pattern the next time I visit the golf course as well as near some mangroves sometime soon. I did not fish the west side pond for long but, I included the pics of the lillypads because they looked nice. Good to see some healthy bodies of water. Hopefully they will remain clean.
Tight lines & have a great day,
TJ
