If you hunt or fish, you’ll find there are some activities that are more highly revered than others, at least they are by zealots of the sport. Take quail hunting, for example. While quail in our part of the country have basically gone the way of the Studebaker, there are those who still keep a brace of pointers and seek out those widely scattered pockets of cover that may hold a covey or two. Why? Because quail hunting is so special to them; they just can’t entertain thoughts that quail numbers continue to shrink.

Then there are the fly fishermen. The average angler heads for the lake or the creek bank armed with rods and reels, or a cane pole and bucket of worms. While some rod and reelers and cane polers have perfected their craft to a fine edge, the average fisherman just wants to catch supper, and the gear he selects is what he feels will allow him to do that most effectively.

Ah, but the fly fisherman is a far different creature. He’s probably more of a purist; a
perfectionist, than any other sportsman. He talks in almost reverential tones of tippets and Royal Coachmen and such. He ties his own flies; builds his own rods. It’s as if the process of preparing to fly fish is an end in itself.

I once tried fly fishing, but I soon learned that I lack something in the “purist” category. I purchased my outfit years ago at the local discount store for $29.95. No, that was not the price of the fly line; that was the package price for rod, reel, line, leader and a box of flies. I took my purchase to a local pond where I’d located a bed of bluegills in the shallows.

I managed to catch a few fish but I spent an inordinate amount of time getting my popping bug untangled from the myrtle bush behind me. I also noticed a lack of dexterity when it came to making “the cast”. I almost threw out my shoulder trying to emulate the fly fishers I’d watched on TV. While they made it look so easy, I spent most of my fishing time tripping over line wrapped around my ankles and getting a half-hitch from around my ear.

While on a turkey hunting trip to South Dakota several years ago, I spent some time with Dick Leir, owner of Dakota Angler and Outfitter and as he drove me alongside the sparkling-clear streams in the Black Hills, he talked about his favorite sport, fly fishing.

“Fly fishing can be frustrating, but once you get over the initial aggravation, it is a
calming sport,” Leir explained. “There is an evolution that takes place in the life of a fly fisher. At first, his goal is to catch ‘a’ fish. Once he accomplishes this, he wants to catch a ‘lot’ of fish. Then he progresses to wanting to catch a ‘big’ fish; then a ‘lot of big’ fish. He arrives as a genuine fly fisher when his consuming desire is to catch ‘that’ fish.”

“Fly fishing is unique in that it is one of the few do-it-yourself sports. Anglers get a lot of satisfaction from painstakingly building their own rods and becoming adept at tying their own flies. To catch ‘that’ fish on a rod you have built with a fly you have tied offers the utmost satisfaction,” said Leir.

According to Leir, trout fishermen don’t go to a stream with the purpose of catching fish to eat.

“The object is not to catch ‘supper’. Wild trout are much too valuable for that. A
legendary fly fisherman, the late Lee Wulfe once said, ‘a trout is too valuable a commodity to catch only once.’

While wild trout are the number one quarry of most fly fishers, practically any species of fish can be caught on a flyrod. We don’t have trout in Louisiana, but there are other fish that can provide great sport for the flyrodder. Bedded bluegills, like I attempted to catch, bass and crappie are all amenable to being caught on fly tackle.

As advanced age has caught up with me, I have laid aside my fly rod and casting rod and settle for a seat in a comfortable chair on the bank of a pond with bedded bluegills swirling the water just off shore. Skewering on a cricket and lobbing it into the mass of bream, I’m as happy as a fly fisherman wading a clear mountain stream for trout.

FISHING REPORT

CANEY LAKE –Bass are being caught on soft plastics and jigs as they are beginning to move from deeper water to mouth of the creeks. Rat-L-Traps ripped through the grass are picking up some bass with soft plastics, square bills and topwater lures are also working. Crappie are starting to move to the back of the creeks and are beginning to spawn and hit shiners or jigs. For information contact Caney Lake Landing at 259-6649, Hooks Marina at 249-2347, Terzia Tackle at 278-4498 or the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
BLACK BAYOU – Bass are improving fishing spinners and jigs around the trees. Crappie are starting to move shallow and fishing is improving on shiners or jigs. Contact Honey Hole Tackle Shop 323-8707 for latest information.
BUSSEY BRAKE – Bass fishing is good with some really nice fish to 11 pounds caught flipping the trees with jigs, using spinners and soft plastics. Crappie are on the banks and hitting jigs and shiners. For latest information, contact the Honey Hole at 323-8707.
OUACHITA RIVER – Water is still high and muddy with very little fishing reported this week. For latest information, contact the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE D’ARBONNE – Crappie are good with some caught in 3 foot water while others haven’t quite moved in and are in 10 foot water. Shiners and jigs are working. Bass are on the banks and hitting soft plastics, jigs and spinners. Catfishing is improving fishing cold worms off the banks. with males getting beds ready and big females moving in to spawn. No report on bream this week. For latest information, call Anderson Sport Center at 368-9669 or Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE CLAIBORNE –Crappie are starting to move to the back of the creeks where spawning is starting to take place. Bass are moving shallow with some good fish caught on spinners, softplastics and jigs. Best catches are being made early and late in the day. Stripers are beginning to show up in open water around Kel’s Cove. No report on catfish. For latest information, call Kel’s Cove at 927-2264 or Terzia Tackle at 278-4498.
LAKE POVERTY POINT – Crappie have moved off the banks because of colder water temperatures. Catfishing is good. No report on bass. For latest reports, call Poverty Point Marina at 318/878-0101.
LAKE YUCATAN – The water is on a slow fall with water temperatures too cold for fishing to be good just yet. slight rise. For information, call Surplus City Landing at 318/467-2259.