A good sized pond Largemouth Bass
NORTH RIDGEVILLE, OH – Every now and then pond fishing can yield a real nice fish. I have access to a few and it had been some time since one of the better fish had been caught. With my recent ability to get out fishing a little more, the ‘icing on the cake’ so to speak was getting a nice fish. While not a complete monster, it was big enough to quicken the pulse, and keep fish energy high!
My friend Nate, who is an exceptional fisherman, made a very good point recently to me about how if I take my spinning gear and my fly gear – I wont really get better or develop as a fly fisherman. I know he is 100% accurate as I have found this to be true. While I really need to perfect my skills in tributaries, I still think even on ponds and lakes I should apply this. I know this will produce fewer catches at least early on – and I need to accept this as a necessity to get more fly proficient. Leaving my trusted gear behind, I did one trip with just the 4 wt. fly rod. I used a minnow pattern to catch some fair sized Bluegill and considered the effort successful. Only one small bass was caught on the fly but at least there was upside in that the smaller Bluegill didn’t have mouths big enough to get hooked. This served to cull the smaller fish without ever having to land and handle them… a definite bonus. I need to commit to more trips with only fly gear in tow.
Midland Painted Turtle
More exciting for my kids then any of the fish recently caught, was a Midland Painted Turtle that I was able to grab and let them admire for a few minutes. My ‘dad status’ has been legendary after this feat and there are numerous discussions around them wanting a pet turtle.
coolwaterfish.com 
Nice fish!