I still have a bunch of vacation and it's use it or lose it so I took this week off.

I've been fishing mostly at Southwest Nature Preserve in Arlington, but the bass there all seem to be 9 - 12" so I decided to mix it up a little and hit a pond in Grand Prairie that I drive by most mornings on the way to and from work.

Yesterday I got into a bunch of green sunfish. There was a small canal between 2 parts of the pond. I caught about 15.





I was watching a guy pull in bass after bass over by a fountain. I finally caught this monster on a #8 beadhead olive woolly bugger.


This morning I went over by the fountain and caught a few more tiny bass on a bugger and a #8 chartreuse/white closer.

I switched to a bream killer and caught this bass that went 13".


I could see bass busting the surface around the fountain and switched to a stealth drone which is a type of foam gurgler. The fountain was out of my casting range (60-70'), but I started picking up small bass on almost every cast a couple were 12".



Then it happened. My bug just kind of disappeared. I was thinking that it was a small one, but when I set the hook it pulled back hard. I fought it for a couple of minutes. It stayed deep but I finally got it up near the bank. I had a net, but stupidly tried to drag it onto the bank across a foot or so of 1" water. My tippet broke and I watched the bass scoot back out of sight.

I know the ones that get away always get bigger, but it was by far the largest one I have ever hooked on a fly rod.

I also lost one on a popper that buried itself in the weeds 5 feet or so out from the bank, but wasn't as big.

The popper was a Boogle bug so I cried about losing a 5 buck bug.

I was using my 6 wt today. I'm taking my 8 wt out tomorrow morning because I can cast it farther and I want to get where I could see the bass breaking the surface.

Here is a picture of the type fly I hooked the big one on.

Any idea what the bass were busting on?

I've got some small bodies of water local to me that I can see bass busting, but am unsure what they're eating. They dont seem interested in standard terminal tackle, and my first fly rod is in the mail on its way here

I love Green Sunfish, especially when caught on poppers. If those things grew to about three or four pounds you wouldn't need to fish for anything else.

The fountain was disturbing the water so much I couldn't really tell. The bass were schooling though and I saw a lot of minnows around the bank. On quieter parts of the pond bass would occasionally launch themselves out of the water for dragonflies. It's pretty neat when they do that.

I am thinking I see bass here launching for Dragonflies too, but I read that Dragonflies are hard for fish to catch. (This is the entire reason I am buying a fly rod, to catch these picky buggers.)

They do have an aggressive attitude. I've ruined some cheap poppers that greenies have swallowed that were just about the same size as their mouth.

Bass will definitely eat dragonflies. They may be hard to catch, but bass will sure work hard to get them. Reminds me of an old thread.....
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/2344774/Re:__Dragonfly_Pattern

Great link Woolly, do you still make those?

Nice Greenies J

Great dragonfly pattern Woolly Bugger. I booked marked that one an will definitely tie one up. A lot of the dragonflies I've tied before twist real bad during casting. I bet that casts well.

I still tie them every now and then. They are very durable, so you don't have to tie more very often. They cast well and float like they're made out of foam or something.

Tie them in various colors to mimic the bugs you are seeing.