Autumn warmwater fly fishing | VailDaily.com

Traveling back to Ohio for a milestone celebration, I find myself driven by the sickness that has haunted me for as long as I can remember. It’s the 25th anniversary that drives the trip. But the proximity to home waters — where I became infected with the inability to look at water and wonder — rises and begs to ask, “What could I catch from this place?” The insanity is real and brings me back to my roots.

My infatuation with farm ponds aways led me to new water. Wondering what manner of species I would encounter always excited me. Some ponds held healthy populations of catfish, and required a slow hand and a waiting game to achieve success. It’s the complete opposite approach from my fly fishing, where I am always doing something.

Some ponds provided largemouth bass that would devour our lures and fight above their weight class, or so I thought. And still other farm ponds would be overflowing with bluegills, the familiar friend that has carried me from childhood until today with a grin on my face. Not sure why everyone else doesn’t like a fat, slab bluegill, but they make me smile.

Venturing out on travels with a fly rod in hand provides a challenge. How can I adapt my fly fishing to mimic the presentations spin anglers provide? The mental game intrigues me no matter where — Florida, California, Colorado or Ohio. The gear needed follows — flies, lines, techniques to attempt, etc. I revel in the journey.

Coming home for this trip put a spark in my step. Being able to fly fish in familiar locations as well as new places just makes me smile. The opportunity to chase warmwater species on the fly can be challenging, but it is often very rewarding. The intrinsic reward minuscule bluegills provide fills my childhood heart with adolescent joy, and that’s a hard achievement for adults to accomplish.

Support Local Journalism

Donate

Fly rods for traveling need to be four-piece rods, at least, for packing ease. Reels should be versatile, like the Ross LTX, which provides a great drag system, excellent retrieving speed and dare I say, contemporary good looks. I’ve brought a quiver of rods with me to perform specific fishing techniques in a variety of stillwaters and moving waters. From floating lines to full-sinking lines, my arsenal is loaded.

Flies are the component requiring the most forethought. Topwater and subsurface, drifting or swimming, the flies cover a wide variety of approaches, and with good reason. With autumn’s cooling waters, fish can be in finicky moods, requiring a delicate touch and well-connected presentation.

Autumn can bring frigid nights to the midwestern days. Ohio holds a high degree of humidity in the air, resulting in a chill that holds tight to your skin. Buffs pulled up over your neck not only create protection from the sun but provide a degree of warmth from the wind and deliver double duty protection in the fall. Cold air on your ears bites at your skin when the sun dips behind the Appalachian hills.

Fingerless gloves protect hands from chill but still allow for the dexterity to tie knots and feel fly lines. As the cold creeps into your joints, stripping lines becomes a more difficult task. It’s a guessing game every year as to when the cold fall weather will arrive in southern Ohio.

Fly lines deliver my flies with the ability to float or sink. Each one requires time spent deciphering the mental game. Reading the indicators like leaves blowing across smooth water, quiet evenings without any frog talk and the tremendous amount of front porch Halloween decorations remove any doubt that autumn has arrived. Slowing down my presentations, whether subsurface or floating, is the key to producing success now.

Apple cider has a distinct appropriateness when consumed in chilly air. The multicolored hardwood forests are beginning to unfold into a muted blanket of earth tones reminiscent of a scrap fabric quilt. This anniversary is a moment shared with my wife and family. Celebrations of life that give reverence to the time that has shaped our family. The sickness that has infected me since childhood still rears its head when I daze off, looking at water. The mental fly-fishing challenge will forever drive my soul. I think I’ll go catch another bluegill before I head home — just to stay connected to my roots.

Michael Salomone moved to the Eagle River valley in 1992. He began guiding fly-fishing professionally in 2002. His freelance writing has been published in magazines and websites including, Southwest Fly Fishing, Fly Rod & Reel, Eastern Fly Fishing, On the Fly, FlyLords, the Pointing Dog Journal, Upland Almanac, the Echo website, Vail Valley Anglers and more. He lives on the bank of the Eagle River with his wife, Lori; two daughters, Emily and Ella; and a brace of yellow Labrador retrievers.