South Platte Ponds May 6, 2012

Today I found a window a few hours to hit the water so headed for once to the South Platte Ponds off 470 for some warm water fishing. Still water is not really my cup of tea with tenkara, I prefer running water. But if you never try it or give it a chance, you never know what you'll miss.

I hoped to get into some panfish like blue gills, crappies etc. and maybe into a smallmouth bass (the ponds have supposedly a very healthy smallmouth bass population). I started with one of the small hidden ponds where I saw some largemouth bass cruising. I started casting to them but I guess they knew I was up to no good. I didn't give up and had one take, probably just being annoyed, my black wooly bugger. A few seconds into the fight one of the new knots I tried broke. Bye bye bugger. I retied and went with a small size 14 beadhead chain marabou damsel (purple) harassing the same bass. Sure enough, he took that bitty fly and the game was on. The Ito was bent and the line sang under the strain and pull of the fish but eventually I could tire the fish somewhat and land it. It was a nice fatty, 16" as per my measure net and my first "nice" bass caught with a tenkara rod:

The rest of the morning was less than spectacular. I had two good sized smallmouth bass flash on my bitty fly  and then during the last half hour was I able to find some panfish and land those two guys:

Heading back to the car, I knew I would probably run into my friend Jason Klass of  Tenkara Talk who let me know that he would probably head to the ponds about the time I was leaving. Sure enough I found him but I couldn't believe my eyes. 

Jason Klass of Tenkara Talk... 

what the heck?

I guess desperate times ask for desperate measures. Hope you had more luck than I did, buddy.

Statistics:
Weather: overcast with sun, some wind
Air Temp: 36F @8.30am, 58F @noon
Water Temp: n/a
Flow: n/a 
Day on the water in 2012: 9
Fish: 4 hooked, landed 3
Equipment: TenkaraUSA Ito, yellow level line no. 3