Top Water Fly Fishing from a Float Tube

If you are looking for a great exercise program…one where you don’t have to go to a gym, pay a fee, lift weights, run, or do exercises amongst a crowd, then try top water fly fishing from a float tube on a very windy day.

I started out on a Saturday night in Greene-Sullivan State Forest at Airline Pit; I had coached and taken my Unified Track Team to Muncie to compete in a track meet…and thus wasn’t able to start fishing until about 7:30pm. The good news is that I had my new camper, a teardrop style camper that would allow me to fish until dark and then sleep a few hours before daylight…starting it all over again just a few hours later. Airline provided me with a “Greene County Slam”; a crappie, bluegill, bass and trout…in fact several of each were caught in the two hours up to dark, which arrived on the water at 9:30pm. I climbed into my cozy little camper and the next thing I knew my alarm went off at 5am…more fishing!

I drove the few miles from Airline over to my good friend, Mike Williams’ lake and before the sun had even started to appear…was once again sitting atop my float tube, fly rod in hand. Frank Terkhorn would be joining me and I had told him the day before that he better get there early or else I would have to ‘catch-the-big-one’. Obviously I intended for this to be a joke…right up to my fifth casts when something very large surfaced and exploded from below, smashing my 4 inch shad popper…the rest as they say…is history and would prove to Frank that the early fishermen gets the big one! I had caught a 6 pound catfish on a top water fly…now, I have caught many, many catfish before but have never had one come up and destroy a fly like this one did. The next few minutes had my emotions all over the place because I just couldn’t get my mind wrapped around it being anything but a big bass. My first clue that it wasn’t came about 3 minutes into the fight when I felt the head shake and knew it was staying down deep. Either way…it was a fish of a lifetime, at least thus far.

The next 15 minutes were a blur as I had explosion after explosion and caught bass after bass. The action was literally non-stop and by the time I had moved along the eastern edge of the lake I had landed (and filmed) about 15-20 catches of bass ranging from 12 to 14 inches. As the joke goes…seemed like I was catching the same fish over and over?

If you haven’t fished from a float tube then you really can’t understand how up close and personal you can actually get with both wildlife and the fish themselves. At one point I was casting and listening to the many Bob-White quail calling from the shoreline when a big explosion happened in a small cove off of the lake. I quickly picked up my line and quietly backed my tube into a position whereby I could accurately make a long cast back into the cove. My fly hadn’t even landed when I saw the wake coming from a nice fish; it blew up the water under the fly and I strip set the hook with all I had. The fish was heavy and it took me straight down into the weeds…and that was the end of what might have been the bass of the day. All I got back in return was a pile of weeds on my fly.

As I neared the furthest end of the lake, Frank had shown up and caught up as he was floating down wind. I knew he was behind me because I could hear the splashing of a fish and turned around to see Frank landing another twin of the twenty or so I had already landed. We shared notes and quickly set out on finishing the other half of the lake. The morning would progress and time would…as it always seems to do…stand still. We would cross paths five or six more times and while there were stretches that weren’t ‘hectic’, I had good fishing all morning long, right up to the point that after five hours swirling and spinning around…I finally became tired.

Just short of quitting I was paid a visit by Mike who took the time to ride over in his ‘Mule’ and check in on us. I won’t be shy…I like Mike. He is indeed brother to my very good Friend Kenny Williams (of Edward Jones fame) and one of the best guys I know. Visiting with Mike is like going back in time…as he is soft spoken and has a bit of a draw that just makes you feel like the world is all good. Mike and I talked about fish, quail, pheasants, friends and family…and after fifteen minutes we had solved all the issues we could…on this day Mike was off to church and I was off to meet Frank and go have a bite of lunch.

If you’d like to see a film of my big catfish and several other nice bass taken on a fly then click here.

After a good meal at Cinco-De-Mayo and a 45 minute drive home…I was a bit pooped. I showered, took care of my dogs and proceeded to watch a bit of golf. Yes, I was tired but it was a peaceful and good kind of tired. I had caught lots of fish and done so with one of my best friends. Certainly I had gotten a full day’s worth of exercise and frankly the world just felt a little further away for a few hours; funny how nature and the good old outdoors can do that for a fellow. If you are looking for just what the body needs…then give nature a try; I know you will Enjoy the Great Outdoors.