Fishing in suburbia can be an enriching a rewarding experience. With some creativity, a little self-loathing, and a penchant for sophomoric hijinks, you too can catch fish out of someone’s backyard.
Here are three helpful tips to increase the number of fish you catch, decrease the run-ins with local authorities, and all but eliminate hooking joggers with your backcast.
Fish at Night
Why do you fish? Is it to be in a crowd? I doubt it. Most normal folk enjoy getting into the great out of doors to escape the not-so-great everywhere else.
The problem with fishing in and around suburban towns is that they, by nature, are crawling with people. Walkers, joggers, runners, strollers, skaters, loiterers, saunterers, shufflers; you name them, they are around. And these people, for some odd reason, like to congregate near perfectly decent fishing spots. “Appreciating nature,” or some such.
But you can use that to your advantage. The same LL Bean catalog inspired wanderlust that gets this population outside also carries the baggage of Field & Stream cover terror. That’s right; for every excited weekend hiker there is a person who knows that bears, wolves, coyotes, coy-dogs, and/or chupacabras are lurking in every dark hollow.
Are the aforementioned face-mauling creatures out there? Oh, yes. But are you, the fly angler, ready to deal with them? Heck yes. So don’t be afraid of the dark. Check in while the cowering masses are checking out.
When else in normal life do you have the opportunity to slink around, scurrying under trees and hiding behind shrubbery? Once you have familiarized yourself with local municipal codes, HOA regulations, etc. etc. etc. you can commence to sending your fly quickly and accurately through loopholes.
Here is a list (sublist?) of ways to optimize your borrowed time on the pond:
- Rig everything up beforehand. Don’t spend time prepping your rod in front of someone’s driveway while their kids are playing in the yard. That is creepy. String everything up at home, so you can confidently scamper into a stranger’s backyard.
- Try to hide your fly rod. This might be difficult, seeing as they are usually in the range of nine feet long. But by holding it low and to the side, inserting a nonchalant whistle or hum, and avoiding eye contact, no one will be any the wiser.
- Dress up like a groundskeeper. This may very well be over the top. But if you’re that paranoid, you have a choice to make.
After you’re planned out your grand scheme, make sure your expectations are right where they need to be. Chances are the pond has been slammed by nitrates from lawn fertilizer and supports a booming population of 4-to-6-inch sunfish. Are there bass in there? Word on the street says yes. But the same guy that told you this nugget of knowledge seems like the type to eat Tru-Green marinated largemouth.
You’ve heard the whole “catch lots of fish, then catch big fish, then catch a fish a certain way” idiom? Well, fly fishing in your neighborhood probably requires skipping the line all the way to the end of that cute little saying. Maximum effort is going to yield something akin to what many use for bait.
But this is about the experience. A little danger and points for execution can go a long way when there aren’t any other fishing opportunities nearby. Plus, fly fishing is a noble pursuit. You’re classing up the joint by eschewing a bobber and bait cup. Get out there, blaze a new trail, and don’t step on Mrs. Smith’s herb garden.
Why live in surburbia when one could live in Maine?
I’ve done this. Golf courses are the best. And I’ve found groundskeepers who are taken with the fly. Sometimes an hours drive is too long.
These days an hour’s drive is always too long! Thanks, Les.