Testing the Waters

There's been one day in the last two weeks here in Jasper that was suitable enough to fish and that was last Monday. The rest of the time it has been raining with flooding. Ivan and I boarded my Pelican boat and fished Monday afternoon on beautiful Walker Lake. We wanted to see if the bluegill and red-eye bass had moved into the shallow water next to the banks. We spent a good three hours casting small poppers and nymphs in some areas we both had fished before. 

I had to change poppers quite a few times before I got this bluegill to sniff hit it. Sniff hit meaning an extremely light hit, making me believe that the fish was annoyed with popper. This fish and the other small ones we landed were at least 6 to 7 ft. away from the banks; in other words no bank action at all. 

A slight breeze all afternoon kept the water surface laced with ripples. The only place we got any surface action at times was when found a smooth surface area.  Some small lakes take on a drab look in the winter months, but not Walker it retains its beauty throughout the year with large pine and oak trees lining its banks. 

Ivan landed this bluegill using a small Betts white popper. He spent a good hour fishing various colored popper patterns before this fish hit. Letting the popper sit motionless for a short period produced the strike. I was surprised that no fish was landed using the nymph. I told Ivan before we launched the boat that landing fish would be secondary for me this afternoon because I was just glad to get on the water. 

The levee was one area to avoid the wind. Poppers don't produce well when fishing choppy water surfaces. There was no red-eyed bass landed on this day. The red-eyed bass is native to the creek that feeds Walker Lake. The largest I've ever landed here was in the 12" size. 

The size 10 Betts popper is one of my favorites when fishing for finicky fish. The white and red Betts poppers were the winners today that got the bluegill's attention. Color does make a difference when fishing for bluegill. Most fishermen will tell you that bluegill is stupid and will hit anything cast their way; not the case when fishing out of season for this fish. Catching this size bluegill on a 2 and 3 weight fly rod is a blast. All of the small nooks in this lake doesn't require one to fish with a long fly rod. A 7 1/2 foot fly rod is a great choice to cover the banks making a short cast. 

As I get older I've come to realize that one doesn't have to land the largest and the most fish. Today's trip was a great example of that statement!!

Popper Color Makes a Difference

This past week has been hectic, with no fishing, blogging, or gym time. The movers worked Monday and Tuesday moving us into our new home. The rest of the week was spent unpacking boxes and trying to get the house in order. We had furniture in the rent house where we were living, Jason's storage unit and our storage unit. I hope my wife and I never make another move ever!
Jason and I did had a few hours yesterday to fish Walker Lake before he flies back to Sacramento Monday. I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

The white Betts Popper was the hot fly on this outing; Jason had only one of the poppers and was not about to share with Dad! He landed two to my one for the afternoon. 

Flexing the 2 wt. 

Could it be the top and bottom of the red dot and the white color that got the bluegills' attention??

The finished house to the point where we could move in. No landscaping until we get more dry weather; we're just glad to be in the house and life getting close to normal. 

Exploring Another New Lake

The Shellcracker Lake near Columbia was my target lake this past Tuesday to explore. One drawback to this lake is no grass area to slide the Pelican into the water. Lots of concrete including the launch ramp; lucky for me there were a lot of fishermen there to help me get it launched. The polyurethane material this boat is made of will not take concrete slides often.

This is a 75-acre lake nestled in a deep wide valley with a huge dam holding back a flood of water. After getting on the water I counted 16 other boats scattered around the banks. I found out really quick that the majority of fishermen were fishing for the spawning bluegill. The big difference between me and them was the fishing technique. Again I was the only one using the fly rod, while the rest were using the crickets and worms. The live bait fishermen were landing lots of bluegill and catfish. I did manage to find one small spawning group of gills located near the base of some small maple trees that were willing to give the 3 weight a workout. Bluegill will sometimes spawn in very unlikely places and this group was located under the overhanging branches of the trees; presenting a bait of any kind was a challenge for any angler. Using a low side cast help me connect with the fish. I counted four orange corks tangled in the branches that didn’t make the connection.

I landed a couple of small bass holding in the back of this nook. Other boats were waiting in the wings to give the area a try.

Blooming dogwoods signals crappie season in the south!

I worked hard to land this bluegill from under the maple branches. In fact, I was impressed with my placement of the popper to attract a strike. Time after time the Bar Nunn popper hit its mark to hook up with this group of spawning bluegills. This is a good bull bluegill, but I’m still looking for the really big gills. I hope I can land a few before the spawning season is over.