Every Minute Counts

 Daylight and right before the sun goes down are some of the best times to land fish fishing for warm water or cold water species. I prefer the daylight hours in the summer months because there is little humidity during daylight. One still has to deal with humid conditions late in the evening before dark. 

Jeff and I found out just how pleasant the daylight hour was this past Thursday as we fished one of the floating lights near the many piers in Ryan Creek. 

This 15" Spotted Bass put a bend in Jeff's 5wt. 9ft. Redington. A slight movement of the curved-faced white Boogle popper got its attention. Jeff placed the popper at the back of the light. The bass hit the popper as Jeff moved it slowly through the lighted area under the light. The male spot didn't disappoint us it headed straight for the deep water. 

Right after Jeff landed his Spotted Bass I noticed another bass in the outer rim of the lighted area. The Bullet Boogle Bug I had tied on my 4 wt. 9 ft. Redington paired with a Gloomis 4 wt. reel was the combo I used to land this female Spotted Bass. She hit the popper as I was moving it out of the lite area. I saw the wake as she came up and inhale the popper. She immediately started taking line off the reel. At one point I thought I wasn't going to have enough line on the reel to land the fish. I never use backing on any of my fly reels but after this episode, I may rethink adding a little backing to my 4 and 5 wt. reels. Minutes went by before I got to touch this fish because most of the fight occurred under the floating pier. I thought I lost the fish because there was no movement which had me thinking she broke off and got me hung on something under the pier. As I put side pressure on what I thought was a hang-up I felt the fish coming to me and swimming slowly out from under the pier. That is when I felt I had a chance to land this fish using the drag on my Gloomis reel. She headed for the depths of the lake which was a plus for me. After numerous runs, I finally lifted her in the boat and won the day fighting a worthy opponent in the Spotted Bass! Right after landing the fish, the light turned off by the pier which made Jeff and I thankful for every minute we had to fish before the sun peaked over the trees in the east. The rest of the morning was devoted to landing a few smaller bass and of course numbers of big bull gills.

I've landed hundreds of bass and bluegill with the Boogle Bug poppers and the place I purchase these fantastic poppers is -----BreamBugs-----

Fishing Tiny Poppers

Tiny Poppers has always been a part of my fishing arsenal. I use them more in late summer and fall as opposed to the Spring months fishing Smith Lake. Smith is tough to fish after July  4th. when the drawdown begins and continues into late September and early October. The lake has dropped 10 ft. by late October and will remain low throughout the winter months. Fishing the familiar places such as the nooks I fish in the Spring is out because the fish have moved to deeper water along the rock walls. During this time of the year is when the size 12 tiny popper will get more hits than a larger popper I fish in the Spring. I compare fishing this size popper to fishing a dry fly on the Sipsey for trout. The hits can be far apart at times, but when it does occur it is usually a quality gill. Silk smooth surface water is ideal to fish the tiny popper and a delicate presentation helps produce the hit, which is light and not aggressive. The gills will suck the tiny popper in with very little surface movement. I like using my 2/3 wt. fly rods making a short cast to deliver these little poppers with a light presentation.  

The tiny size 12 K & E Stopper Pan-fish popper which comes in a three-pack is one of my favorites. White, black, chartreuse and yellow are the color choices. I use all four colors and no one color is my favorite. On some days one color produces better than another color.  I guess it just goes to show how finicky these gills are this time of year. 

My other favorite is this size 12 bluegill bug by Orvis. There are days when this popper will produce when the K and E poppers are getting fewer hits.  I like to use the Orvis Bug popper when the fish are splashing at the K & E poppers, without getting hooked. The bug floats half under the water surface and the other half barely above surface film. The face of this popper is concave which when moved slightly will get the attention of a finicky gill or bass.  All you will see most of the time when the popper is sitting still is a slight swirl subsurface meaning set the hook!!

Today's trip on Ryan Creek fishing Smith Lake rewarded me with a few spotted bass, some female/male gills, and one beautiful sunfish or sun perch. All were caught using the K & E size 12 popper in chartreuse and white and the Orvis bug. A lot of fun using my 2/3 weight 7 1/2 ft. Redington. 

Fantastic Popper Fishing with Jason

Spring fishing can be some of the best times to land some really quality fish. The fish are much more active this time of year with the water temps warming and the spawn occurring. Feeder fish such as small shad is the number one prey for the bass on a lot of lakes this time of year. If one can mimic the tiny shad then you are in for some fantastic surface action for largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass on most large bodies of water this time of year. Some of the favorite lures Bass fishermen used to get a hit is the Rapala, fluke, or prop lures. Fly fishermen used a variety of patterns to imitate the shad as well, such as streamers, soft plastic shad patterns, and poppers. If given a choice to fish with the bait casing gear or the fly fishing gear, I would choose the fly fishing method hands down. There's nothing like landing a quality bass using your favorite weighted fly rod. Well, let me restate the bluegill would have to be near the top as well.

I look forward every year for Spring to arrive knowing that I am in for my best fishing of the year. Jason and I got to experience the Spring fishing at it's best this past week. Jason was home for seven days and we spent four of those days fishing beautiful Smith Lake. Some good times were had landing countless bass and huge bull bluegills using the poppers at daylight and afternoons fishing Smith Lake! Jason was using his new IM10 fly rod which was a birthday present from me and his mom. The bass was killing the Glow After Dark Cream Boogle Bug Popper!! 

Another spotted bass took on the cream Boogle Bug. There is something about the Boogle that gets the attention of bass. We were working the popper to mimic a wounded shad; it worked every day we fish the Boogle! 

Early morning still a little cool on the lake until the sun starting peeking through the clouds. 

The afternoon didn't slow the bite down

All the bass taken during the days we fished were taken on top using either the solid black Boogle Bug or the Cream Boogle when the shad were active. 

The big bulls were active as well using the Barr Nunn black and yellow poppers. The spawn will begin the last of this month. At times both of us thought we had bass on when landing these bluegills because of the tremendous fight they would put forth. I'm already looking forward to our next outing when Jason will return for more topwater action in June!!