Orange, red, green, chartreuse, and white are all colors that are used when fishing poppers for bluegill and bass. One would think brown or black would be dominant colors fishing for warm water species, but not the case when trying to get a hit from weary bluegill or bass. The primary color of almost all insects that touch the water surface on Smith is black and brown, but I get many more hits using bright colors as opposed to the insect colors.
The fish were hitting orange on Tuesday morning. I tried other colors which resulted in no hits. As soon as I tied on the Orange popper the bass jumped on it. This Spotted Bass came out of the water to inhale the orange popper. This fish was the second landed on the popper off the wall in the background. The first bass on this same wall was larger and broke me off while I was trying to get it on the drag. Never let your fly line get tangled up at your feet while you are trying to land a fish. How I wish I could have touched that fish I lost!!
The following are some more orange lovers. The bluegill sucked the popper into its gills; it would be my only good bluegill of the morning. The depths on most all the walls now are 10 to 20 ft. as the drawdown continues getting ready for the fall season. The lake is well below full pool during the fall and winter. I kept wondering what bug the fish thought this popper was? All the Spotted Bass today were respectable giving my 3 wt. a workout!
Who needs a ruler when one can simply have it tattooed on your leg. I think I will pass on this tattoo. Tuesday was another fun day on beautiful Smith Lake!!
