I found out Tuesday why I
need a good supply of flies and poppers.
I think most of you already know where this post is going—bluegill
fishing. I hope I am not boring you guys with all the posts I have been doing lately
about my trips to reach my 100 super bluegills during the spawning season. I
know when I started this blog it was mainly to keep a fishing log of the time of
year, water temps, moon phase or any other information that might help me to
become a better fisherman. Little did I know that the blog would enable me to
meet and converse with some expert fishermen, who have help me learn so much
about this sport I truly love.
So with that said Tuesday’s
trip will be a memorable outing for me to say the least. In a four-hour span, I
landed a total of 32 bluegills and during that time I brought to hand some of
the largest bluegills I have ever caught on Walker County Lake. I was culling fish from the very start of the trip
to try and reach my limit which is 20 on this lake. I made the limit with some
big bluegills; four were in the 12 to 15oz category and the 2 Shellcrackers were 14 to 15 oz. I
used two different fly rods starting out with my 3wt 9 ft. Streamflex and later started using my new 4 wt. 9 ft. St.
Croix fast action. In fact, if I had not had the 4 wt. I would have never landed the Shellcrackers. A lot
of these fish were in submerging cover which made it a challenge to land a lot
of them. Through it all, I lost 4 poppers to the Shellcrackers who are still
swimming with them in their mouth somewhere in the lake. After adding my 20 big
bluegills today I am 56 away from my goal. I feel a little better about
reaching my goal now after today’s adventure.
This was one of the 15 oz. beauties
If this Shellcracker had to jump many more times I would have lost him, the White Betts Popper fell out of his mouth once in the boat
Another beauty held by the caretaker at the bait shop on the lake
The prize at the end of the trip--this is an outing I will remember
