Fishing Ryan Creek With B.T.

I have found that fishing after a cold front is not the most productive time to fish. That was the case yesterday when my son-in-law B.T. and I ventured out on the waters of Ryan Creek. The temperature was close to 38 on Wednesday night and cool all day Thursday and into Friday. I was hoping for topwater action so B.T. could land a nice size Spotted Bass. All that hit the Rapala were 12 to 13-inch size. The Rapala is an excellent topwater lure to entice some big fish hits but not on Saturday. I was using my 5 wt. with a size 6 Boogle Bug but no hits came. I did manage 6 bluegills 4 of which I will count on my goal of 100 during the spawning period. Those fish all hit after the water reached 68. There was very limited activity on Ryan Creek, so I guess everyone else knew the results before they launched. It was a good outing anytime I can get to fish with B.T. even if it was a slow day.

B. T with one of the 7 or 8 Spotted Bass he landed --we called it quits around noon --slow bite most of the morning--I am still hoping for a super day soon with B.T. so he can finally land his big spot.

One of the four I counted towards my goal--I am now 42 away from my goal. Sorry for the blur this image was taken with iPhone 

Little Fatty size 8 makes another hit

A Memorable Outing That I Want Forget Anytime Soon

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