Popper Color Does Make a Difference When Fishing For Bluegills

I’ve always assumed that bedding bluegill would hit anything thrown their way regardless of color, nymph, dry fly or popper. Well Tuesday I got a lesson in just how finicky bluegill can be on Smith Lake. My buddy Ivan was fishing with me at daybreak yesterday for the large spots using the big poppers, which by the way never panned out for any major hits. I did land one spot in the slot at 13 inches which was the extent of the bass trip. I attribute the slow spot action to all the Memorial Day boat traffic, which really churned the water up for three days.

So we started searching for the bedding bluegills in all the nooks off the main channel. The first 4 or 5 nooks different produce anything but small fish in the form of little females and some little spots out of the slot, which is below 12 inches. As we moved from nook to nook we finally connected with a small band of gills bedding out from the bank near the overhanging tree line on the right side in the image below. Ivan landed the first of 6 nice bluegills in this area using a popper that I didn’t have in my fly box.

The bluegill were bedding 10 to 12 ft. deep here in this area and the minute they nailed the popper they would take off for deeper water. Ivan’s 4 weight really got a workout. I didn’t land a single fish here using a black Bar Nun popper. These fish were so aggressive that they were coming out of the water like a bass to take the pale colored version of this popper, which is very unusual for bluegill on Smith.

I tried a number of flies trying to get a hit as we sit there fishing for this group of bedding bluegills, but nothing work for me. I tried nymphs, dries, grasshoppers, even different colored poppers which proved to me that these fish were taking nothing on this day but this size 8 pale chartreuse Bar Nun Popper.  So yes color and pattern makes a difference when fishing for bedding bluegill.

I did manage to land one bull bluegill using the Black Bar Nun version of this popper that I will count for my quest. To prove to me again that the pale chartreuse popper was still taking fish over everything else, Ivan landed a couple bass where I had just place the black popper. Ivan has been using these poppers for years, and yes I have been using them too, but today the Bar Nun brand made a believer out of me. Can you guess if I ordered a few???





This bluegill will get counted for my quest which puts me at 34 away from making the quest for this year. Congrats to Ivan for finding this fantastic popper that enabled him to have one of his better bluegill fishing days on Smith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Fishing the Hares Ear Soft Hackle

With a lot of boat activity on Smith Lake this Memorial Day weekend I decided to give the tailrace a visit this morning at daylight. I walked down to access four around 6 AM and was met with heavy fog and a fairly fast flow. The generators had been off a couple of hours leaving the rocks quite slippery. It was good I had my wading staff at my side.

The dry action this time of year is limited on the Sipsey even in the early morning and late afternoon, so I started working a fairly fast run with a Prince Nymph size 20 under an indicator. After no interest at all I tied on the Seal Leech with no reaction as well. I did notice as I moved up the tailrace there were some activity subsurface meaning the trout were not taking anything on top but right below the surface. So, noticing that I tied on a size 20 dry PMD. I did get some runs at the fly but no takes. By now it is approaching 9 AM and I am getting some company above and below me. There was more subsurface activity located around a large boulder across from me, so I decided to tie on a size 20 soft hackle Hares Ear. I wanted the fly to float just below the surface as it traveled through a slow run near the boulder.

The end result of a good drift next to the boulder just as the fly passed next to the edge. The take was a simple swirl right below the surface. I missed numerous trout here in this area, mainly because this is something new for me. One learns something every time they wade into the water trout fishing and today was a learning curve for me. Rests assure I will use the soft hackle here again.

 

I'm interested in knowing how you guys would fish a wet fly in slow water or when trout are feeding subsurface?