Poppers-----Not The Only Fly For Bluegills

When one thinks of bluegill fishing with the fly rod and the fly that will always produce; the popper comes to mind. In fact this is my go to fly before and after the spawn. For the first time this year I finally had the surface action I had been waiting for. I was determine today to land some bluegills on top and so with my game plan in place I tied on my first of several poppers of the morning to see if I could generate some action.

I selected the cream blunt face black leg popper to begin my quest. I am drawn more to the black legged poppers more than white legged. I like to think the black legs relate more to the black cricket and black spider.  

I also fished the black legged red dot small body popper. I use this popper in the spring and fall, mainly because of the red wasp that surface the lake water during those periods. As I fished both of these poppers I notice as they connected to the surface the fish would spook. The lake was extremely clear, with a slick surface making it difficult to present the popper without a little disturbance. Normally this would produce a hit, but today the fish were extremely weary. The light presentation wasn’t producing. So I felt it was time to gather my thoughts and devise a new game plan.

As I sit there going through my fly box I noticed a dry fly that I normally fish indicator/dropper style for trout on the tailrace. I had two Irresistible Wulff patterns in size 8 pinned in the fly box; so I decided to give it a try, because of its light presentation. The 5X leader I changed to worked perfect to compliment the Wulff pattern.

The first bluegill of the morning was a nice female that made it presents known on the 4 wt. I noticed as I work a steep bank with the Wulff that its light surface connection didn’t spook the fish as opposed to the poppers I was using earlier. In fact the fly would touch the water so light that the fish thought it had just fallen from the many over hanging limbs that line the banks. Notice how this bluegill inhaled the fly telling me I had made the right decision to use this lighter pattern.

Another nice female bluegill that absolutely exploded on the Wulff, in fact the hit was so hard I actually thought it was a bass. The fly landed perfectly just under an overhanging limb and sit there for a few seconds motionlessly before the explosion. I had to congratulate myself on a great presentation. I actually made a tight loop side cast to get the fly to its target. I have been practicing this cast for some time and today it paid off.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using the Nymph to Fish Deep for Bluegill

I am still in the process of trying to find 62 degree water at the lake. I thought today I would get on the water at daylight and see if the action was any better than it has been the last couple of weeks. Well, daylight was not much better than last week, because the water temps are still too cold for any shallow activity. I spent the first hour and half going through my fly box trying to select a pattern that would produce a hit. I finally landed my first fish at eight and the slow morning continued.

This was a fat butter ball female in great shape loaded with eggs. This fish took the Stonefly at a depth of 8 ft. Sorry no counter here.

The Stone Fly was the fly for the morning. Nothing else produced, I really like this fly because of the Tungsten Beadhead which has a great sink rate. I landed everything in depths of 8 ft. or better.

This beautiful bull gill was landed in a deep cut bank area above 10 ft. deep; the Stonefly was the winner--I am still hoping to land something tomorrow on top---stay tuned guys!!!

This was the end result today for about 4 hours of fishing. These were the keepers after tossing back some smaller bluegills and a few small bass---I am 96 away from that 100 mark

Fishing The Seal Leech for Big Bluegills

I was back on Walker Lake

today searching for more big bluegills to add to my grand total so far at ONE!!  Two weeks ago was a slow day because of the water temps, which was in the mid 50’s.  I was hoping for a better trip today with the temps in the high 50’s. So with my fishing ticket in hand I decided to work the back of the lake in the main stream that feeds the lake. I fished this area last year early and found some nice bluegills in the mouth of the creek; but today was a wash, no hits at all in the creek.
I moved from the creek to the east side of the lake because I knew once the wind picked up I would have to fish the nooks. I was fishing the east deep cut banks with no action, so I moved into the first nook of the morning and made a long cast in the vicinity of a brush pile. As I moved the Leech slightly I saw the indicator move forward and I had my first hit of the morning.

The Seal Leech in the top of the mouth

Another female which was in great shape considering she had spent the winter in deep water. This one was taken on the Leech

Just as I entered the next nook I was surprised by these Mallards

My first counter of the morning with the Leech again, shorty after this fish was landed I lost my Seal Leech in a brush pile. What a shame, it was the only one I had; but I knew David at Trout Zone was mailing me a dozen more so no great loss

This Drake and Hen never moved as I approach them for this shot, the Mallard is my favorite Waterfowl.

Another counter with the always trusty Black Gnat. This guy really give the 4 wt a workout. I ended the morning with a total of 6 keepers, four being female "non counters" and the two big bulls. I am now 97 away. Next week is suppose to be in the high 70's and the water temps will be warming up so I expect higher numbers.

Click & Pawl Drag or The One Way Clutch Drag--Which??

This past week has been Spring Break for most of Alabama and the weather has been nothing like spring. In fact the only day that might be good for fishing would be Friday, when I will go. Cold days and nights can make fishing horrible anywhere and that includes the South. So with some time on my hands this week I decided I would search the net for another Gloomis Venture 3 Fly reel. This fly reel was discontinued by Gloomis last year, why I don’t know but in my mind they discontinued a fantastic fly reel. It had the one way clutch drag feature which enables one to retrieve coils of line at your feet back on the reel in a matter of seconds. Spinning the face of the reel will accomplish this. I found while searching that most of the fly reels descriptions listed on the net never mention this feature and better yet the tech support personal at Cabelas and Bass Pro didn’t have a clue about a one way clutch drag, quick release or free spool when it pertains to fly reel drags. If you notice when descriptions are written for fly reels, there is more information about the appearance of the reel as opposed to the type drag. The only fly reel I found that mentioned the one way clutch was the Pflueger Trion. The Pflueger retrieves line as fast as the Gloomis. I know that a lot of us still use the old click and pawl drag, which is used on the Redington Drift and the Orvis Battenkill reels. Don’t get me wrong I like both drag features and have the Redington and the Orvis reels, but I am still partial to the Venture because of the quick retrieve. I never found another Venture in all my searching, but I found out some things I didn’t know about drags on fly reels. What is your preference the click and pawl or the one way clutch fast retrieve?   

Crappie Fishing With My Brother Using Curly Tail Jigs

I made a trip to Mississippi on Tuesday for some crappie fishing on the new restructured Legion Lake. This is the same lake that was practically consumed by lily pads and coontail moss last year. This is my brother’s home lake where he fishes for crappie this time of year. Conditions were not the best considering the cold front that had passed through the day before I arrived. One can expect cold fronts, windy conditions, and bluebird skies in the month of March and this trip had all those conditions.

The reward for the trip was this nice catch using the following tube jigs loaded with nibbles. There were some nice slabs here.

Closed faced spincast reels with 11 ft. jigger poles rigged with 6 lb. test line are your best combos when Spider Fishing, because of the reach one can achieve with this type of pole.

My brother standing by his boat with 8 jigger poles set up ready for action fishing with the curly tail crappie jigs. Think of the amount of water one can cover when Spider Fishing

An image of what this lake looks like this past summer before reconstruction took place this year, notice the moss pads in the distance and all the growth around the edges, much cleaner to fish now. 

Beginning my Big Bluegill Quest in "The Year of the Bluegill"

Friday was the day to start my big bull bluegill quest. So in keeping with the theme “The Year of the Bluegill” I made my first trip to Walker County Lake about 20 minutes from the house. I was so anxious to get on the water that I forgot to call and check the water temps at the lake. With that bit of information missing I arrive at the lake around ten and made the best of the day fishing for really small bluegills and one little bass in 52 degree water. I know exactly when the big bluegill begin there migration to the shallow water which is 62 degrees and Friday was not the day the big bulls move anywhere near the shallow edge.

I just had to get a picture of a Father and Daughter getting ready to try their luck with the red worms. This little girl was so excited being out there with her Dad. She kept telling him she wanted to catch a fish!

Using this little boat is the best way to fish this lake. It sets high in the water and is easy to maneuver and can get into tight places. I use a rudder on the back to keep it straight when paralleling the bank. It is light and easy to load in the back of my truck.

These little ducks really got to me before the day ended. It seemed everywhere I placed my nymph they would be there in a few minutes. If I had been fishing poppers or dries they would have ruin any change for a hit on top, because they were cruising the banks. They were not Mallards.

 

This big bull was worth the trip. It was landed a couple of hour into the trip on a fly that David Knapp of “The Trout Zone” tied for me a while back. He was tying some trout flies for me that I will try this month on tailrace. He included this little Seal Leech nymph in size 12 with the shipment. It was the fly of the day for me.  I landed this nice gill with his Leech pattern using my 8 ½ ft. 4 wt. it was quite a battle, and well worth the trip for me. I will start my bluegill quest with this big bull being number 1; so now I only have 99 more to land. I did catch half dozen really small bluegills as stated earlier with this same nymph. All the hits came in 8 to 10 ft. of water proving that nothing is happening around the edge yet, but there is always next week.

 

World Record Striped Bass Landed in Jasper Alabama??

Guys I just had to share this trophy striped bass catch that a local resident caught on the warrior river the other day. There have been some large striped bass landed in the lake I fish here at Smith, but this thing is astounding. It surpassed the world record by 3 lbs. Check out the article on how he landed it.

Dora’s James Bramlett landed this 70-pound striped bass while fishing on the Black Warrior River on Feb. 28. On Tuesday, the fish was declared a world record. AP photo

DORA AL. — James Bramlett’s phone has been ringing like a tambourine at a hootenanny since he landed Walker County’s version of Moby Dick near the Gorgas Steam Plant on the Black Warrior River on Feb. 28. Bramlett, who lives near Dora, normally fishes several times a week, hadn’t wet a hook in a long time, according to his wife, Jan. She had a medical issue and was awaiting major surgery, so he didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone. “I kept after him, until he finally decided to go,” she remembered. On that Thursday, Bramlett was on the water before the roosters crowed and had several nice bass on his stringer that morning. He maneuvered his boat up next to some lily pads and used his trolling motor to maintain position instead of dropping his anchor. A while later he saw a nice fish roll on top of the water, so he pulled out the largest shad in his tank, which was about 12 inches long, and baited his hook. Using a 30-pound test line with his Ambassador 7000 reel, he lobbed the line to the spot where he saw the fish. He felt the fish take the bait. “The line coming off that reel sounded like an electric Weed Eater,” he said. The bass headed for deeper water and he pulled Bramlett’s boat along with him. The fight took them toward the middle of the river. “When I looked up, I saw a tugboat headed toward me pushing an empty barge.”Normally that would be a big problem, but fortunately the tugboat operator saw what was happening and cut the motor, bringing the barge to a stop. The crew of the tug knew it was a big fish and they cheered Bramlett as he did battle with the bass. After more than 20 minutes, the fish began to tire and Bramlett managed to get him close enough to see. “I looked at my landing net and I knew it was useless. So I put the butt of the rod against my stomach, and held it with my left hand while I used my right hand to unlatch the keepers on my gaff.” He slid the hook of the gaff underneath the lip of the bass and managed to drag it in the boat. “I knew it was a big fish,” he said. Bramlett felt like he had a record fish even before he weighed it on the ancient scales at Gross Fishing Camp in Parrish. He put the fish on the scale and kept bumping the counterweight down the measurement bar until it rested on 69 pounds. Those scales weren’t certified, but he knew the fish was big enough to snag a state record, set in 1959, by 15 pounds. The fish was weighed on certified scales and officials from the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources listed the official weight as 69.98 pounds. The fish is 45.5 inches long and has a 37.75 inch girth. Bramlett learned Tuesday that his trophy striped bass surpassed the world record of 67 pounds, 8 ounces set in 1992. When asked if he would have the fish on his wall, he said ‘no.’ “The fish will be mounted, but I’m not sure where it will end up. I like looking at the pictures much better,” he said. Bramlett will go down in history as holding the world record for the largest striped bass.

1.  

The Short Journey Back as Oppose to The Long Journey There!!

Guys I can’t tell you how glad I am to be back home after a 3 day 36 hour drive out to Marysville California. I never realized what a killer trip it would be when I told my son a couple of week’s ago that I would help him make the drive. We spent three days riding through extreme wind, sleet, heavy rain and lots of snow in Flagstaff and the mountains in California. In fact we were lucky to even get out of the Flagstaff Friday morning because of heavy snow. Let’s just say it was a trip that I will never forget; but parents will do most anything for their children and I am one of those parents. Jason owes his Dad a lot of fishing trips in the northern California streams after this journey. One of the highlights of the trip aside from the area that Jason will be working in is meeting one of my blogging buddies Mark of Northern California Trout he came up and we did lunch together on Saturday. Mark is one of those guys you feel like you have known for years. He and I pretty much covered the gambit of fly fishing over lunch. I hope things will worked out for us to meet again this summer when my wife and I fly out to visit Jason. This trip has kind of put a damper on my blogging for this past week, but I am back now and ready to read some interesting fish tails. I missed all you guys!!

 

One can't make a really quality picture with your vehicle moving, but this is an image of what we viewed from Northern Texas Oklahoma, Mexico, and most of Arizona. In fact, traveling 1-40 all the way to Flagstaff was summed up in that image above "desert".  When we entered Flagstaff we saw some beautiful country.

Lots of snow-capped Mountains

Not use to driving in snow like this, if you are from the South

Wind turbines are really big in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, and California

 

 

 

Three Day Road Trip to California



Today I am watching a light snow fall the first week of March in Jasper Alabama. That kind of weather is a little odd for this part of the country this time of the year. The temps never got out of the 30’s all day and for me that is stay inside weather. It gave me a chance to put together a collection of flies for my son to use when he moves to California next week. I will be making the trip with him to help out with the driving. It is a 3 day trip from Jasper to Marysville California, where he will be working as a travel RN for the next 3 months. After that assignment he will move to Oregon to do another 3 month stint. I am hoping he will find Dad some good streams to fish when my wife and I make the trip out there this summer. He will work a four day week so he said he will have time to explore. One of the flies I put in his fly box was the Auseable Bomber by Mark at Fishing Small Streams.  

A great dry dropper setup--I will have to give it a try as a stand alone dry also



 

Another pattern that I will put in his fly box is the Bomber pattern that Alan of  Small Streams Reflections fishes. I consider Alan and Mark experts when it comes to fishing dry flies--so any dry they are fishing I am on!!!



I have actually fished Alan's  Bomber this past season and landed a number of rainbows using it without a dropper fly. In fact my profile image is one of the best rainbows I landed last year using Alan’s Bomber.

Alan's Bomber worked magic with this bow.

I couldn’t end today’s post without sharing a clip using the dry/dropper setup. This will be one of the first setups I use this season

 

I plan on taking lots of photos on the way out, and hope to share some with you guys when I get back next weekend-----

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View Cabelas New Fly Fishing Curriculum--"Fantastic"

I was on Cabelas website yesterday and discovered that they were featuring a fantastic curriculum dealing with just about anything one would want to know about fly fishing. This gets even better guys, after you have read the curriculum, you have the opportunity to register and join the Federation of Flyfishers; which in turn will entitle you to get their free online FlyFisher Magazine for a year along with all their E-news. I have gone through the Curriculum, and found it extremely helpful. I have also received my first edition of the magazine which has a ton of information dealing with fly fishing. The following topics below are covered in the curriculum:

Fly Reel Training

Fly Rod Training

Fly Line Training

Fly Casting

Leader Tippet

Entomology

There are numerous subtopics covered under each main topic above. Cabelas has hit a home run on this one, when it comes to educating one on the art of fly fishing.

Orvis Fly Reel and Framed Streamers

I am sure all of you are familiar with the Orvis Battenkill fly reels. I have been searching for the Battenkill II Reel for some time at a decent price. Well, I found the reel the other day on Ebay for the unbelievable price of 65.00 used regular price 145.00 plus tax. Just goes to show if one has patience when shopping for fly fishing equipment, good things will follow. I bought the fly rod that I was going to used with the reel some months back when Cabelas had a clearance on their Redington Trout Classic fly rods for 75.00, regular price at 150.00.

With this 5 wt reel/rod combo I’m ready now for those 14” to 15” rainbows on the tailrace and some huge bluegills on the lake. 

  The Poudre Canyon Special & Yankee Smelt by Alan at Small Stream Reflections --Alan does a fantastic job creating fly patterns that he has tied. I gave my son these streamers for Christmas and he had all four streamers framed.

The Brown & Grizzly with the Red Baron both by Alan--Sorry for the distorted frame size in the image; I have big-time trouble keep the glare out of the picture when shooting anything that has glass in it--any suggestions how to avoid that? Many thanks to Alan for tying these great streamers--my son has a special place on the wall for them.

Rivers, Streams, Water Falls, Food and More

I got an email the other day from Benton Gibson a viewer who had watched one of my video clips on stream fishing. He said he loves to use the fly rod to fish streams and rivers in his home state of Mississippi. He wanted to share a few images of the Bogue Chitto River in the Pearl River Basin off the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is an area he fishes often for bass and sunfish.

Easy to fish with the fly rod--wet wading in the summer months

I can see my fly drifting by the root system near the far bank. Benton has offered to take me on a trip down this river later in the year. He even offered to film the trip. I am considering his offer. I will keep you guys posted.

I also received an email from another viewer commenting about my Natchez Trace Post, where I featured Jackson Falls along the Trace.  I only showed you an image in that post; well I thought I would share the live video of Jackson Falls. My wife and I will make a trip here this summer. I will have to toss a fly below the falls while we are there.

This is another reason I love fishing in general, which is the food aspect. My wife and I had an awesome meal last night which consisted of baked bluegill fillets, baked french fries, coleslaw, and tomatoes. Notice I said baked, that is the route both of us have to go when eating fish or meats. Sorry, I can't share the meal with you guys, but trust me when I say it was delicious!! 

Five Different Wet Fly Patterns Ready For a Take!!

I just got my new shipment of wet flies in today from Flydeals and can’t wait to get on the water with them soon. The guys there do an excellent job tying up any pattern one might come up with. I placed an order for 60 wet flies in five different patterns. The minimum order one can place with this company is five dozen, but for 31.00 bucks including shipping, I think I got a pretty good deal. I want to use them mainly as a dropper off some of the dries I will be fishing when the tailrace water recedes. There are more dries and nymphs used on the tailrace as opposed to the wet flies, so these patterns might give me an edge. The rain has caused the lake to rise above the full pool, causing the generators to practically run 24/7. The five patterns below are going to be my go-to wet flies come Spring. Flydeals included a quote with each fly pattern for this order; I thought you guys might enjoy the widsom.

Black Peacock Spider size 14

Quote: Listen to the sound of the river and you will get a trout. Irish Proverb

Brown Hackle Peacock size 12

Quote: Standing in a cool stream with a mountain range or meadow nearby, fly rod in hand, is the way God meant mankind to live. Jon Margolis

 Hawthron size 10
Quote: Calling Fly Fishing a hobby is like calling Brain Surgery a job. Paul Schullery

Partridge Orange size 14
Quote: If people concentrated on the really important things of life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.
Doug Larson

Pheasant Tail Soft Hackle Wet size 16
"To him, all good things"--trout as well as eternal salvation come by grace, and grace comes by art, and art does not come easy. Norman Maclean
Please feel free to offer any other patterns you think might work on this pressured tailrace

Learning How to Fish Streamer Patterns on Small Creeks and Large Rivers

The streamer post I did this past week really got me fired up about this fly and how to fish them. For those of you who don't remember or didn't see it, check out this link. I must admit that I have used streamers very little trout fishing. I recently read an article about how to use streamers on small and large streams wading. The article went into detail on how to select the correct size streamers and weight rods for a particular stream you might be fishing. Instead of using a link to refer you to the read, I will display the article below. If you have anything to add please feel free to offer suggestions. 

Fishing Streamers While Wading

Fishing streamers while wading a river or stream isn’t as specialized an endeavor as fishing from a boat, but an angler should watch for the appropriate situation for streamers. The size of the water will dictate the size of the rod. A five weight will suffice on smaller streams and rivers, but a six weight is more appropriate for larger waters with larger trout. The size of the flies and the distance of the casts are the primary considerations.
Flies used on small to medium size waters should be a little smaller than those used on big rivers. The main reason is that there are fewer fish capable of eating a huge fly and a smaller size will get more action.
Streamers seem to perform best on streams when water conditions are high or off-color. As a result, this type of fishing might be effective when conditions are blown out for dry fly and nymph fishing. Tight line nymphing skills will certainly help though.
Many anglers tend to cast across the river and let the fly swing before or during the retrieve. This is fine in big holes and long runs but becomes less effective in broken water. Be sure to look at the water under your feet. Some of our best success has come from flipping a streamer just off the bank, letting it sink, and staying in contact with a tight line as it drifts downstream. This is usually accomplished with only a few inches of fly line out of the rod tip.
Unlike fishing from a boat you are certainly grounded so you can spend as much or as little time as needed on each spot. After a few retrieves, you should change where you’re casting or move on. If you see a fish flash the fly wait a minute before casting back to the same spot. Chances are good the fish will take another swipe if it didn’t get the hook on the first attempt. Keep the fly in the strike zone as long as possible by casting downstream and holding the fly in the current. Give the fly action with the rod tip, letting it fall with some slack, then twitching it back to life. Repeat the process several times before pulling the fly out of the water.
Open, meadow streams often provide the most opportunities for streamers. A fly fisher can proceed quietly along the stream bank and fish both sides of the creek without getting in the water. Again, be sure to give plenty attention to the water under your feet.

The size of the streamer fly you choose will depend on your goals. Pick a smaller size like #8-10 if you want more action. However, the average size trout will be in line with the river’s average size. Pick a larger size if you’re willing to trade action for quality. Most average size trout won’t respond to a larger #2 streamer but a larger fly will often stir larger fish

I also viewed a great video that really incorporates some of the tactics described above in the article. Take a look and see if this clip is as helpful to you as it was to me. The video is a little over 5 minutes long and worth the wait for the big trout he will land towards the end of the clip.-----enjoy!!!
The link for the video---http://btrussell-fishingthroughlife.blogspot.com/2013/01/learning-how-to-fish-streamer-patterns.html