Reaching That Number 100 Gill in All That Wind & More Wind

I was reading Mel’s Post over at Blog Cabin Angler the other day on wind. Well as I fished Walker County Lake today I reflected back to his post. Why because I experienced the wind factor “big time” today. I found myself with fly line wrapped around my head at times not to mention the fly itself hooked either in my clothing or in some article in the boat. I made the comment on Mel’s post that the wind can be a friend or it can be your enemy. Today it was more of my enemy than a friend. It was gusting at 15 to 25 mph. at times and the lake was white capping after lunch. So you asked with all this going on where is the fish? The fish with exception of the 15 I brought home is still in that windy lake. I decided after I got home around 1 pm that I would not stay and fish in those conditions anymore. It is not worth the problems one’s goes through to stay an extra hour for two or three more fish.   I arrived at the lake this morning around 7 and didn’t land a fish until 7:45. There was no wind and the water temp was reading between 66 and 68 with the wind from the south. I finally made a hook up right before 8 which was a largemouth around 2 lbs. I fought the fish to the boat only to have it break off as it made one last jump as I was reaching to lip it. I lost popper number one. As the morning progressed I lost two other poppers on break offs in brush, which were large bull bluegills. The 15 bluegills I brought home were all caught on a size 8 Chartreuse Popper, and a size 8 Irresistible wruff. I really like this little fly because it resembles some of the Mayflies coming off the trees at this time on the lake. You know I would never go without the Gnat. The Gnat is the fly that produced all the larger bulls today. I started using the Gnat when the wind got up and stayed with it until I left. I told all of you back in March I was going to set a goal of landing 100 bull bluegill before the end of April. Well after today I stand at 60. With wind like today I am wondering if I will reach my goal. Stay tuned for Thursday’s trip, if the rain doesn’t wash me out. Wish me luck.

Sorry about the glare, the mimosa trees in the distance was producing the Mayflies, which caused me to tie on the Irresistible wruff--it produced female bluegills no bulls

Flydeals tie this fly for me with a red tail and a white hackle--excellent dry for bluegills

This little ruttier saved me many casts by keeping the boat parallel to the bank when the wind really got bad. I made the ruttier out of a discarded trolling motor mount.

Good bluegill but not the biggie I have been accustomed to. But I will take these all day. He was one that I counted towards my 100 goal. Notice the Gnat.

I counted 6 of these bluegills towards my 100 goal. The rest in the cooler was female bluegills.

Ready for the fillet knife

The end result of today's trip. The fillets above are left in the refrigerator overnight in ice and salt. The salt is added to eliminate what blood is left in the fillets. The next day you rinse off the salt and either deep fry or bake to a golden brown. The majority of the fish I have been catching lately have been put in the deep freeze for the winter. By the end of summer the freezer should be full.

Not Everyday on the Lake can be a Stellar Day

Has anyone notice that one can’t have a fantastic fish catch on every trip. Today’s excursion was one of those outings. I went back to Walker County Lake today for what I thought would be another stellar day. Well, the fish won out today. I was late getting started and the wind took over about an hour into the trip and never let up all day. I did manage to land a decent crappie and some medium size female bluegills before lunch. After lunch, it was changing fly after fly, and yes that included the Gnat. Today it produced one crappie and a bull bluegill medium size and that was it for the Gnat today. I notice that the lake was still falling and the transition of the spawn was taking place because there were too many medium-size female bream around the edge and in the back of most of the nooks. The big males were nowhere to be found. They had moved back into the deep water, waiting for the females to drop their eggs, so I feel that this was the case today. I do think that next week will be the time to be on this lake for super bluegill action. The water temps will be between 75 and 80 and that is the magic number for the spawn to begin. At that time the big males will begin to move onto the beds and the action should be furious. Today the temps never reached 73. Another factor affecting the spawn for next week will be the moon phase which will be full. So check back for what I hope to be a better report.

Best fish of the day on the Gnat.

Fishing the Super Black Gnat Fly

Today I fished with the best-wet fly I have ever used. Consider the conditions, the water was falling, the wind was out of the east all day, fishing right after a cold front and the barometer was sky high all day. When I say all day I started fishing around 9 AM and finished the day mid-afternoon. So here is the take on the trip, I started out with my 3 wt, fly rod using a small popper to no avail. After about an hour of fishing close in pockets, I switched to my 4 wt rod using a wooly bugger, I fish with this fly until after lunch landing two small bait stealers. With it being partly cloudy most of the afternoon and the water temps bouncing back and forth between 62 to 65 I switched back to a variety of poppers using my 3 wt. only to continue to land little tiny bait stealers. Feeling frustrated I switch back to my 4wt because I wanted to get a little more distance and have a little more power for a hook set. The 4 wt is the set-up I ended the trip with, after switching to the BLACK GNAT, yes the black gnat. I started back down one of the long runs off a steep bank, I had fished a couple of times the morning and most of the afternoon. To make this story shorter, I caught or lost 22 large bull bluegills about an hour before I left the lake. The 15 pictured in the cooler were some of the fattest and largest I have caught on Walker County Lake. I got broke off 3 times during this last-minute run, as I stated I brought home 15. This trip today proves when you find a lure or fly that produces when nothing else will sing its praises, and I will be doing that every time I tie this little jewel on my fly line.

I will ice down this group because I just didn't want to fillet fish after I got home. I guess the only bad part of this trip is the fact I have to get up in the morning and clean fish. Sorry, I forgot my camera so I had to take this picture when I got home.

Fishing for Crappie After a Cold Front

Well I have been in Mississippi for the past couple of days fishing with my brother.  We were fishing Legion Lake for some of the spawning crappie. Thursday was slow because of a cold front that had passed through on Wednesday. The water temperature was showing between 59 and 62. Most all the crappie was caught in 5 to 6 feet depths. The lake was falling because of all the heavy rains which along with the cold front made it tough to land many nice fish. The hits were extremely light and soft. We were both using micro light 7 ½ ft. rods with 4 lb. test light. The lure for the day was a 1/16 oz. curly tail jig retrieved slowly with the tip of the hook baited with a white or chartreuse nibbet. The nibbet makes a difference on the slow days. The weather turned cooler as the afternoon approached and cause the bite to pretty much stop. As we were leaving the water I wanted to try the black gnat on the crappie using the fly rod. I landed a couple of nice black crappie with the gnat retrieving it slowly. This was my first crappie that I had ever caught on the fly. I know that those couple of crappie won’t be my last. This was not only a great fishing trip but as always a nice visit with my brother and his wife. As always the food was exceptional.

The Black Gnat also scored with those two large bullgills.  

The Black Gnat is quite possibly the best wet fly I have ever used. The slow drift and and fall make it deadly for trout, bluegills, bass and yes even crappie.