First Fishing Trip of the Season

Today was my first bluegill trip of this season, which proved to be successful. Walker County Lake is always a good producer early in the year. I started fishing today around 11:30, with a host of other individuals either fishing from a boat or just sitting on the bank. They were all enjoying being outdoors, especially with all the sunlight and warm temperatures. I fished for an hour without any success. I tried terrestrials, poppers and some weighted nymphs, all without a single hit. I could understand the top water turn downs, but the nymphs were supposed to produce. When I say nymphs I am talking about buggers. After the dry spell I decided to go back to the fly I used last year at this time, which was the black gnat in a size 6. This is really a unique little fly because it has the ability to stay fully dry looking in the water. In other words the fibers or hairs on this fly stays brushed outward from the body underwater. I really don’t know what attracts the fish to this fly but it was the life savior today. The minute I tied it on I started to feel and see action. I ended the day with this fly because I found nothing else would produce. The water temperature today was between 62 and 65, which meant the majority of the fish was still deep. I got most all my hits in depths of 5 feet or deeper. The gnat is perfect for this depth range, because all your hit comes on a slow fall. All you have to do is watch the line go and then set the hook------sounds simply and it is!! It was just good to back in the moment of catching gills on the fly. Everything that was on my mind today disappeared when I hit the water, what great therapy.

I was not the only one fising today.

This guy was really enjoying himself. He said he fishes 4 days a week--must be nice

Good catch today, considering everyone I talk to didn't have any fish or had caught one or two. I was the only one on the lake fly fishing. I was getting some weird looks with my # 4 weight. Notice the fillet knife guess where these will end up??