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.

Fly Fishing Using the Green and Brown Grasshopper

Today was another great day on Walker County Lake. I fished for 5 hours and landed 35 to 40 bluegills. I threw back some of the smaller ones which quite frankly got to be a nuisance. The water temps today were 65 to 68 which made for some good topwater action. I never use the 4 wt. today, but instead went with my 3 wt. which was a blast landing some of the big bull gills. I started the day with a small brown grasshopper from Bass Pro and ended the trip with a larger green grasshopper also from Bass Pro. Both of these flies are so realistic. They always land on the water with the body upright. A lot of the hopper patterns I have fished before landed upside down at times. These Bass Pro hoppers work to perfection. The fish were still in water five feet or better, and the water was clear enough for the fish to see the offering easy. Get ready for a number of posts in the bluegill category for at least the next 3 weeks. I hope these posts don't become boring, but my blog not only serves me as a communication tool, but it is my fishing log from year to year. It is really helpful to look back on a particular post and see what temps and time of the year the fish were reacting to different flies. My goal is to land and keep 100 gills filleted and put in the freezer for the season. This lake is the perfect lake to accomplish this task because it is well managed and the fish are extremely healthy. The lake is fertilized throughout the summer and if one is planning on catching a limited of gills on this lake they had better stock up before the first of May. May is when the game and fish start the fertilize program and this turns me and a host of other fishermen off. The water turns a slim green and most of the fertilize floats on top of the water for some time. In other words, I don’t like fishing English Pea soup.  I hope to be back on the water Friday and do this all over again.  You know this could turn into a job I really like-----and better yet I willing do this without pay!!!!!

Working on filling the freezer, by the way, this lake is stocked each year with 1000 gills and the limit is 20 per day. As I stated it is well managed.

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??

Bluegill could be commercialized for food markets

I recently got this email alert concerning using Bluegill for commercial use. I know it is illegal to sell bluegill, so to read this piece really got my attention. Catfish is locally farmed and sold, so in the near future you might start seeing bluegill along side catfish at your local meat market. Bluegill for Commercial Use

The Fisherman's Language

This past Saturday it rained all day, so one of my projects was to clean out our basement. While rambling through lots of trash I discovered a plaque I had used in my office at school some years ago. I discovered it is a little faded and worn, but still readable. It is called Fisherman’s Language. I can’t tell you how many comments I have had over the years about this piece of information. I am sure some of you have seen this before and for those of you who want it translated post a request in your comment. 

Fisherman Language

Hiyamac.---Lobuddy--Binearlong?--Cuplours--Ketchanemy?--Goddafew--Kindarethay?--Cropsangills--Enysizetoum?--Cuplapowns--Hittinard?--Sordalite--Wahchoozin?--Gobbaworms--Fishannonboddum?--Rydonnabuddum--Igoddago--Tubad--Seeyaround--Yeahtakdeezy--Guluk

Experimenting With Line Weights and Rod Weights

I was experimenting the other day with line weights and decided to switch my fly reels loaded with 3, 4, and 5 weight lines to my different rod weights that I fish. In trying these different combo’s I also used different weighted flies with the fly lines such as big bass poppers, and a tiny size 28 midges. I found the answer to all this interchanging was pretty significant. In other words overloading a heavy weighted line on light 3 wt rod could make for a long and frustrating day on the water. The same thing hold true for the opposite end of the spectrum. This experiment only proves what I knew, but was curious to try, that selecting the right weight line to match the correct weighted rod is imperative when fly fishing. The following guide is an excellent example to use when selecting the right line weight when fishing for a particular species of fish. What category do you fall in?

Determining the Right Fly Line Weight

So, what line weight is right for you? A summary of recommended line weights for various fishing by species and conditions is:

Fly Line Weight 1-3: Small trout, panfish, other small fish. Used when casting small flies on short casts.

Fly Line Weight 4: Small to medium sized trout and other similarly sized fish. Used when casting small flies and medium sized flies using short to medium-short casts.

Fly Line Weight 5-6: The most versatile of the line weights. This line weight fishes well for all but the smallest and all but the largest trout. Also performs adequately for smaller bass (not the lunkers in some Florida lake). Fishes well when using small, medium and larger sized flies (not massive streamers, though). Allows for longer casts yet performs short casts fairly well.

Fly Line Weight 7-8: Designed for very large trout and large bass as well as some saltwater species. Used for pitching large streamers and large flies. Longer casts are excellent. Not the best for short casts. And most definitely not designed for smaller fish and smaller flies.

Fly Line Weight 9-14: Large fish territory. Mainly used for saltwater fishing and fishing for Salmon and Steelhead.