Hit the pond at work today...

Got out from work a little early, the weather was nice, so I decided to see if the Bluegill were hungry and wanting to play.

I get there, and the wind is out of the north about 5 mph. I didn't know how that would affect the fishing. Water temp in the shallow end was 53.8 degrees F. I could see about 12 - 18" down before loosing details to the gloom.

I decided to go with a dual nymph rig, using an orange-colored nymph with an Olive Flashback Scud below that. I started to rig my fly rod up, while keeping an eye on the water. The wind was just enough to ruffle the surface, with some calmer, slick water on the lee side. As I was picking out the nymph, and getting ready to tie it onto my tippet, I saw a quick succession of three surface hits. As I watched carefully, I started seeing a few midges skating the water's surface. I changed my nymph over to a Deer Hair Caddis, with the same scud hanging under it. I didn't know if the DHC would hold that scud up, but it worked.

I made a very quick cast out. A couple days ago, I overlined my 5wt rig with a WF6F Bass taper line. It is much easier to get a cast out there.

Well, the first cast landed, and I could see the DHC floating, but barely. The wind picked up a bit, and started blowing the line to the south. Well, suddenly, the bug went under. I set the hook, and landed this little thing:

http://imageshack.us/a/img12/1259/20...bluegill01.jpg

Spunky little thing!

Over the coarse of the next 45 minutes, I caught these four fish:

http://imageshack.us/a/img248/4426/2...bluegill02.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img515/117/20...bluegill03.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img845/7502/2...bluegill04.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img526/9669/2...bluegill05.jpg

I missed a couple fish that struck at my DHC. I also missed a couple fish that hit the scud. All the fish that I caught hit the scud.

Pretty little fish! Nice report.

Nice work on those early-season fishies! :-D

Very good. Glad to see someone's getting out like I should be doing. For me, I'd have those frying in the pan before they even knew they were dead. In definite need of a fresh fish meal, and the crappies should really be cranking up around here.

Nick

Nice! I haven't been out yet; good to know there may be a few 'gills looking to play! Maybe when the d*mned snow melts I'll give them a try.

Tell me about it. I went back today, even though the weather has been crappy lately. 22 degrees F when I went to work this morning. By the time I get out, it's in the 50's, light breeze out of the north at about 2 mph, so I decided to check it out. I get there, and see several hits on top, with one BIG one, but by the time I get my flies tied on, the wind has picked up a bit, and I just can't get a fish to bite. After about 15 minutes, I needed to go. Hopefully in the next day or two......

That brings back so many memories of when I just started to learn to flyfish some 30 plus years ago. It never gets old.