Central Iowa Bluegills

[FishnDave]

Fly-fished during lunch yesterday at a local public pond.

Bull bluegills are hitting their nests in ponds here in Central Iowa. The fat females are hanging in deeper water near the nesting areas.
Bass are cruising around the shallows, as are a few channel cats and grass carp.
I couldn't interest the grass carp, but the bass and bluegills were willing to hit a foam spider-type topwater.

Biggest bluegill for me today was just over 9". What a beauty of a BULL gill!:

[FishnDave]

Today (5/22/0 I caught 7 nice bluegills, and 6 largemouth bass on the fly rod during lunch.
2 females were particularly huge. I took pictures of one to show how fat they are, and then immediately caught another fat female that measured 9" (didn't bother with a picture). Thats a BIG FEMALE BLUEGILL!!

I also watched a crappie follow and hit my fly, but I didn't hook it. As you can see in the pictures, it was sort of a light rain here today. I was prepared.

[Wild One]

That second gill looks like she's about ready to bust at the seems!

Lunch hour fishing sure does make the days go by faster doesn't it? I've had a great time wading a stream about 5 minutes away from my office lately. The smallies are definitely out and about here in central OH. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of the fish, except on my phone and I don't know how to upload those without a usb cable which I don't have for my phone.

[FishnDave]

Smallies sure would be fun during lunch! I had a few lunch trips like that on the Fox River in Illinois when I lived there. VERY FUN!

I know not all phones/plans are the same...but I can get my pictures from my phone to my computer by programming in my e-mail address in the cell phone's "Contacts" (phone book). Then I view the picture, pick "Options", and then send it to my e-mail address. When I get back to work, the pictures are waiting for me! Unfortunately, my camera phone takes HORRIBLE pictures like these:

[FishnDave]

I fly-fished a public pond for about an hour Tuesday evening. I used a wooly-bugger and caught at least 20 bluegills, 3 largemouth bass, 1 green sunfish, and 4 hybrid sunfish.
Here's a nice hybrid sunfish...9 1/8":


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[ohiotuber]

Dave,
You've been a busy guy & some great pictures to attest to the fact that it's been a fun kind of busy! Thanks for sharing.
Mike

[Boser]

Dave, Thanks for the heads up on the Bluegills. I finally get a weekend off so I'm going to hit the Lake with some Foam Spyders. I have always had great luch with them....

Best Regards, Boser

[FishnDave]

Good luck, Boser!
Yesterday was an odd sort of day...At noon, the temps were still below 70, so we must be in some sort of "cold front". Plenty of fish were in the usual places in the local public pond I often fish during lunch. But the bluegills weren't as willing to hit the foam topwater I was using. I think I only caught one bluegill on that.
They were only slightly more willing to hit a woolly bugger, I caught a couple of bluegills and a couple of bass on that. Also saw a catfish working the area in front of me, but apparently my fly wasn't getting down in its strike zone quickly enough.

Most exciting fish-of-the-day for me was this 12" crappie that hit the woolly bugger:

[FishnDave]

Convinced a couple of guys to do a lunch-fishing trip today. We hit the local public pond. Those bluegills have wised up to me.

Each of us caught 2 bass apiece, and I did catch one nice bluegill. I saw quite a few channel cats working about 10-15' off the shoreline where I was, so I started trying to get them to hit. I couldn't always see what was going on, but I did have to solid hits that I pulled the hook out of, and also had 2 hooksets that resulted in broken line!! I know those were the catfish. One of them was in pretty shallow water, and I could see it when it turned on the fly, and then my line started going out. So...didn't land any of those cats today, but it was pretty cool having them go after the flies!

[Boser]

Convinced a couple of guys to do a lunch-fishing trip today. We hit the local public pond. Those bluegills have wised up to me.

Each of us caught 2 bass apiece, and I did catch one nice bluegill. I saw quite a few channel cats working about 10-15' off the shoreline where I was, so I started trying to get them to hit. I couldn't always see what was going on, but I did have to solid hits that I pulled the hook out of, and also had 2 hooksets that resulted in broken line!! I know those were the catfish. One of them was in pretty shallow water, and I could see it when it turned on the fly, and then my line started going out. So...didn't land any of those cats today, but it was pretty cool having them go after the flies!

Dave, I assume you are working Wolly Buggers on those Cat's. That is what I have had the best luck with. I have caught a few nice ones at Manawa Lake in Council Bluffs.....Green seems to catch their eye but they are finicky eaters.

Thanks for the reply, I'll be sure to let you know how I do this weekend. I'll be fishing Desota Bend for some Crappie/Bluegill...

Best Regards, Boser