It begins...

[HideHunter]

Wind finally laid.. I you call 10-15 "laid". I stuck around the house until about 11 - it was 41 when I left. Third cast caught my first bass of the season. Unfortunately, he was "all head and no body". Ended up catching several more but couldn't hook anything over about 2#.

Switched to the 3 weight and a Boa Leech. Only caught one bluegill but it was just over 9".

2012FirstBluegill.jpg

Second crappie of the season was 13 1/2". Probably ended up catching a dozen more 10-12"

2012FirstCrappie.jpg

Winter absolutely "sucked" here. 4th warmest on record. Sure wasn't worth a dang for ice fishing but I'm a couple weeks ahead on open water. Gotta be a trade-off.

Good luck everyone!

[Chuck S]

Way to go! A nine inch Gill would make my day about now for sure! Plus a dozen Crappies, my kind of fishing!

[FishnDave]

DANDY fish anytime...a big bonus on your first open-water outing of the year! Way to go, Gene!
It was 37 degrees when I fished during lunch yesterday. I only noticed it being cold when I had to retie and couldn't feel my fingertips!

[HideHunter]

Welcome to weather in Iowa. Yesterday I fished in a sweatshirt and right now it's snowing so hard I can't see the 200 yard target on my backyard range.

Well, gave me a moment to "ponder". I wonder if we always realize how fast condtions can change "the bite". As I mentioned, yesterday was the first day the wind had dropped to below 20+ (up to 50) in a week. When I left the house it was blowing 12-15 directly out of the south. So, I headed for a pond with shallows on the north bank. I worked to the NW corner and found the bulk of my crappies there. I had probably been fishing about 45 minutes when the wind took a decided turn to the West. This didn't seem to have any real effect on the bite - except that my casting range probably lengthened 25 feet.

After about an hour the wind suddenly and completely died. I had been casting out and doing a countdown of about 15. As the water turned to glass, crappie started taking the fly on about the six count. I enjoyed this for several casts.

Then, I was suddenly hit in the face by a blast of wind out of the East. Something here triggered the small bass and for a half-hour they (1-1/2#) wouldn't leave me alone. Within the next hour the bite began to slow, and when I pulled the plug I was still catching an occasional crappie or bass - but I was working for them. Guess it's easy to think you hit a little flurry and not give any thought to the conditions that may have triggered it.. I'm not sure how I may capitalize on my observations - but I'll store them for future reference.

Calling for a high of 62 on Tuesday. If the wind isn't blowing 50 I can about guess what I'll be doing.

[quivira kid]

Very nice crappie! One of these days, I'll get a biggun like that on the fly.

[GT171]

Those are some nice panfish. I just need for it to get a little bit warmer up here and Ill be into em myself.