Great DAY ....

[DaleW]

Did the regular late spring fishing run over to one of our local marl pits for the big "Bream" (bluegill) roundup! We take a couple of popup campers and set them up pond side, in a cluster of tall pines. It's private land and we have the owners' permission, one of our fly fisherman buddies is kin to him! We catch a good mess of them, clean 'em, and then have a big fireside fish fry! Always a great time. Nice sized bream - toss the smaller one back - along with the L/M bass. One of our OLD fishing buddies is a master fish fryer!

Lots of rain this spring, plus weather has been on the cooler side for these parts this spring. This season, like last year about this time, I have good results using a plain and simple soft hackle wet. I'm using my canoe, so I cast in close to the bank, let the fly sink a little, then a couple of "twiches" and that often gets results. Based on last year's trial results of what I had handy in my fly box to try - this year I tied up my variation of a "black beetle" and did it ever tear 'em up! I was in shock! I would post a pic of one of them but I'm too ashamed to post it here! So it's back to the drawing board to see if I can do a little more refinement in my black smith methodology of fly tying!

But a great time .... fishing, and a good sized bream is a delight to have on with my 9' 5wt (medium action); and great fellow shipping with like minded Nimrods!

[smij]

Yes, it does sound like a great day!

[Rick Z]

Sounds like a very fun day. I want to see a picture of the bettle.

Rick

[mcfish]

Sorry for the late response, but here goes. I understand you want big BG to fry. But if you want big BG several years from now, consider this. The biggest BG are the successful spawners. Most of their food and energy goes to spawning, not more growth. The middle sized ones don't spawn, so their food goes to more growth. If you keep the middle sizes, the bigguns keep spawning, and the remaining middle sizes keep growing. So bigger BG down the road. If you keep the biggest BG, the middle sizes start spawning sooner in their life cycle, stop growing, so you get smaller fish. 'm not saying don't keep fish, just let the biggest ones go, keep mid-sized.

[Prairieschooner]

Sounds like an awesome day; good on ya!