With the lakes here in western Washington opening in April, VEE and I headed for a local lake after the opening day crazies went home. We pretty much had the lake to ourselves (it was on a Wednesday), at least until folks started getting off work.

We had a high pressure system building over the area, the clouds were fading fast so we hit the lake with our new (well, almost new) 'toons. We cast our flies into and along weedbeds and lily pads hoping for some nice gills and crappie (Yummmmm). I was the first to catch a nice little gill, about an 8 incher. Took a Chernobyl Ant that was way to big for it to swallow.

After that we didn't catch another Gill, Crappie or Bass. We spent most of the afternoon and evening taking those dang stocker trout off our flies. Now don't get me wrong, they were pretty little rainbows, anywhere from 8 to 14 inches long, bright stripes on them, and for the size put up a good fight to keep from seeing the dry side of the world. But they were trout, and that's not what we were after. After reading all the recipes for Gills and Crappie and remembering the taste of Gill fillets with a side of slaw, some hot buttered corn on the cob, and hush puppies, all washed down with a big glass of sweet tea, I wanted to catch some Gills.

Can some of you more experienced warm water folks help us cold water fisherfolk make the transition to warm water a little more successful.

REE