I was out with my wife last weekend to my favorite warmwater lake. We weren't fly fishing, but trolling in our little boat with ultralight spinning rods.

I made it a point to check out all the spots where I know that the gills had spawning beds last year as well as some spots that had been full of crappie. Didn't see a single panfish anywhere on the lake all afternoon. We did see a fair amount of bass cruising the shallows, though, and some really nice ones at that.

We've been having some beautiful sunny weather lately so I figured the gills would be up on the beds by now. I'm not sure what temp the water was. What is the timing generally like for gills to become active and hit the shallows in relation to the bass? Maybe I'm just overanxious. Patience grasshopper, patience...

Oh, and my wife ended up catching a super fat 18 1/2 inch largemouth. I thought she had snagged the bottom as she couldn't move it off the bottom. I told her to tighten the drag and break it off and when she did the line started moving! Pretty exciting stuff on a little ultralight rod with 4 pound test line. Of course I got skunked...