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.
As some folks are just finding out, the bream don’t respond “all” the time. We all get skunked from time to time.
Sometimes the bream can be down right selective too so I have to figure out what they want. Water clarity is sometimes critical. I like to use bright flies in dark water and dark flies in clear water. This also depends on how much sunlight is penetrating the water.
As far as the time of day, early mornings and late afternoons are usually the best for me although there are occasionally those great days when the bream will bite all day. I like to fish areas where there is some deep water near the shallow water. I find that bigger bream tend to be in areas where they can easily get to the safety of deep water. Surface structure like weed beds, reeds, lily pads, boat docks, and so on are good spots. Underwater structure like stumps, fallen trees, rock piles, and so on are also good spots. On the lakes, I like to use a depth finder on my pontoon catamaran for spotting underwater structure in conjuncture with a lake contour map.
I almost always start off with a surface popper, pusher, spongy spider, or other surface fly along shoreline and surface structure because I like that topwater action. If this doesn’t work, I go to subsurface flies and have to figure out what they want. I also make sure I have some flies that are close to the naturals because these can often make a big difference if the fish are feeding only on the naturals.
Ron did you try any subsurface flies? A weighted nymph usually outfishes a surface fly in numbers of fish and size of fish. Did you take any insect samples of the water?
Sounds like a fun fishery. Warmwater as
well as trout. Kind of a smorgasborg.G
I don’t know if it’s the same over your way,
or even if it’s a 100 percent valid point,
but here in SC, an incoming high pressure
system will put down my gills and bass in a
skinny minute. Silly trout just aren’t
smart enough to know they are not susposed
to bite when high pressure moves in.
By the same principle, an oncoming low
pressure system often results in very good
fishing here in our warm waters. Saw a
segment on the “Bass Professor” a couple
years back. Showed underwater footage of
the gills and bass in both situations. When
the high pressure moved in, they were just
sitting there in the weeds, very little
movement and foraging. When the low
pressure system came along, they again became active and were feeding well. Some
relate it to an old wives tail or like
fishing moon cycles. After 50 years of
warmwater fishing, I believe it. Warm
regards, Jim
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial”>quote:</font><HR>I don’t know if it’s the same over your way,
or even if it’s a 100 percent valid point,
but here in SC, an incoming high pressure
system will put down my gills and bass in a
skinny minute. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Jim,
You’re right on the money but I didn’t say anything about the barometer for the same reason you are unsure .
Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL
“Flip a fly”
[This message has been edited by dixieangler (edited 17 May 2005).]
It seemed like the bluegill fishing got going a lot better when the water temp hit 67 degrees. (Or maybe I noticed the bg more active and checked then water temp.) It was pretty slow until then but that does not mean we have not had some slow days since then. 13 bg ended up in the frying pan Saturday however. MMM.
I caught almost all of them on a deer hair caddis tied with some of that orange punch yarn you traded me a while back. Thanks again.
Chuck
PS The Jitterbe has been a good subsurface fly for us down here.
[This message has been edited by check your fly (edited 16 May 2005).]
I knew I could count on you guys for a helping hand.
I’m tying up some Jitterbees and other subsurface flies tonite, barometer is dropping, clouds are heading back in. That’s what rain jackets and waders are for, right?
Rick, I got your e-mail, thanks buddy.
Checkyourfly, glad you found a good use for that little bit of yarn.
Had a low pressure system pushing rain
this way today. I went out in the kayak
this a.m. with one of the 3 wts and a box
of poppers and scuds. Didn’t need the scuds
today as the gills were all over the poppers. It seemed that more casts resulted
in strikes than did not. I probably caught
and released three dozen nice gills as well
as a bass of about 2 pounds in the hour and
a half I had before the lightning sent me
scurrying back to the truck. It was a very
pleasant diversion from whats been a fairly
hectic couple of weeks. Gonna do it again
tomorrow.G Warm regards, Jim
.