Fishing Report 25-APR-2016

The past week saw the largemouth bass in our area move into their spawning beds in our local lakes and ponds.  As a result, I decided to switch over towards targeting bluegills and other panfish.  This is actually where I started one year ago, when I threw my first fly, and always results in a good deal of fun on the water.  Every trip resulted in more fish than I cared to count, and small fish or not that is never a bad day :)

To celebrate my one year flyiversary (yes, that is now a word), I took a special VIP out for their first fishing trip, and she loved it!

Penny's first fishing trip was a blast!

In general, the panfish are hitting most anything they can, with smaller woolly buggers and damsel fly patterns being good streamers to cast from your favorite lightweight rig.  Personally, I love to throw a two weight TFO Finesse setup, which, in addition to my bluegill rod, doubles as my mountain brook trout rod.  This rod has a more classic action, which is great for beginners to really learn to feel when the line loads the rod.  It also helps when roll casting in the tight confines of a mountain stream, and for quick loading during shorter casts.  There is definitely an emphasis for faster and stiffer fly rods, but for beginners, nothing compares to a medium to slow action rod...plus they are way more fun to catch fish on!

As expected for this time of year, the fish are stacked against the shoreline, and are likely to be found near any fallen sticks or logs, and under the shade of trees and bushes.   If your local pond has any rock formations, this is a great time of year to target rock bass with a small zonker or other streamer.  These fish are really getting aggressive, and will often leave a wake as they zoom in to crush your fly.

While small, rock bass are a fun fish to catch off a lightweight fly rod, and a great way to learn how to fish streamers.

One of the best things about bluegill fishing is it is an easy, and fun, way to learn how to fly fish, especially when using a small popper or other floating bug.  With the water temps continuing to rise, the topwater bite is really starting to catch on, so now is a great time to learn!  Try using different techniques to entice a bite.  Often, just casting the fly next to some cover, and letting it sit perfectly still will result in a good splash, but sometimes adding a few short strips to twitch the popper will be needed.  If bass are around, using a pause-retrieve-pause pattern with strips of only a few inches can really be effective.  While I was not specifically targeting bass this week, I wasn't disappointed when more than a few decided to take my topwater poppers.  Even a small bass on a lightweight rod can result in a lot of fun!

No bass were eaten in the making of this post, but quite a few were licked :)

With the smaller bass already showing interest in topwater patterns, I cannot wait for the spawn to complete, and the topwater action to get really interesting.