The wind has been blowing very hard lately and there has been some rain so, fishing has been for only a couple of hours on some days but restricted to areas where the wind allows.  Haven’t really been doing very well though as the temperature has also been up and down like a yo-yo.  I have caught a few bass using a Yum crawdad and a black and red wave worm.  Only one fish was of any size, maybe three lbs and the rest were maybe 12″ or so.  The crappie have almost completely shut down.  I was going to try a couple of hours this evening but we’ve had a very bad day with rain and even sleet!  No fishing today.  If the wind ever dies down I’ll try some of the bigger lakes nearby.  None of the lakes are REALLY NEAR BY and because of gas prices I won’t be going far.  There are only one or two options that are really within reach.  We’ll see…  Wishing you tight lines.

I went out again yesterday and did fairly well:  21 crappie and 3 bass.  Mostly all small.  Started out at 2:30 P.M. but didn’t do well until around 4:00 P.M.  That’s about the same thing that happened on my last entry.  Just a very few bites until later in the day.  Again I ended up in the same place I started to get the most bites where earlier I couldn’t buy a bite.  I haven’t caught a single female fish that I could tell…none carying eggs.  So, it must be the males settling out to find the best nesting areas.  I have found three such places which should hold most of the nests when they do start to spawn.  All of the bites were lip hooked except one and I don’t think I hurt that one either being careful not to damage the one I cahght in the gill area, no bleeding but the hook was wrapped around the gill.  I don’t keep fish unless it will, without doubt, die.  No one in my family likes to eat fish except me!  We have our grand kis over today so it’s playtime and no fishing.  See you next time.

On Monday the 7th of April wwe had another one day break in the weather.  I took out my two man boat on the sub-div pond thinking that the bass aught to be hitting.  I tried first with a zoomworm, pumpkinseed color… no luck,  tried a roadrunner with a curlytail grub…no luck.  I did bring some live nightcrawlers with me which I do not usually use for bass because of the possibility the bass might swallow them if they bite, I do not keep fish and I was actually trying for some channel cat.  No cats but I did catch two bass and they were not hurt… lip hooked them, but no cats.  I put the nightcrawlers away.  I fished for almost 4 hours with hardly any luck using spinners, grubs, and spinner/grub combinations.  At about 4:oo P.M.  I was back to nearly where I keep my boat.  There’s a small area of downed tree branches there.  I went back to my fly rod and tried the plastic black and white minnow.  Again I connected…28 small crappie, 6- 1 1/2 to 2 lb bass and one 2 lb channel cat before suppertime at 5:30 P.M.  That small plastic minnow is a real winner.  The weather has been bad ever since or I have been to busy to go.  I don’t fish when there’s a chance of me catching pneumonia!  That’s it for now, waiting for another break in the weather to…

Went out yesterday for two hours again using my fly rod but this time I brought along a spinning rod, a new Papala reel and the new Ugly Stick 61/2′ light spinning rod.  A great combination.  You don’t have to spend a lot to get a great combination.  For the average fisherman this combination is excellent.  The fly rod with the plastic silver minnow was not the best combo today so I switched to the spinning rod.  I first tried a in-line spinner, chartuse with red and caught two crappie but after many casts.  I switched to a beetle spin combo, gold, with a blue 21/2″ ribbon tail grub.  I got several taps but only two hookups.  The crappie were hitting short, probably grabbing the tail of the grub.  I then switched to a silver beetle spin but with my small black and white plastic minnow.  That was the ticket.  I started catching fish but SUPPERTIME!  Had to stop so as not to create a problem in the household.  Well, I’ll leave you now, happy fishing!