The bluegill shown here is typical for the pond.  Some are a little bigger and some are smaller, but they are fun on the fly rod.  When all other fish are seemingly hiding somewhere you can always have fun with them.  If you haven’t tried it you’re missing out on some excitement you wouldn’t have otherwise had.  The equipment isn’t too expensive.  You can get a nice starter set for around $100.  And you can get some very nice and effective poppers from "breambugs.com as I recently discovered.  Just click on that logo of the fish in my web site and you’re there.  And the price is right.

Late this afternoon, 10-9-08,  after mowing the lawn I tried for a couple of hours for some crappie.  And the bite was on!  Using a small tube, 1 1/2" in a rust/tan color, 1/16 oz.  The crappie were all about hand size but it was fun anyway.  And as a bonus I caught two nice channel cats of two and three lbs on the same tube jig.  I tried other colors and a tiny craw jig with no takers.   I think I might try for some bigger slabs on Sunset Lake this coming Saturday.  I’ll be fishing with Chuck this time.  He’s the one shown with me in my web site picture in the two man boat.  He hasn’t fished all summer because of an accident he had earlier this spring.  It will be nice to see him back in action again.  If we do catch some good ones I’ll be sure to take pictures.  Tight lines.

Jim

Shown here is the green/black wave worm.  Get some, they work.

I went back to Sunset Lake at River Bend yesterday, 10-6-08.  The day was slow for the first two hours with nothing in the boat.  By the way, I started out at 12:45 P.M.  I tried my tried and true worms, spinners, and poppers without a bite.  Then I switched to the Excaliber deep diver.  After casting into about 25 feet of water I finally connected with a few crappie and bass.  The fish were deep!  And I thought that fish , in the fall, were supposed to migrate into the shallows  to fatten up before winter sets in.  I’m sure you’ve all heard that.  Well, beating the shoreline was not productive until…  I started back to the shoreline at about 5:00 P.M. using my wave worms.  I had one black with red speckles weighted with a small 1/32 oz sinker and another black/green weightless.  These baits were as I said non-productive earlier in the day.  I did not re-tie the worms as I should have and, as you might have guessed, the big one broke my line at  the knot.  You know, I thought I should’ve re-tied but I didn’t.  The bait that the fish hit was the weightless green/black.  The black got me nothing.  And I didn’t have another green/black wave worm with me; they were in my other tackle bag that I left at home.  Darn!  Well, 6:00 P.M. came along in a hurry so I had to get off the lake when the park closes at 7: P.M.  I’ll try again this coming weekend.  And I’ll fish deep in the afternoon and shallow again just before dark; we’ll see.  Tight lines.  By the way,  my buddy Ivan and I have not gone to Shadow Lake with our rafts because is scheduled for more medical treatment in his shoulders.  Good luck Ivan.  And it would be too dangerous for me to try it alone.  Always stay safe.  Again , tight lines.

Jim

Shown is the typical bass in the pond, however there are lots more that are larger, (see previous posts)

If you haven’t tried the Yum Craw bug or the Baby Craw you should.  On several days of fishing for bass when nothing else pays off, the Yum Craw did.  That was the case yesterday.

I tried spinners, plastic worms, the "Swimmin minnow", poppers and finally the "baby Yum Craw". 

I managed to hook up with four bass and got two in the boat.  This was in about 2 1/2 hours time.

The fish started to hit at around 5:00 P.M. and I quit just before dark at 6:30 P.M.  I didn’t get a hit on anything before that, but I was going strictly for bass.

As they say, "if you don’t have a selection to choose from…". Tight lines.

Jim

Shown here are two poppers that I used to catch some of the fish caught on this trip.  They are excellent fish catchers.  The picture of the bluegill shown is typical of the size of most bluegill caught at this lake.  There are, however, larger bluegill caught here but on this day 8 inch fish were prevalent.  The biggest bluegill that I’ve caught at Sunset was about 9 1/2 inches.  But, they are fun to catch on the fly rod.  And when I do go fishing it is for the fun.  I practice "catch ad release" almost always.  When I’m fishing for bass, which is most of the time, and fishing is slow, I will get out the fly rod. 

Bluegill are almost always in the biting mood if you use the right tools.  These Accardo poppers are part of the right tools.  I had been searching for poppers that would replace the 1/32 oz Arbogast poppers that are no longer in production as I had mentioned before.

Well, I found them in Accardo and I happened to come upon breambugs.com to find them.  That new logo in my web site is the site. Just click on the logo and you’re there. These are good quality poppers and they do catch bass as well as bluegill.  I also purchased some Pecks poppers and a a few others.  Anyway, if you like fishing with poppers, go to the web site, breambugs.com and you will find a multitude to select from and the price is right!  You even get free shipping if you purchase $10.00 or more (and who doesn’t). 

The crappie shown was caught on my Excaliber plug while I was casting for bass.  I could probably have caught a few more in that spot but I was trying for bass so I moved on.  I did manage to catch three small bass and I missed one at the boat, trying to lift him into the boat that might have gone two lbs.  But that was it  for bass. 

My fishing was done from noon until 4:00P.M. so I missed the late afternoon bite which is best here.  Well, until next time, tight lines.

Jim