Category: Warmwater

The K.I.S.S. of Spring

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My warm water success so far this year has definately followed the K.I.S.S. method – Keep It Simple Stupid.

Walt’s Worm has out produced my traditional favorite,  the  Gold Ribbed Hares Ear, for bluegill. Tied with Arizona Synthetic Dubbing on an unweighted hook it’s about as simple as it gets.

A chartreuse Squirm n Jig has been well received by crappie and the occasional sunfish. Another jig fly I’ve been playing with has a slim profile of an ultra chenille tail and a body of polar chenille, once again chartruese is my preferred color.  It too has worked well for me and a couple of my friends who have been trying it out,

Largemouth bass have begun to be more active in my home waters and so far they  seem to prefer an estaz worm. Both 3 and 6 inches have done well. The worm is simple, slim and lightly weighted. A tungsten bead is used for weight but there is no collar or tail added, just the estaz body.

As you can see I like my warm water patterns to be very simple. I compare fly selection to deciding what to feed my nephews when they were little. Why feed them steak when they are just as happy eating hot dogs.

 

Sunfish – A Child’s First Love

For many of us, especially those who started at an early age, the sunfish was our fishing world. It was often our first fish and our first love in the sport. Usually easy to catch with a worm and a bobber at the local pond, they fought harder than anything that small had a right to.

As we grew up and replaced our Zebco reels and Ted Williams Signature  rods from the True Value hardware store with rods and reels from the fly shop, too many of us replaced the sunfish with the pursuit of other species. Nothing against the other species, but the sunfish deserves better.

Below is a link to an article by Dave and Emily Whitlock that first reminisces about fishing for sunnies and ends with how to fish for them. As a refresher or as an introduction to sunfish, it’s well worth the time to read.

http://www.flyfisherman.com/warmwater/panfish/bluegill/bluegill-season-fly-fishing/

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