4-23-03 - Bluegills on the Rise
Rivers Fished: Axehead Lake
Fish Caught: 2 (but not what we were "targeting")
Outing Date: 4-23-03
Weather: Sunny
Air Temp: 50's
Water Temp: 46F
Water Level: normal
Water Color: KRYTSAL Clear
Fish Species: Bluegill (we were after stocker-bows with a smattering
of over-zealous baby largemouths)
Pattern Fished: Olive Spey,
Glo Bug, White Marabou Bait Spey, Olive Mayfly Patttern
Pattern Color: Gold & Olive, Orange/Yellow, White & dark
purple, Olive Mayfly Patttern
Fishing Quality: fun
Not quite prepared for another sprint to Racine
after yesterday, I asked Bart if he'd like to hit Axehead Lake after
work for some stocker rainbows. He got there before I did (as usual);
while on the phone through a miscommunication I thought he said
he had landed a crappie. Ha! When I got there at 6:30, it turned
out that the "FISHING" was "crappie"!
We fished all sorts of rigs, mostly strip retrieving
on long casts. The water was basically glass; just a touch of a
breeze from our backs helped us to really make the long hauls.
As sunset approached we started to notice small
rises far offshore over the deeper water. I switched up from my
various prior offerings (consisting of speys being stripped and
a glo bug trailer) and tied on the only dry fly I had readily handy
in my box; a parachute mayfly pattern in olive tied by Peter McKatten.
A quick addition of 4lb test tippet got me ready to go.
Fishing on the lake with drys is just about as
tedious as fishing with a float; you cast; get a good float, and
WAIT! The slight breeze slowly moves your offering over various
spots until you get the attention of a willing biter. Well, after
about a 5 minute float on the glass something NAILED my fly. Whooping
and hollering, I retrieved the fish and found not a trout, but a
BLUEGILL! Well, it was the first fish of the evening, and was a
"respecatable" fish (I can't REMEMBER the last time I
caught a gilly). Shot the pic...man the fish was just barely larger
than my REEL!
After seeing this, Bart switched up to a slightly
larger dry and we spent the remainder of the evening floating flies
in the sunset-dappled water. I managed a second hit, again a bluegill,
that I lauched over the water for about 30 feet when I set the hook!
Ok, when the really little fish are biting, ya probably shouldn't
be fishing with a 7 wt.! Anyways, we left at sunset (park closes)
and for once I outfished Bart! Unfortunately it wasn't on steelhead
or trout LOL!
MP

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