Evening Colors

Evening Colors

At 95 degrees I figured to hunt the shaded bank until near sunset, then point the Cumberland towards the lily clusters in open water.  Expecting a few bass to show late, the activity was less than expected with only a few rises. The highlight being a 3-4lb fish the dogged hard in the weeds, than after clearing the weeds gave 3 good jump to show off and promptly spit my WOG back at me.

The Gills on the other hand lit up in size and color as the sun went lower.

I nice way to wrap up the day.

Morning WOG Report

Morning WOG Report

This morning brought mid 80's with a light wind.  The wind was substantial enough to push all of the algae to one side of the pond, making one half fishable for top water flies, and the other half a mess. 

The Black WOG proved to be the bug of choice.

Oddly enough, only one gill came to hand.  It was as if the water was void of them.  

About a dozen bass in all, but most of them pounders. Three decent fish did choose to chase the WOG though.

All-n-All a good morning.

MAXIMA #$!&^$!! Tippet!

One-&-Done

I seldom ever post negative on products. However, after 7.......again 7 Wogs broke off pulling them loose from lily pads & two bass well over 3 lbs broke off......and all at the knot?

So'long Maxima

I am the furthest thing from a gear snob. I build all of my warmwater leaders with standard Stren mono. And nearly all of my warm and cold water tippet is Stren Flourocast line.  Swear by it. Landed more 20"+ trout on 4lb Flourocast to begin to doubt it.  But I ran out of both 8 & 10lb on my last outing and could not find replacements. So while at Basspro I figured I would try the Maxima Ultragreen.  Having had good luck years ago with Chameleon for steelhead out west, I figured it would fill in nicely. 

I was wrong.

Thinking maybe the 10# was a bad spool...I switched to the 8#.  Same results.  

 

One things for certain.....I know what I will be using this winter to tie up Xmas decorations.

My usual warm-water leader and tippet 

This one miraculously held the knot.  

Happy 4th!

A Happy and Safe 4th!

A Blustery Day in the Lily Pads

Blustery Day Bass

Wind and bass bugs are never a good mix, and even more so when basketball-sized pockets between lily pads are your target.  When the pockets were hit....thee bass were aggressive.  When they were missed....50% of the time you were fighting to retain your fly.  I arrived with WOGs.  I left with the one tied on my line about a dozen fish later.  The highlight was an honest 5lb plus fish on a green WOG.  It jumped 1/2 dozen times and let me get it 5ft from the bank....and then promptly broke me off with 10# tippet.  Not the best feeling in the moment, but the fight was fun as hell.  I will return with more WOGs!

Freshly Minted

Crappie Night for the WOG

Crappie Night

Tonight Glenloch gave up no bass. Instead it offered up Crappie.  About a dozen of them, all nice slabs.  And all to the Gurgling Wog.

A dozen or so slabs later, I was still saying I should have kept the 1st one. They were chasing the Wog all over the lily pads.

The Wog, doing what it does best 

This.....is a pig of a Gill!!

MORNING BASS

There is something calming about a small pond in the early morning, just before direct sunlight changes the reflection and thermals begin to ripple the surface. The yellow of the lilies stand out in isolation as if painted by Picasso himself on a glass canvas. Watching for a few moments in order to take it all in, you begin to see small rises among the lily pad clusters. Than a run-and-chase on a bluegill bed by marauding pickerels catches your eye. Yet no sound aside from the songbirds scattered about and the gobble of a roosted turkey in the timber behind you.  As you begin to strip and extend line with false casts, the sound of the click-pawl reel feels both foreign and yet oddly perfect in the moment. Watching as the rings from your fly dissipate your mind is telling you to move the fly when suddenly it is gone in a boil.…...morning Bass.