Letdown 05/21/12

With my previous week's success and reaching 100 fish in a day, I decided to return to the same lake for a rematch.  When I arrived, I was greeted by a good 7 or 8 boats on the water and several people in pontoons.  I made a few casts from the bank, just to try gauging the activity level of the fish.  I had one follow, and that was it.  I had a feeling already that things weren't going to be as hot this time.  I fished out in my tube for a bit, and caught some fish, but they definitely weren't very aggressive.  The water was glassy, the sun bright, and the fish spooky.  I'm thinking they'd been hammered all weekend and were wary.  I spotted one really nice 18-19" fatty, but she was skittish and wouldn't come after my bait.  I caught a few decent ones, but most were smaller.

After about an hour, a boat load of loudmouth, club music bumping frat boys showed up in Daddy's boat, so I ditched the tube and waded.  I could see quite a few decent fish swimming about, but they weren't aggressive.  I also found tons of large bluegill that were more than happy to attack my bass baits, but my gill gear was back in the car.  I continued on, and did manage to get some better fish here and there.

I tried fishing a 6" ribbed paddle tail worm that always seems to entice the bigger fish this time of year, and it did get me some action, just no monsters. 

It was starting to get late, and I had planned on fish tacos for dinner, so I went back to the car and exchanged the bass stick for a 10' crappie pole.  I tied a small jig with a 2" grub to my line and headed back to where the sunfish had been so thick.  The wind had kicked up in the meantime, and it was now difficult to see anything under the surface.  I dabbed my lure in the pockets in the brush, but I just kept catching small bass.  I moved deeper into the trees where I remembered seeing some gills earlier.  Finally, right between two trees, I found my first victim. 

I pulled two more out of the area, and then it was just a small bass here or there.  I went back to the first spot, but still wasn't getting any love from the round guys.  I decided to put on a small tungsten head caddis emerger from my fly box.  That did the trick.

I got a couple from that spot and decided that was enough for dinner for two. 

I hadn't eaten bluegill for about 20 years, I have to say I was impressed.  Those were some of the best fish tacos I'd eaten in a long time.

Total for trip:  37 largemouth, 5 bluegill

Total for year:  495 fish