Bluegill

Check out this awesome bluegill that Andrea Larko did. Her work is interesting and fresh, and I love it! That's why I bought this piece. She's currently making colored prints of this bluegill, and they look awesome! (Click on her name above to see more of her work.)

Hanging in my room near my fly tying desk. What better place for a bluegill...a blue wall.

Here is a doodle I did. Doesn't even compare to the work you see above. Enjoy!

Soon to be favorite?

I revisited Poplar Creek this past weekend, and it turned out to be an even better outing than the first. There were 3 of this time - HH, Danny, and myself. HH and I decided that we should check out another stretch, so, we went to a stretch closer to the Fox with hope of finding bigger fish. I was not a fan of this stretch at all. The water was slow moving, no riffles, very merky, and just frustrating. HH and Danny were using light gear with some inline spinners, and managed to catch a few decent smallies, and 1 largemouth. I had my new 3 wt with me, but I wasn't able to hook up with anything on the first stretch...hence my frustration.

So, we picked up and left. Driving to the stretch HH and I fished last week. We didn't even bother taking our waders off...It was quite comical.

We arrived to the first spot, and were immediatly greeted on our first cast. I hooked up with a bluegill, and HH found a nice smallie. The rest of the day was simply, awesome. HH and Danny were hooking up with some decent sized smallies. All of the smallies that I caught & released were small, and definitly not like the one I caught last week. Although, I wasn't able to find bigger smallies, I was rewarded with 19 small ones. What a day!

I love this creek! It's quickly becoming one of my favorite places to fish.

New Waters - Poplar Creek

This past Saturday my best friend (We'll name him "HH") and I went out to explore new water. Another friend was generous enough to provide me with 3 places to park and access Poplar Creek. Poplar Creek feeds into the Fox River, so, HH and I were on the hunt for smallmouth bass.

Pretty cool rusted bike frame set up on the side of the creek.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting the creek to be as nice as it was. As we waded, I often forgot that I was, where I was.

Within the first 10 minutes I saw a flash in the riffle I casted to, and after a few casts I changed the wooly bugger from a size 6 to a size 8. The outcome of the switch was "Fish on!" I had my first smallie of the year! After a few more casts provided 2 creek chubs. The day went on to be a great outing. HH was using a light baitcasting set up with an inline spinner, and he was hooking up with smallies left and right.

The nicest fish of the day came to me by surprise. I seriously thought I snagged my fly on something, until, my rod bent and the fish started hauling ass down stream pulling some line from me...I thought Oh $h*t! It turned out to be a 2lb bronzeback beauty queen! I wasn't expecting a smallie that size in the creek. I'm still pumped up about it!

You know how when you're fishing, and you lose track of time...Well, it happens. I looked at my phone and thought...damn, and we have to walk back. I couldn't believe that 5 hours had passed. We both forgot to bring a snack and were starving.

On the wade back to the car. Both of us were just falling apart. We were starving and exhausted. HH took a quick dip when he lost his footing, and we laughed about it. Soon after that, my body started to give, and I fell on my side with my knee hitting some rocks...then not 10 minutes after that I fell again. I wish I was 18 again haha. My legs were shot.

We caught a few more fish on the trek back to the car, and discussed a game plan for next time....bring food, and not walk/wade so far next time.

End of the day totals
HH - 11 or 12 smallies
Myself - 8 smallies, 7 bluegill, and 6 creek chubs

Biggest Baddest Bluegill

This past Sunday I fished at Blackwell Forest Preserve, and man, was it a beautiful day! The bass weren't biting, so, I switched to some smaller flies chased some bluegill. I tied on a chironomid with a blue bead, orange thread, and black wire wrap that I had tied. The bluegill were all over that sucker. I just dragged it in, and roll casted it back out (whenever I didn't have a fish on). After catching a few of the average normal sized ones, I hook into what I thought was a bass. This thing was a champ! It put a really nice bend in my 5 wt, and tried to make multiple runs. I have never fought a bluegill like that before. Turned out to be a beast! Hands down the biggest baddest bluegill I have ever caught.

The Champ!



While bass fishing earlier I had a few bass following my fly, and a decent sized pike came out of no where and chased them off. My guess was 30+ inches and beefy. (Nice sized for the area IMO). It was the other highlight of my outing.

Came across this party of tent caterpillars (Googled it. I could be wrong. So, feel free to correct me.) on a really low branch on a tree. Very interesting to see. Apparently, they will all turn into moths by July.

Surprise, It's Trout!

The past few day's have been an absolute hell. I've been stuck inside sick with some sort of virus that has been kicking my ass. I haven't even had the energy or motivation to tie anything. Just lay around like a potato.

This evening I finally was feeling good, and antsy to get out to my local lake, because, it was so nice out the past few days, and today was just awesome. It felt like it was close to the 70's, and there was hardly any wind. Got out to my local lake and began to cast. Started with a black wooly bugger, and quickly switched to a small bead head I tied. I was curious as to how fast  it would sink. 2 cast and I had a follow from some bluegill, and hooked up with a few.



The Bluegill loved this fly!

Once I was done fooling around with them, I tied on a small ep baitfish pattern I had tied with hopes of hooking up with some bass cruising the shallows. After my first cast and fixing the line that had wrapped itself around my reel, I gave the line a 2 strips and BAM!!! Thought I had a bass until it went airborne, and I saw that it was a rainbow trout. I was very surprised to see that there were some survivor stocker rainbows in the lake.



Surprise, it's Trout!!

That's more like it!!!

Few days ago, I was leaving work a few hour later than I expected. As I was driving out of the parking lot I noticed there was someone fishing, so, being the curious type I drove over toward the person. Turns out that they were fly fishing, and I got really excited then. Got out and walked over to him, and turns out it someone that I know that works in the same building. Who would have thought!

I got my gear out of my car, and fished with him. I have only tried fishing the lake at work a few times with no luck a month ago. Today was a whole new story. He was throwing a black wooly bugger size 8 I believe, and he caught a big crappie, and then he caught another big crappie. I wasn't using a black wooly bugger, and I was catching nothing. 

So, I made the logical choice in switching to a black wooly bugger. After a few casts I hooked into a few bluegill, and then some nice crappie. Then I started fishing off of one of the small bridges, and tied on a larger wooly bugger, and what do ya know...hooked up with a decent sized bass! Unfortunatly, she fought like a dead fish. She was also full of eggs (I'm assuming) After jumping down the side of the bridge and catching a rear end full of thorns from the bush I was trying to avoid, I was able to release her, and call it a night.

Bluegill

Some really nice crappie here. They were all averaging this size.

Damn thorn bushes!

I assume she was full of eggs.

Getting Ready

So, just the other day I was looking through my fly tying materials, and I found a few items that have been hiding from me...some foam spider bodies (Waspi). I remember purchasing these years ago when I first started tying, and I still had quite a few left. (I actually had 3 - 24 packs left - haha.) So, I decided to give them a go, and ended up running out of hooks. Now I think I have enough spiders to last the spring and summer.



Small spiders for Bluegill and sunfish.

Big spiders for the big Bluegill.

A bunch of EP Fiber patterns I tied. Hoping to fill this box by May.

These smaller flies (Beadheads) are new to me. I don't normally tie stuff like this, but I've been wanting to learn to tie different patterns. I normally tie stuff for bass...streamers, clousers, etc..

A friend of mine has emailed me a book with a ton of different classic patterns in it for trout, so, eventually, I will be diving into that and trying to tie up some trout flies. Maybe, I'll get to use them when I go out to the Driftless Area.

I wish I was out fishing right now, but we just had some huge storms the past few days, and especially yesterday into today that have every body of water flooded. There were a ton of road clousures today, and a 15 minute drive took me 1 hour, and to get home took me 2 hours. Ugghhhh!