Putting a Dent in my Bluegill Quest

I started by bluegill quest this past Tuesday with early morning temps in the mid forties, quite chilly. Overcast skies kept the temperature cool most of the morning, but it didn’t affect the bluegill bite. I had the lake to myself for a couple of hours, which is always a plus when fishing Walker County Lake. As I have told you guys numerous times this is one of the most pressured small lakes in the state. My plan was to fish the east side of the lake where there is no access for bank fisherman. I know where most of the spawning beds are located year in and out on this lake; today held no surprises for me. What did surprise me was most all the spawning beds were void of fish. At my first stop I counted close to 40 beds, after I landed 3 nice bluegills.

The sweet spot on this bank was located near the fallen log lying in the water. The bluegills had clean out close to 40 spawning beds to the right and left of the log.

The first gill of the morning, which nailed an Orvis size 12 legless tiny popper; the 3 weight got a workout.

This fish loved this little popper, the very next cast produce another strong fish which hung my little popper and the fish in a tangle mess of underwater brush; so much for that popper. Wouldn’t you know it that was the only one in the fly box, another trip to Orvis?

Another group of gills were located at the end of this moss pad in deeper water; again lots of spawning beds but only a few bluegills left to fish for. The live bait guys did a great job plucking each and every bluegill out of their beds.

The Bar Nunn popper got the attention of this bull after my little Orvis popper bite the dust. I was able to land a number of bluegill from the moss pad area that someone actually left for me. As I moved from spawning beds to spawning beds I felt like I was cleaning up what was left of this spawn.

This guy was having a time landing catfish using chicken livers as bait. In fact he was hauling one in when I snapped this picture. He had 7 or 8 rigs all hanging over the edge of the boat.

I left all my water at the house so I had to make a trip to the bait shop and purchase a couple of bottles. As I was leaving the shop I noticed this lady painting a beautiful scene of the point area in the distance. She told me she had finished a number of paintings of the lake this past year.

The Pelican now has a padded seat as opposed to that hard plastic seat I use for a couple of years. This is the 10 ft. version and will handle two fly fishermen really well-------as long as my line is down on the water and their line is up in the air or vice versa---I think you guys know what I am talking about!!

These are the best of the best for a very successful morning; these 10 will put a dent in my quest. I added 8 more that kept me filleting bluegill for a couple of hours after I got home. I will go after the big bulls on Smith Lake next week. I am now 40 away from my 50 quest; could this be my year to make it???

 

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