Where are the big ones?

[J. Rentch]

My friend, Mark Bange and I hit a Maryland pond today with okay results. We launched around 10:30. Mark fish one shore, I did the other. Was able to land 6 Blue Gills ( 7-8") on a red popper. Could not find anything larger. I manage a 17" Pickerel on an Olive Wooly Bugger.
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Mark fared about the same as me. Guess I will have to find some new ponds for the larger BG.

[Mark]

John asks a good question.

I think we need to find Tom's spot in NC to catch a 9 inch bluegill or we need to cross the state line to DE where one of our FSFF co-members has posted a 9.75 bluegill in our 2021 contest.

I found my typical 8 inch clones. I got them on a Bendback Minnow and a Gurgler.

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This one decided to not sit for a portrait:

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I struggled to catch only a handful of bluegills yesterday. Normally a dozen or more are easy to catch on the fly. Perhaps it was the bluebird sky or the chilly morning that put them down.

I could not draw a bass out of the pads and spatterdock to take a fly on the edges of the vegetation. So, I cast into it with a weedless paddletail. I got 5 five little ones like this:

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You can see from the photo that the growth is thick. Each bass I caught was tight to shore. Even though they were small, it was not easy getting them through the vegetation after I hooked them.

I also donated three paddletails to unseen fish. I assume they were pickerels. All I had to show for my effort was a paddletail lacking a tail after the strike. At least John got one of those toothy devils into his boat. Good on him for that.

I hadn't been in my kayak for weeks. Even though the bite was difficult, it was great to get out.

[clm]

I'm hoping to find some big ones at the end of this week. I'm heading south to do it though. Loaded with some outstanding flies tied by "Tenkara Tom"...I'm super stoked to get these flies wet. He provided quite the selection. I've also ordered a few rod sticker measuring tapes to make measuring a fast process. I have one fly rod that has it built in (thanks Mark)...and I wondered why that wouldn't be more often included...oh well, it will be for my rods from now on...I ordered 4.

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