Delaware Pond Visit

[J. Rentch]

My fishing buddy (Mark Bange) and I visited our favorite Delaware Blue Gill pond this morning. We started early to beat the heat. I started out with my 5Wt and a Double Barrel Popper with little success. I then switched to my Intermediate 5Wt and a Golden Retriever and started getting hits. Later in the morning I switched back to topwater and a Yellow Triangle fly. Here are a few of my catches- nothing big, but always fun!
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[Mark]

A very nice outing with John.

I had been wanting to head east to a pond for some time.

The water surface was still clean with no algae or slime infestation yet. That was good. I was concerned that given our dry hot spell the reverse would be true.

Our next potential foe, the wind, also died down as the morning progressed. So the stage was set for a good day.

The bluegills were cooperative. I caught most on a simple foam topwater spider:

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Evidently this guy was a very attentive father during the recent spawn. Notice how the bottom half of his caudal fin is worn. That was from him fanning his nest with his tail.

My hardest hit of the day, also on the foam spider, came from this bass that was sitting tight to the vegetation you see in the background:

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My topwater hits came on a 9 foot 4 weight graphite rod with floating line and 9 foot leader.

I also carried a 7.5 foot 4 weight fiberglass rod loaded with floating line and a 9 foot leader. I cast a subsurface streamer with that rod.

Here's a female bluegill that hit that rig:

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The fly is not seen in the above photo but it was one I commonly use for bluegills:

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It's my variant of a fly called a Bluegill Bully. I weight it different than a traditional Bluegill Bully and also add a tail of EP Fiber. It sinks slowly and suspends horizontally in the water column as it falls. I think that horizontal sinking presentation and the rubber wings add to its attractiveness to fish. Also, I tie it on a size 6 streamer which is a little larger than normal for bluegill flies. The fly has worked well for for white and yellow perch and even bass and small pickerels.

Again, it was good to get out. I really enjoy heading east to the ponds of MD and DE.