Interesting (and Fun) Lessons from Recent Outings

My last two trips out, I have learned...in the first case re-learned I guess...a couple of fun little lessons.  Last week, on a rare week night of fishing for me, I had some bass chasing streamers but not eating.  A few times they nipped at the tail, but failed to get the hook on a larger 4-5" streamer.  I was getting frustrated, and decided to go extreme in the opposite direction: small.  I dug into my creek bass box for the smallest Murdich Minnow I had.  It was a size 6 coming in about 2" long, possibly a hair longer.  But still, small.  The switch paid dividends quickly with the better of only two bass I would land on the night.

Almost at dark, after I had switched back to a larger streamer again, an average bass came chasing my larger Murdich but wouldn't commit.  After a few more casts, I went small again.  When I saw the take, I thought this fish was bigger than he was, he just had a large head for his size.

The more interesting part of the second outing was at the pond where, a few weeks earlier, I caught one of the larger bluegills of my life.  For the better part of two hours, I whacked big bluegills on a foam topwater spider/beetle.  On this trip, the pond had some green algae in it, and the fish were acting very lethargic.  Whether it was the algae or what, I don't know, but I caught nothing on top.  Not even a strike at the same fly they terrorized recently.  I switched to a small subsurface fly I call the "Nothin' Special," under an indicator, and fished it just off the bank past the old spawning beds (which are still visible).  I immediately caught a big bluegill.  I tested the areas a little deeper, or where there were no visible beds in the same general depths, and caught nothing.  If I found beds, fished just off of them a little deeper, I popped good fish.  My only guess was that they were "staging" in these areas in preparation for the spawn.  Whatever the case, it was great action when I found the fish!