Mix It Up For a Spring Mixed Bag

Sometimes we can slip into a rut and just keep casting the same lure or fly despite changing conditions. I catch myself doing this all too often. A little success can reduce your total productivity by reducing your willingness to change up offerings or tactics at appropriate times.

A weightless and weedless fly was productive for Chain Pickerel in shallow cover.

Don’t be a victim of your own success. If conditions dictate a change in size, color, or depth of presentation – make it. Think of your flybox or tacklebox as a toolbox. Choose the right tool for the job at hand.

A switch to a weighted fly on a deep water edge yielded Black crappie…
… as well as this big, bonus Bluegill.
A return to shallow cover and a switch back to weedless & weightless was rewarded with more foot long Black Crappie.

Halfway to the goal! “The 2018 Fly Fishing List” so far:

  1. Brown Trout – Salmo trutta
  2. Brook Trout – Salvelinus fontinalis
  3. Rainbow Trout – Oncorhynchus mykiss
  4. Landlocked Atlantic Salmon – Salmo salar
  5. Creek Chub – Semotilus atromaculatus
  6. Northern Pike – Esox lucius
  7. Largemouth Bass – Micropterus salmoides
  8. Chain Pickerel – Esox niger
  9. Black Crappie – Poxomis nigromaculatis
  10. Bluegill – Lepomis macrochirus