[bream hunter]

I went to the store and i bought some flys and this is what i found out. I went to several small ponds and i tried all of these flys on all of the ponds.

The poppers that i used seemed to get some sucess but even the big fish had a hard time getting the fly in their mouth. When i switched to a smaller poppin bug i found that i had more hooksets and fewer missed hits. I also found that on an over cast day or when i was fishing in the shade i would switch to a glow in the dark bug and i got more hits on that one poppin bug than all the other kinds of poppin bug that i had purchased that day.

I also purchased a set of dry flys. A number of them resembled parachute trout flys, and the rest were nymphs. i tried the dark brown colored parachute flys first and i had no luck what so ever, but when i switched to a white and red fly i had many hits every cast. I would cast out past a stump or a patch of grass and i would retrieve it in a slow jerky motion. It seems like alot of people on here talk about brown and show brown flys that kill the bream or specks ( im from south georgia and down here a bream is any type of bluegill, and a speck is what the yanks call crappie, we just have a hard time feelin like real men calling them crappie haha) and yet i never had a single bite.

All of the ponds that i fished in were very clear, the bottom was full of leaves so the water looked dark. I think that the fish it the brighter flys because of the face that they stuck out alot more than anything in dark color.

If any of you have a comment onthis or have had the same or an opposite experiance please let me know. I take fishing very seriously and I love to put pressure on my dad who is a verteran at fly fishing, so any help or comments will help greatly.

[Frank Whiton]

Hi bream hunter,

It seems you are learning some good lessons and observing your surroundings. You are doing very well and have learned some important things. Color and size of the fly is very important if the fish are feeding on something in the water. The popper hits are usually reaction strikes and they are not feeding on anything special. Poppers will usually work best on cloudy days. Your local fly shop should be a big help with what flies to use. Pan fish usually like a small fly with rubber legs. These can be fished on top and sinking. Remember that pan fish like cover and sunken trees or bushes can be loaded with fish. If a pond has cover that is where I would start fishing. I suggest you continue just like you are. Try different flies, colors, sizes and presentations until you get a feel what is working on your waters.