FLY FISHING REPORT 2019-05-29
Your Fresh Water Fly Fishing Report for Central Florida
Conditions: Excellent
Surface Temp: 82f
Clarity: Slightly Tannic 18-24 inches
Let us know what you are catching-or not catching-Send your pics of fish, beautiful places, or some of the flies that you have tied. We love to post them on our fishing report! Send to allen@andythornal.com
Lonnie Bachman has been catching some nice fish this week!
Tips:
Topwater for Bluegill in the morning. The fish are shallow early in the day. As the day progresses they head to deeper and, cooler water. Clousers can cover a lot of water in this situation. White, Chartreuse, & Blue are best bets. Game Changer flies fished on a sinking line will put you in the same deep part of the water column as a conventional crank bait, but you can work the fly much slower, even suspended. Take advantage of this unique opportunity. Hexagenia Mayflies are hatching. If you are blessed with Mayflies on your lake, you will know it. Yellow-Belly Hippy-Stompers, Yellow Stimulators, are examples several Hexagenia flies work when this bite is on.
Neil Warnock with a 'gator' speckled trout on his paddle board.
Techniques:
Bluegill are taking topwater flies, at daybreak (and we have heard at sunset in some of the pits.) Yellow or Chartreuse poppers are hanging from bluegill lips in many of the pics that I've seen. We also like yellow Sprogs and white rubber spiders. Have you seen all of the dragonflies? It is a good indicator to throw blue poppers and/or green wooly buggers (dragonfly nymph.) Hexagenia mayflies are hatching in our lakes. This is a great time of year to throw some big bushy dry flies like a stimulator pattern to match the hatch. Consistently through the warmer season, fish with a floater/dropper. Stimulators are the ticket to fish a weighted nymph, underneath. Try using grass shrimp and scuds for the dropper. Keep your dropper flies a little deeper than usual and focus on submerged grass lines when throwing streamers. Bluegill coloration flies have still been the ticket for the bass. Try using a faster retrieve rate with Clousers as this allows you to cover more water.
Josh Johnson caught another nice snook with his 8wt!
Forecast
We anticipate bluegills to be shallow or near shallow water. The topwater bite will continue in the morning. Small buck bass will continue to be good along weedlines and lilies. New Moon is on June 3rd. The high pressure that is parked over the Florida peninsula lowers our chances of afternoon rain to near zero, and heat to near 100 degrees. Bluebird skies this week and winds will generally be light. Expect lake levels and river levels to fall rapidly through the week. At the time of this report: the Peace River is at below average level, Econ is half of average approaching a trickle, Myakka River is above seasonal average, Hillsborough and Withlacoochee Rivers are slightly above average levels. Kissimmee River gauge below the Hwy 60 dam is currently not reporting.
Billy Williams tied this killer little shrimp.
Learn to tie your own flies at our club meetings! Next meeting is June 4th.
Crabs and Shrimp Month! Fly Tying is regularly at Andy Thornal Company on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, 6pm-7:30pm. We usually tie two patterns including Bass, Saltwater, and small flies, too! This club atmosphere is friendly for beginners and experts, ages 10-70. Bring your tying tools or borrow some of ours. The class is free, but we ask that everyone make a $10 purchase to offset costs. Next club meeting is May 7th.
Allen Wyatt
Author