Cameron Park lake hot!!!

[TaylerW]

Went to the lake form about 5:45 to about 8:00, caught about 10 HUGE bluegill and 5 good bass. My fish were caught on a chico fly shop seal bugger, black bream popper and steve sullivans panny popper. had numerous doubles, had a pansized bluegill hit the popper while a bass inhaled the buuger. caught all the fish in the first little cove of water to your right as you enter into the park.
Good Luck, Tight Lines
Little Striper

[Hairstacker]

Congratulations on the "HUGE" 'gills! In the Foreword to the book Bluegill...Fly Fishing & Flies by Terry and Roxanne Wilson, Dave Whitlock noted it only took him 23 years to catch a 12-pound brown trout and 28 years to catch a 12-pound largemouth, both on the fly, but it took him 34 years to catch a 12-inch bluegill on the fly. In other words, he considered the trophy bluegill the most elusive to come by of the three, and it was the one he most vividly recalled. Huge bluegills are very cool, good for you!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Fly fishing expert Chico Fernandez told me he was able to fish a private lake in Texas with a giant stain of Bluegills that required a 7 weight rod because they were so large and powerful.

He said very few people even know about this place because it is extremely private.

He said the blue part of their gill cover was as big as a silver dollar.

[Hairstacker]

Bill, I believe it. When I lived in Laredo, Texas, I regularly fished a private ranch lake that had a strain of bluegills that AVERAGED 9 - 10" in length. They fought just as hard, if not harder, than the bass I fished for in that lake, and I always thought I had a nice bass on at first whenever I hooked one. Sounds like Chico's fish were even much larger.

[TaylerW]

i would like to get together a fishout if anyone would be interested, any ideas?

[Hairstacker]

Don't know if you saw it, but there's a thread below in this Warmwater section titled, "July gathering," that represents a fishout planned for the weekend of 22 July at Lundborg Landing in the Delta. Anyone and everyone is invited and it looks like about a dozen or so fellas from this board have announced they'll be there. Check it out, it's going to be a lot of fun and very informative -- bass bugging, gabbing, potluck barbecue, seminars, gabbing, more fishing, etc. I know of several folks who plan to camp there that weekend if you're interested in that as well.

No reason there can't be other "fishouts" or simple get-togethers though. Do you have a particular date and place you're particularly interested in?

[TaylerW]

my place of interest would be cameron park lake. I only have an 8 and a 3wt, could i use a 3 in the delta?

[Hairstacker]

If you're talking about Delta bass, I would highly recommend you go with your 8wt. rather than your 3wt. Given the size of the bugs typically used, potential for wind, and the likelihood of hooked bass heading into weeds, the 8wt. is probably just about right, although I've successfully used an assertive 5 wt. rod with a WF6F bass bug taper line. I think most would choose something between a 6 - 9wt rod. For July 22, I plan to use a 7wt. rod lined with a WF8F bass bug taper line.