First gills on the fly for the year (no pics)
I slammed and released 15-20 nice hand-sized gills and pumpkinseed yesterday. A few of them took a Betts popper, then I switched to a simple fly I tied that looks like a green caterpillar, and it's simple to tie.
green closed-cell foam, cheap hackle, thread, hook, head cement
I tied it with a "segmented" body, applied the hackle to the segmentation, trimmed it short, and finished it off. As always, you can determine the hook size and length.
The fish were MUCH more aggressive when striking the caterpillar than the popper. I tried various retrieves to see if it was a fluke, and after comparing, the caterpillar was greatly out-fishing the popper. The best retrieve with this fly was exactly what you would assume it would be: the shortest, most subtle "active" retrieve possible. More of a vibration of the rod tip.
Sorry for the lack of pics.
