Lake Somerville is still 17 feet above normal and releasing lots of water so Ben (Hook-Line&Sinker) and I have been catching lots of hybrids and white bass in the spillway. Ben walked over to the lake side one morning to film the lake level indicator. While doing so he noticed that crickets were falling off the intake structure and into the water. He also started to film bluegill eating them as soon as they hit the water. So of course we had to spend some time catching them.

We caught them on Betts poppers the first time we went out and then started experimenting with cricket patterns. The cricket patterns really get the bluegill's attention but the hookup ratio has been poor so far, so we have a bit more experimenting to do. Luckily they like the white Betts popper with the long back legs pretty well so I've managed to improve the hookup ratio using it.

The interesting thing is I've fished this area many times before and I usually catch green sunfish, longear sunfish and small bass as well. Up to this point we have only caught bluegill.

I bet the crickets are on many of the bridges and other structures around our area. Might be worth a bit of exploring.

Here are a few photos. The better quality ones were taken by Ben.













https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Eg1ciMotBZ4

Here is another video posted by Hook-Line&Sinker. There is some awesome footage of the bluegill eating crickets in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6QHsUWuNjw8

tough trying tying to tangle tempted tasty treats..

Great works J-Moe, both fishing and filming. Very professional looking and artistic. Enjoyed both videos.

Good looking bugs guys!
Deb

Hook-Line&Sinker makes the videos. Thanks for the comments.

Thanks Deb

Nice post Jamie!

Nice post. Match the hatch!

The Lake Somerville dam spillway continues to be tough fishing even in the early morning hours despite a dozen or so fishermen along with J-Moe and I who keep trying our luck.

I know the drill by heart now so when the hybrids and whitebass no-show in the tailrace we just jump over to the lake side and fish for sunnies. J-Moe and I both are working on tying up a good cricket fly imitation and getting close to having something that will actually stick a few of the many attempts by the feisty bluegills.

Very nice, guys! Beautiful ties, vids and photog...

Thanks for the comments.

I was fishing around a bridge today and was looking for crickets but couldn't find any. Ben reminded me that the dam structure has lights on it.

Lesson learned.

Enjoyed the video HL&S. Nicely done.

great post!

Thanks for all the comments.

If you haven't spent time watching some of Ben's (William Tedrick) videos on Youtube, you should. He has some incredible videos on creek fishing for white bass, lmb, crappie and sunfish. Also videos on alot of other area spots like Beuscher State park, the Colorado river, Brazos below Whitney, pond fishing, etc. Along the way I've seen lots of nature too. Eagles, snakes eating fish, all species of birds, spawning white bass, etc.