Yesterday I waded into the river and the water was perceptibly warmer and I caught 6 nice bluegills. Went back out today and all I can say is WOW!
I checked the weather and we had a high chance of rain, a lowering barometer, overcast sky, and no wind. With the water being a bit warmer on top of all that I thought it was a good time to fish. The barometer would be going back up about 2pm from the looks of it.
I waded into the water at 10am, and the water was chilly but not cold. For once in my life I remembered to bring a thermometer. The water was 65 F. That's pretty good for fishing.
I got to my favorite spot and caught a big bluegill on the second cast. Pretty soon I was catching a big bluegill on every cast. For nearly two hours I was catching either big bluegills or nice size (some big) crappie on every cast. I'm not exaggerating even a tiny little bit when I say I am sure I caught over 100 fish in two hours.
And they were all fighting like champions too! I caught a small bass, a four or five pound drum and so many bluegills and crappie that I literally lost count. It was awesome. It was fantastic. It was like a fever dream. It was transcendental. I have had few better days, probably no better days than today - although I'm sure I've had one or two as good. Maybe. Maybe not. This was extraordinarily outstanding. Way beyond anything I hoped for.
I took a couple of pictures. The bluegill in the picture is about average for what I caught, although I caught bigger ones. The crappie is small for the average I caught, average crappie was about twice as big as this one.
And then the sun broke through the clouds and a breeze came through and the fish slowed way way down. Another hour and they had shut down entirely. The front had passed through. And probably a good thing because I think I had caught and released every fish in that part of the river, I was starving to death, and my back was hurting from so much casting and catching. It was a happy walk home.
Maybe, if the weather is good tomorrow (rain forecast right now) I'll go back with a stringer and try to bring home enough crappie for dinner for two. Had I taken a stringer today I would have filled it up and emptied it and filled it up a dozen times.
That is what fishing is all about on the Brazos in the spring time!