It's been a windy spring in Louisiana. So much so that I've barely had the opportunity to spend any time fishing my new 1wt. Yesterday was no different unfortunately as winds were gusting between 10 and 15 mph by mid-morning.

My schedule was open though, and I decided it was too nice a day to not hit the water. Stringing up the 1wt and tying on a #24 beadhead nymph with a #16 soft hackle hanging from the tag, I headed for a heavily polluted urban pond that sits in the shadow of the governor's mansion.

I was on the hunt for sunfish, and the rocky shoreline did not disappoint.

Aggressive Green Sunfish proved the predominant species early as I landed at least 30 between 1.5" and 5".





Occasionally, they even came in twos. Though my photo below decided to focus on the shoreline instead.



Small bluegill were in the mix early as well, though I never found any of the larger specimen that I've caught here in past years.



Further down the shoreline, the demographics began to shift as the small Greens ceded territory to a respectable population of Longear Sunfish.



Moving further still, I eventually stumbled upon my primary target as territory changed hands once again and Orangespotted Sunfish took control.



These little jewels are always a pleasure to encounter. Especially during the spring spawn. Their colors just pop. Though in this case, my camera did a poor job of capturing their true splendor.

In all, I landed 50+ sunfish over the course of two hours including my first Orangespots of the year.

Not a bad way to spend lunch.

Good for you Chris! You got out and caught some fish on your 1-weight, despite some wind. But we really should remember the conventional wisdom saying that if there's any wind at all, we need at least a 7-weight. Isn't that what some people would tell us?

Chris, I was of course being a bit facetious when mentioning 7-weight rigs. It may actually be better, when dealing with windy conditions, to consider line density rather than mere line weight. If we go to silk, intermediate, or faster sinking lines in the same weight rather than floating PVC lines, we might do well in the wind without having to go to heavy lines. Those options have less air resistance, being thinner for the same given weight. I was pleasantly surprised the first time I tried out a twisted nylon (intermediate) 2-weight line in a stiff wind. It casted much better than expected.