Are gills affected by mayflies?

[CALVINIST]

Heading up to Vermillion. Funny...tragic, the mayflies hatched early this year. Will it slow down the bulls?

[Corey Bechtold]

They may be a little full but there should be a good number of fish that will still hit your baits. Try looking for deeper fish and you might up your odds for finding hungry fish.

Good luck and have fun,

Corey Bechtold

[macgoph67]

I was up at Upper South Long just south of Garrison last weekend and was absolutely amazed at how the pannies were gobbling up the mayflies on the surface. However, this did not hinder my fishing experience as they were still quite hungry throughout the day. What amazed me the most was that I was trying to target bass with slip bobber and a leach, and to my amazement found this to be the best way to weed out the large gills from the small ones. Caught 7 BIG gills and fed three people. UNBELIEVABLE action!!! Good luck and try a leach.

[macgoph67]

Mark McElroy

[Cyberfish]

Calvinist, get a flyrod!!

[Cyberfish]

Hi Mark, welcome to the HSO panfish forum!

[BillP]

In my experience they get so excited feeding on the surface they will hit anything thrown on or just under the serface.

[ocf]

ya they hit milfoil i throw bac in the water

[Matt Breuer]

This is a great, and very interesting question!

The reason I feel that 'gills aren't affected much by the mayflies is that the 'flies are hot for the last 30 mins. of light, and then into the dark hours. Sunnies will feed heavily on them for that last 30 mins. of light, but quit popping the top when the light dissapates.

Some hungry 'gills will hit after dark, I've had some great bites in the middle of the night, but most won't feed much after hours. These are the one's that are deadly hungry during the day!

You should be fine!