Mr. Newburn, as a kid, I frowned on those who use " wet" bugs for bream. (I thought it was cheating) I will admit to admiring those who could roll cast a cricket 70 feet with a small cork. I currently have a pair of 3wt 9 foot Sage RPL's that are my favorite bream rods. I use one with a #10 popper as long as they are biting and then switch to a nymph or other sinking bug. ( the shell crackers seldom hit on top but do like a Goddard Chadis for some reason) Most of the bedding blue gills in out lake are about 12-13 oz. the shellcrackers are bigger ( lake record is 2# 9 oz but that was several years ago when it was fertilized and open to the public. Howell Raines ( whose first wife is a distant cousin of mine) might consider catching 125 bream after work "red neck" fishing but done on a fly rod with plenty of friends and employees that love the fish, I could care less. ( the bream and shell crackers " butterflied" rolled and cornmeal and deep fried are second only to fresh speckled trout in my book) Come to west Alabama three days before any full moon from April on and I will show you what I am talking about!
