Thursday is supposed to be the new moon and new moon means no moon.

Old-timers used to refer to this time of the month as dark nights because there was no moonlight for a few days. Then we have a growing moon and about two weeks from the new moon comes the full moon, and that is when the moon will come right on up and shine all night long.

Both bream and shellcracker will bed on both of these moon phases, but do like the full moon better.

So even though you may find a panfish bed on this new moon, you will more easily find one in about two weeks. And when you find that bed, remember that the limit is 50 per fisherman. I suspect you will be checked, so obey the limits.

We can use the full moon to bet on when we might catch a few fish, but we must contend with the mud and high water that is surely going to come our way. Right after the first of the month, we received a lot of rain on the first Monday night and Tuesday morning after the first of this month. I haven’t heard the amount of water that fell, but most places got a little more than 5 inches and some may have gotten 6.

I called my buddy in Americus, and he said that they got 5 inches also. Americus is not on the Flint River, but it is not far from town to the river. If the area around the Flint River from here to there got 5 inches of rainfall, it is going to mean that even though we didn’t see the actual water come down, we will see it as it passes us by in the river on its way to the Gulf.

That Tuesday afternoon late the dam had all the gates up except two.  The ones on each end were still down as is the usual case.

The Corps seems to have anticipated this and is trying to get a head start of the influx of water that is surely going to be coming our way. If that amount of rainfall fell all the way to Atlanta, we will be having a tremendous amount of water all the way down the Flint River because as you well know the Flint has its beginnings right there in Atlanta.

Rain on that concrete runs through the drains and a lot of it ends up in the Flint, giving it a good start at being a very full river, even to overflowing, when it reaches deep south Georgia and Bainbridge.

Panfish don’t like to bed in muddy or dingy water so be looking for the clearest water you can find and preferably with a sandy bottom.  The light colored bottom warms first and stays that way.

If you haven’t seen any willow flies as of yet, it shouldn’t be long. Hopefully on the next full moon, which will be at the end of the month, the willow, or May flies, will be out in full force and attracting all the fish in the lake and river to them.

You know that the most fished for fish around the willow flies is bream. You can take a popping bug on a fly rod and have some kinda fun and catch fish besides. You can even use your telescopic pole and catch fish around the places that willow flies are flying and dropping into the water.

Grab two or three willow flies from the air and put them on your hook and use them for bait. You will get a bite usually quicker with that bait than any other bait. A good fly rod, a 14-foot graphite pole and a whole bunch of willow flies will have you catching and releasing fish, or keeping them and dressing fish for several hours after you get home from the fishing trip.

During the last week or so I have talked with fishermen that have caught some big shellcracker as well as some big crappie. I had thought the big crappie was over for the warm months, but apparently not.

A 3-pound crappie is one big fish. It is about half way to a world record and like catching a bass weighing 11 or 12 pounds, which is a pretty big fish also.