Sounds good...i really got get off my home lake and fish other places...I've gotten too complacent .I'm just catching small guys...I wanna get into some gig fish.Man it was freezing last evening,I'll tell you!The wind got ridiculous!

Yeah there's still ice fishing going on up here,but I did lousy this past Thursday on Greenwood lake .I gotta question for you Jim.I want to target Crappies at ice out (Perch too of course) Do you do well in March or do you find that a tough Month like I do? If it's a warm March these Perch and Crappies will be in the shallows before the Month is out I believe but I think I 'm gonna have go to the ice fishin holes at ice out this year and maybe the shallows in early April.Just have to see what the weather and Fish decide.

At 3:30pm on March 5, 2009, John Sheehan said…Jim
Thanks very much for the great info!
I will be trying the wood section in the Northeast section of the Monksville Reservoir this year .Hope the Crappie are as ready and willin as I am.
All the best Jim!

hello ;jim
actually the biggest came from a well fertilized farm pond(lots of cows) i have caught some monsters in deep creek too, none quite that large though. It used to be much better 10-15 years ago, before they put all the houses on public sewer. deep creek is great but if you hit it right savage river reservior is right there, ususally the bluegills there are mixed in with the perch. the only drawback there is that you must used very light line 4lb will get you many more bites, they are very finicky
hope to get up there soon, still any ice
thanks
david

Iwas over there 2 weeks ago and the place below dam and bridge was covered with gills but very few crappie. That was the day they stocked the trout.

Jim:
Just talked to a friend of mine in MD who knows you. Lonny says hi. We are planning an April fishing trip.

Ice just coming off the lakes now. Will be BG fishing shortly.

Jim:
Come over to West PA in May and I will show you where I caught the 15 inch W crappie.

hello jim
fished a large pond today that i have not fished in years, nothing gargantuan but lots of really nice 9" gills
we kept about 20 all between 8 and 9.5 inches
could not believe the lnumber of really good fish we saw, i dont think this place has been fished much since i was there over 10 years ago. I litterally saw sever hundred fish in this size range today.
come on spring,
david
if you ever get up this way, give me a call fishing by oneself is not much fun
3013317099

when we get a little bit of warmer weather i will take off and we can hit the pond
they were sluggish to hit the other day, but the pond is litterally loaded.
i want to thin some of them out
we are going to transpant some and eat a bunch more, so bring a cooler
david

Ice is receding and I'm gonna trying catching some fish tomorrow in a boat first time this year.I better dress warm if its like today,and I better fish slow.I rigged up a tandem crappie rig...we'll see if it works out!

the slabs were caught at lake Elsinore on yellow and white jigs. they were all in 3 to 41/2 feet of water.

hey jim thanks for the response i will try to that

Hey Jim- I will when I set down to spend some time on the forums. Glad to see you are home safe. Good fishing with you!

Hey Jim,
Happy Easter!!! I know you're absolutely right on how finicky the Tidal Crappie can be!!! They can get lockjaw as soon as you look at one crooked (ha! ha!) Seriously, the presentation has to be absolutely perfect (just like you said) especially in cold water conditions because in many cases, they just aren't goin to spend the extra energy to chase anything down--they're too sluggish and they know that the current will carry them another tasty morsel if they just wait long enough for it!! Way to go and I'll keep you posted on things here--slow right now. My kayak came yesterday so now I'm workin on gettin it rigged the right way for fishing...I think it will work as long as I don't flip it!!! Take care and tight lines!!!! Keep postin photos so I can see all your Monsters!!!!

Hey Jim I was just going through the list of master angler awards and I seen your name and a family members just wondering if you have any photos of the 11.25 and 11.5 inchers? Mountain Man

I sure do Mr. Gronaw. Me and my ole lady was talking about it just the other day! Its great Its great Its great! With all this opportunity I wanna do something with it. Im getting better at this fishing thing and starting to wonder what I can do with it? I know I can do something that both people, the delta, and all the fish can benifit from but i just dont know what yet. It wouldnt hurt if I could make a living from it! Being the way the economy is headed and people cant afford those big ole bass boats and $1000s in rods reals fancy sunglasses and tackle Im seeing alot more people getting back to there roots and bring out the cane poles and cricket buckets and diggin worms outta the yard. More people need to be educated and theres got to be more ways to reach them. Who knows this could be a new path im standing at the sign trying to decide to walk down or pass up! HAHA I may even be as cool as Bruce and get my picture in in-fisherman one day or even get a chance to fish big bluegill and shellcracka with Roland Martin and Bill Dance. Now wouldn't that be a great show!

The master angler award was from 2005. Yes we are catching tons of fish this year. We haven't had too many slobs, but most of my limits are 8+ inches im able to throw back the 7 inchers and the 9 inchers and still end up with 25 fish. Here the fish are filling in the rivers by the thousands but not to spawn. The lake winnebago system in the past couple years has had new type of weed bed growing in 10+ feet of water reaching all the way to the surface. I think this is impacting the bluegill in a good way plenty of cover for the small fish to grow and big fish to feed, but now that the weeds died off in the winter I think these fish are just looking for a place to hide and feed.

I just now saw your message. I'm laughing my you-know-what off! :-)

Your idea is more plausible than you'd think. It could fit right in to the two pound bluegill story.

Forgot to mention that the bass is "only" about 5 pounds, but it's a hulk-like specimen. The redear was over 2, and the bluegill was 1.5....soon to be two-pounder. Probably by October.

Gotta love those forgotten farm ponds.

Jim
These shiners that I thought were white pearch are in a huge swamp which was created by a rail bed that has been given up and made into a walking path. There is a bridge with a dam under it on the lake side of the bridge I catch seeds, gills small pearch, Bullpout and Crappies on the swamp side of the bridge all I have caught are these huge golden shiners. I have got to take my fly rod these shines will bite any thing thate is thrown out there. They run from 6inches to 11 inches.

Jim- Glad to see the new issue of In Fisherman with your welcomed article on Bass fishing with Gills and Shiners and North East shore fishing...being from New Jersey I was interested to say the least.You write very well and I will be sharing this article with my closest fishing buds! Ya know I've only caught three 5 LB plus Bass in my life and one was from shore with a Bass Pro floating worm ..but it was in October not the spring which is interesting!

Hey Jim, I've had some real nice mounts done for me by Advanced Taxidermy out of Ontario, Canada. They can be pricey at times (but well worth the money) and if anyone would have that size replica for Perch, it would probably be them! I don't think you'd be disappointed as they do some of the finest work I've seen!!

The Bream, Hybrid bluegills and shellcrackers are on, my son has been having good luck catching fish, he's nine so he's almost to the point where he doesn't need to much help.
Still waiting on redhead/black jigs? The sample package all I got to keep was a couple of the bluegill hair jigs. My son put the rest in his box, so I'll keep you posted.

Nope Jim, sure didn't weight them. We released them while on the water. The one she is holding and not smiling(Laugh) was caught last summer, late summer. The plan is to find her on a bed and she if she touches the Mn record. I think she will! I have hunted big bass and gills up here since I was a kid and have become somewhat sucessful. Thanks for the comments!

Jim
Last night I did finally catch some white pearch. But that is not the story or question. I had hooked a small fish and was reeling it in with a ultra light outfit when all of the sudden i thought ihad snagged bottom. To make a long story short a good pike had grabbed that fish it held it for about 2-3 minutes Ihat fish was in control of the whole situtation I could do nothing but apply a little pressure. It finally let go of the small white pearch. When I landed that fish you would not believe the damage that pike had done. Ok now I know where to catch some impressive goldenshiners, I have an idea where impressive pike may be how do rigg a 10inch shiner to use for bait.
I am starting by digging out my old 300 mitchel useing 15lbs line steel leader ok now what?
Also after catching the whitepearch I would not trade them for the fight of a good gill.

Hey thanks man

Thanks Jim. This site has made it fun to bring the camera and attempt photography.

Thanks. Really nice group of people here. Happy Memorial day. God bless all you vets!!

I agree with Mr. Torres. I was comming to comment back but I got stuck at the pictures slide show! haha. Fishing has kinda slacked off. They keep letting the water loose from up north and its got everything messed up right now. Believe it or not. from mid may till almost June is our dead months. All the fishies are in the woods from the rivers flooding our creeks. Its pretty dangerous on the creek with all the timber floating in and out so ive been takin my time. A poor man like me cant afford a new lower unit every year. Tops are floating and constantly shifting so the fish have moved off to points and stump structure. I blew up my electronics a few weeks ago so now its super hard to find the underwater structure that I like to fish. Ive been dropping 1 ounce weights on rod and reels and draggin for snags to fish. We have caught some nice fish but just not nice numbers. Well not for me any how. 30 gills 8" is a good day for 4 or 5 hours and were doin about 15. July is rite around the corner though so be ready for some big stringer pics. Rite now Im focusin on the last of the tomatoes and gettin ready for my pea patch.

Take a kid fishin!
Mayo

http://www.alabamagameandfish.com/fishing/crappies-panfish-fishing/AL_0507_02/index.html

Thought you might like a good read on my areas fishing. Its an old artical but it still holds true. Check it out when you get a chance. Yea focus on the acreage of water that I have to fish to find gills! haha. MIND BOGGLIN!

There are blue cats in some of the rivers down here, but I don't really spend much time going after catfish. You are right about Flatheads eating a lot of sunfish. The lake those two were caught in has very vew decent sized bluegill.

JimJ Took your suggestion and used a golden shiner for bait It worked real well 4.5 pound bass my wife caught

Hey Jim, Sorry so late gettin back to you about the Yaks. I'm definitely using my Yak and I have the SIN type. I really like it and I feel that I sneak up on the fish better with it, than I ever could with my Jonboat!! I think the SOT type would do fine as well!!! If you decide to get one, I think you will really like it!!! Tight Lines!!!!

Hey Jim, Thanks for the kind words on my Sunfish!!! I was able to get into a group of nice ones yesterday evening!!! I caught, photographed, and released all the ones in the photos!!! They were big bruisers and what was truly scary is that I had 2 others pull drag on me all the way down to a sunken brush pile where they broke me off!!! They had to be Monsters and they were definitely BIG Sunfish by the way they fought...My 4 lbs line just wasn't enough for those TANKS!!! Maybe I should move up in line class but I'm afraid that the bigger line size will "spook" the larger sunfish!!! Any thoughts!!!??

yeah man definitely join it. Just went fishing for cats today in the rain with only one catch.. Still fun though

Hey Jim, Fireline Crystal is a great line!!! Haven't used it recently but it is still an awesome line in my opinion!!! I've been using PowerPro Braid 5 lbs test this year for the first time with 4 lbs Vanish fluorocarbon leader with good success...However, the other night I was using my Cherrywood which is spooled with just the Vanish when that big Freighttrain of a Sunfish hit and Bulldozed me into the Brushpile....I mean he hit, I set the hook, and drag squeeled for about 3-5 seconds and then it was Game Over and Knockout by the fish!!!! I never even knew what hit me!!!! It seems like a pretty good spot and believe it or not, I've only fished it from shore, never from my Yak or from boat....Hope to get out in my Yak and explore that area further this weekend!!!! Have heard that there are some nice Gills in the same area but seem to mainly catch the P-Seed Hybrids!!! Lotta fun though!!!Will keep ya posted!!!!

Hey Jim, It looks like I found a good location that has some nice RedBreast Sunfish in it!! Apparently the RedBreasts can grow to be some real Bruisers too!!! Many of the other fish are Gills, RBreast x Gill Hybrids, RBreast x P-Seed Hybrids, P-Seed x Gill Hybrids!!! Some of the locals are telling me that they've seen 15 inch Sunfish come out of this area (I wanna believe it...but I just don't think that's possible as we're talking probably beyond most State Record proportions and measurements!!???) Anyway many of the RedBreasts, P-Seeds, and Gills appear to be parading their Spawning colors!!!

Thanks for the info. That was a great artical you wrote in the In-Fisherman Magazine. It fit my question so well. I normaly fish one or the other not both at the same time. live and learn I guess.

All of the fish in my pictures came from lakes with public access in central minnesota. The big guys and girls were off of spawning beds that took me years to locate and timing is crucial to get the giant females because they come and go from the beds quickly. I release them after a few photos in the areas I catch them so they can finish the spawn.

I think I may learn something here. Thanks Jim. I'd shake your hand if I met you.

hey this is josh holley and I'm really interested in your favorite technique so could you send me some pictures of several different combinations

Thanks for the kind words, Jim! Yes, the bluegill I have mounted is a skin mount. I have a cool triple bluegill mount that is also skin mounted fish. I will try to get some pic soon!

I readed your article in an In' Fisherman (March 2007). It is very good article! 2lbs+ 'gills are rare and freak fish that I agreed that doesn't mean I will stop trying. Looking forward to read your future articles!

Hey Jim, Lake Champlain is an incredible fishery with some very good fish in it!!! Let me know if you get a chance to fish it---you'll have a real blast!!!

I was reading infisherman mag and just wondered if you were part of the Gronaw fish slayers I was reading about?

No Jim these are not spawners. These are Lake Michigan perch which run very large on the most part due to their diet of alewifes.They are very temp sensitive and light sensitive though.Your in Michigan,right.I am suprised that you haen't caught any of these.
Here in Wi it's closed during the spawn but not in Ill,I dont know about Michigan.I did post a blog about the technique I use to catch them.Many guys use alewife imitating jigs but I prefer bigger bait for the bigger fish anythin I catch under 10" goes back andmore times than not anythin 15" or better goes back for spawning purposes that would change if we started catching them every cast like I used to when I was still a very young boy.That 14" weighed about 2 to 2.5 lbs my biggest ever, I have caught longer but not heavier.Still waiting for that 17" to 18".They are going to taste great in a fry this upcoming week.Tight Lines Brother.Jusat wish I could catch gills as well as I can catch LM perch.Check out my page, if you live close to any great lake, the technique should work for you that I outlined there.

Jim didn't know you wrote for In-fisherman.One of my fav fishing mags,didnt pick up the current issue but I did look through it and saw your article.Wish I had enough knowledge to get by writing articles for fishing mags.

Great page! I'm glad you mentioned using a carolina rig when the
gills go deep. It gets very hot here in the summer and a carolina
rig is standard for chasing big gills with bait.
tight lines