Hey Jim,  I was going through Google and noticed an article you wrote for "In-Fisherman" magazine entitled "HOOFIN' IT FOR CRAPPIES".   Don't know how long ago you wrote it, but it was very informative.  One of the topics you touched on, was your favorite choice of colors and plastic baits.  One in particular that I noticed, was pink.  I handpour my own 1 1/2" jigs and tubes, and I have "bubblegum pink" dye for the plastic.  Would this be an acceptable pink for crappie?   Please let me know what you think.  Thanks, Nick Holt. 

Thanks for the info Jim.  I'll pour some this weekend and add them to my arsenal.  Nick.

Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you, yes, Marsh Creek is still as good for gills as ever,

Fish the hump down near the dam during the summer months, lots of wooden cribs on the 20 ft hump, small jigs tipped with a wax worm works well.

Thank you Jim, for the kind words ! The size of some of the Bluegills on this site amaze me...

Don Patton

H Jim   John Sheehan said to talk with you about perch. Will you please check out my post on fall perch fishing I would really appreciate any input you might have.

Thanks CHarlie

Come on down - we should have real good fishing for another 4 weeks. Lake is closed on Tues & Weds now - state park, no budget. All you need is air fare (Ontario airport) - you can crash at my house. Could try some night fishing for cats & crappie also.

Need to get Pat & Bill out here - they would go crazy here with the spoons.

I have an appointment this week to determine if another surgery is going to help. I'm still off work for another month.

You can probably get enough stuff for a couple of articles....

Cool - fishing has been really good right now. Losing a lot of jigs, because of the stumps and the reefs we are fishing, but the pay off is worth it. Been catching some big BGs in between everything else. Can't fish crawlers here, for the REs, because you will get CCs and Bass. Been watching the Bass chase trout down. Some guy caught a big striper on Saturday fishing for trout.

I can only fish for a few hours in the morning now and that is if someone takes me - because of the meds I'm taking. Me or Jim haven't fished the late bite in a long time - which I think is better. We caught more big BG in the afternoon.

tight lines & smokin drags

I think YOU took that picture of me, didn't you? :-)

Jim, i have been fishing a lake close to home that has proved itself to have large bluegill and red ear. they have a 15 fish limit on the lake. i am having trouble catching a limit. all of the fish are 10 inches or better that i catch but i cannot find any numbers. the lake is deep with steep drop offs. just wondering if you had any suggestions?

Jim, I too agree that this is a rare body of water. i have no intentions of loading up for a fry, i just want my boy to have a good day on the water. i am teaching him how to cull fish in our pond to manage it for large gills. in my pond and in any body of water i believe that one takes a picture of 10 inches and up. we cull 6 1/2 to 8 inch for a good gill fry. this lake used to be loaded with large bluegill, but they have stocked it every year for the past 15 yrs with rainbows and the panfish are disappearing. we just cannot catch any numbers. 

Thanks for the advice Jim, I do hope my son and I can catch some lunkers this year. I know we will we usually always end up with several 10 +. It is sad that people do not appreciate true trophy size bluegill.. I firmly believe that over tens and over need to be released, hey, I think the smaller ones taste better myself. i am managing my second pond, we just had it put in two years ago, i feed religiously and i already have some really nice gills, but i will not start harvesting any bluegill for another three years. i want to get a good base in there, and i want to grow the monsters i had before. i raise the coppernose here in Ohio. Lots of folks do not believe they will live through a northern winter, but i have had no trouble with the. good luck this year jim catch a trophy or two. i will send you some pictures in the future. nice talking with you James Sampson

Jim, I am not getting into any fish. We went from Unseasonably warm to unseasonably cold. It has been outright frigid at night with heavy frosts for the last week and a half, and temps in the mid twenties. we did catch a few Hybrid stripers out of our pond but that is it. 

Same here Jim, it is going to start warming up this week though. We hope to get into some fish this weekend. Keep fishing buddy and take care.

they are starting to move in to the shallows, cannot wait. how is your wife doing?

Thank you Jim. The lake I went to is special to me and although I know there are lots of big gills there I never connected but instead of letting the day go on with little or no success the Crappies were more than eager to please.Again thank you and I did truly have a blast.GOOD FINSIN to you Jim.

will surely do so Jim.