April 2013 Blog Posts (10)

I went to my big bass pond, but I wasn't having any luck on the ole stand by. I could see big bass activity but couldn't seem to catch them. Also, there were bluegill popping the top, but I forgot the fly rod, so I put the chartreuse and peacock herl jig on the jig pole and went at it.  I caught two young shell crackers right off the bat. After that I only caught bass, which shredded the jig. I was still catching fish with part of the tail and no point on the hook. I left when it got too…

With my son's middle school baseball season ending, I actually had some time today to test out a fly that I tied up during the winter months.  Got in from work and loaded up the kayak, grabbed my flyrod and headed to my favorite lake that has a good gill population.  Saw a few surface smacks as I launched so I had a good feeling my fly was going to be met with approval.  Paddled into an area that I knew had beds in the past and rolled out a cast and watched my fly land with a soft splash. …

a drop of glue

next place your ring over the glue and place the string end in the glue

make your wraps to the end of the ring legs…

Today my little brother and I fished our neighbors pond and got into a few bluegill, crappies, and largemouth, but fishing was slow so we walked down to the North Fork of the Rivanna to see how the "migration" of the warmwater fish into the river was going, fallfish are the only species that winter over in it... My little brother was fishing a 3" white triple ripple grub and caught a baby smallmouth and lost a 15"er within 5 minutes of our arrival. I only caught a couple chubs and fallfish…

The best bluegill bait I have used is wild hog meat. One piece will catch 10  to 12 bluegill. Works for me better than worms or crickets or anything esle

Well, Greetings one and all from Lake havasu City, AZ, home of the London Bridge but who cares about that, the fish are biting and by fish I mean Bluegill.

I went out with my brother yesterday looking for Gills and Bass and found both. For the last three weeks, the Smallmouth Bass have been on beds and are now moving off somewhat. I have been watching my favorite Bluegill hole and I can tell you this much, it is not on the lake but is on the Colorado River just above the lake and is…

It's only mid April, but it's been good so far. My girlfriend got me a fishing kayak for my birthday!!!!! And i also received some flies from Tooty and another fella I bought a paddle from. My Mom also got me some as well, from a husband and wife company called J&M Flies, and yesterday I received an envelope with some flies from Carl Hendrix which i can't wait to try out. I like to call all of these flies my "birthday flies" . The day after my birthday, I went back home to Houston with…

Just wanted to ad a quick blog here for how wonderful bluegill fishing continues to be for beginners and pros alike. This past Saturday, April 13, my son Matt and I instructed a basic fishing class for 10 students at a local retreat facility that has a 4 acre lake on the premises. We had a breezy 60 degree day with bright sunshine and set up the students with 10 ft telescoping poles and bobbers/jig/bait combos for some easy bluegill action. Most of the gang had never caught a fish before,…

I did a casting test on a 6'6" super-UL spinning rod I made specifically for casting very lightweight lures, the rod that I have built for UL enthusiasts who want more casting distance with such lures. I used 2-lb. test on a Shimano 2500, and did ten casts each with a 1/64 oz. jig, a 1/32 oz. jig, and a 1/16 oz. jig, no other weight besides the jig; I used a 1" curly-tail plastic body on the 1/64 oz. jig head, and a 1.5" Crappie Slider plastic body on the 1/32 and 1/16 oz. heads. I…

Despite a prolonged and agonizing arrival of spring, I finally managed to make a decent catch today, but not my beloved bluegills. After several pitty-patty outings of dink gills and stocker-sized trout, I decided to try one of my local bass ponds and hit on a hunch. I had heard from Andrew Ragas of the Fishing Headquarters that a favored early spring bass tactic in the mid-west was to toss rattle baits and keep them at a brisk pace to entice largemouths coming out of hibernation mode.…