May 2011 Blog Posts (17)

On 5/29 I checked out a spot at my local crappie grounds lake where people have been catching them by the buckets with live shiners. I saw a group of 3 men there who were getting them with worms.

Seeing where the fish were and some extra space open, I dropped a 2" soft plastic down from a bridge into the weeds where the fish were. Kept on jigging it with occasional pauses like ice fishing. Caught a total of 5 crappie going 3 @ 7", 1 8", and 1 nice 10".

I also…

After all the rain we had in CT during the week of 5/15 and my local crappie fishing grounds being out fished by others, crappie and bluegill fishing were out for the 2 places I've been hitting them at mostly.

On 5/22 I was at the pond where my crappie grounds is and saw 3 nice spots were taken so I went to 1 other spot from shore where 20 yards out there a nice drop off along the edge of river current.

Stuck with digging up worms and letting them sit on the…

Here's the first decent photo out there of Lincoln, Nebraska dentist Bruce Condello with a 3 lb., 1 oz. bluegill caught two weeks ago at Richmond Mill Lake in North Carolina.  The fish took a 1/16 oz. Road Runner, with a black body and green tail.  The fish was released and still swims...ready to be captured again.  A story will be published in Pond Boss…

     Did you ever get to a new campground only to find out they do not have a place to clean your fresh caught batch of bluegill???? ( Happened to me)

Now you have to find an alternate. You can use a board on the tailgate of your truck, which is fine, but unless you have a monster truck that can be hard on your back!!! Picnic table works but,  for obvious reason that…

On Friday I hit my favorite bluegill fishing ground that is loaded with largemouths too.

The bass action wasn't too good but I was into the bulls.

I covered a good area of most of the ponds on the land. Saw a few schools of bullgills piled up in some areas.

I played with a size 7 rainbow trout Rapala Original Floater and used it as a topwater by giving it a jerk before letting it rise back to the surface and jerking…

Finally posting my first open water bluegill report of the year.

Recently in CT I've been hitting 2 parks that are part of a river watershed.

Thursday 5/12 I was at one of those parks casting a size 6 glass minnow Rapala Husky Jerk. Saw schools of chubby gills around where a brook feeds in. Lightly twitching the jerkbait just under the surface caught me 7 bluegills and 2 dinky yellow perch. All bluegills had a good girth but didn't have the length of a bull.…

I love fiishing for the 1 1/2 pound bluegill for sure but I have been catching catfish and carp lately. Last night my dad finally got some free time off from work so I brought him fishing with me. I set up two 9wt fly rods with wooly buggers on them and a 4wt with a spider for the bluegills. He hadn't caught a fish in long time and I wanted to get him on a good one. The thing was I didn't think that it would be this good, because as we were both casting I heard "I got one, and it's big!" So…

Hi everyone,

Just got back from a one day trip to Lake Barkley in Kentucky (5/10/2011). Despite record high water levels, the fishing was great. Both Kentucky and Barkley lakes are dropping pretty fast, so things should improve even more once levels begin to stabilize. And water clarity in the bays are currently very good, which always helps.

My son Tyler and I spent the day with Jim Doom from "Between The Rivers Guide Service". Jim is a very good guide and an…

Fished the local pond yesterday with Rod Lee.....surface temp was 56 deg. Crappies were ferociously feeding on modified spoons in 3-6 ft....more than 100 came to the boat, most were whites.

The gills were also readily taking the 1/16 oz spoon offerings that were tipped with maniac gizzy bug plastics.....Proof that the spoon does not discriminate, we…

Can you tell the males from the females? Specific markings and colors in your comparisons would be helpfull. Bare with me I was only able to load them as photos so they take up lots of space.

#1 #2 #3…

I visited the South Fork of the Edisto River and Aiken State Natural Area this morning. It was a fresh, cool morning - one of those that make you glad you got up early. Sweeter still is that before long, South Carolina's  summer will be upon us like a weight.... and such mornings will be gone.

The wind was only a breath and the mists were still hanging heavy when I arrived at the river. We have had a lot of rain in the past week and the river was in a pretty good flow. Most…

257 is the winning answer. I created this post way back when so no one would worry about tampering!

4/13/2011 - look for a winner to be announced soon from the (ChicagoFishingSchool website entries too). I will announce some runner-up winners too!!

So I was just out at a four-acre lake I manage, and the owner came up to me and said, "You're gonna kill me..."  So I asked him why, and he asked me what the record bluegill was.  I told him the state record is three pounds for Tennessee.  He showed me his hand and explained that from the tip of his middle finger to his thumb outstretched is 9.5 inches - he said the bluegill he caught a week ago on a white bucktail spinner he was throwing for bass, was ten inches wide - said he couldn't…

Sometimes I just don't understand why other anglers  snicker at the pursuit of panfish. I don't care how much they talk about other species, I believe that panfishing on a consistant level require elements of what the pros like to call 'finesse fishing'. Anyone who has ever gone out for bluegill or crappie in the dead of winter knows it's as much a challenge as any other fish.  I have seen all species of panfish  designated as 'game fish', so that's enough validation for me. And when I say,…

It gives me great and unending pleasure to report that my truck is back in running form again.

Here's a recap of the events:

- First, the broken clutch actuator was re-welded with the transmission in place. It was a crappy weld, though, and broke again after two days.

- Next, the tranny was removed and taken to be repaired, the arm being re-welded properly. In the meantime we discovered one of the U-joints was shot, so we replaced it.

- Transmission…