Do you love big bluegill?

November Shore Fishin.Low water

11/4/13 :With wind chill the air temp ranged from low 30's to low 40's. Fished SE end of lake by dam facing the NE wind ,from 10am till 2:30pm .65 fish total ,4 species
SPOT ONE: Best Fish per species ,were 12 " and unbelievably wide Crappie(my favorite fish of the day),10.5" White Perch ,11" Yellow Perch and about an 8" Male Bluegill . Started off with Tandem white Buck tail jig
rig. Immediately caught a Crappie around 11"and a few Yellow Perch .Fingers were cold so I put on mittens over fingerless gloves and searched the shore line for Mussels . Found a huge one .First time fishing with mussels ,worked great ! I tipped the Tandem rig jigs with Mussel bits .My first of three tandems was a Yellow on bottom jig and a white on top . Got two other tandem Yellows later. Experimented, tipping both jigs, and just tipping bottom jig and got several fish on upper jig /untipped , as well as lower jig tipped . Caught 4 species ,Crappie ,Yellow Perch, White Perch and Bluegills .Switched over from white Btails to Chartreuse Btail with 1" Chartreuse twister tails .Kept catching . Switched to and caught a few on the float rig . One Yellow Perch kept for cut bait after no more mussels were found. Perch eye worked great on the float /Jig rig. In the meantime a few casts with a Rattlin' Rap scored zip.
SPOT TWO: Mostly slip floating and the Crappie loved the Squirrel tail/chartreuse twister tail/Perch eye offering . Rip rap with a band of windblown leaves right up against the end of the lake was the ambush point for Crappie and Yellow Perch. Caught about 5 nice heavy and thick Crappie 11" - 13" and then it was all Yellow Perch besides perhaps another Crappie or two . Tried perch roe on tandem rig jigs and caught. the 3rd double came at spot two. A few fish caught on 10th oz. Thunderbolt spoon tipped with perch stomach or flesh. All fish released but I may regret that !

Rating:

Currently 0/5 stars.
1
2
3
4
5

View Full Size

Tags:
Albums: Fall Bite, Summer 2013

Comment

You need to be a member of Bluegill - Big Bluegill to add comments!

Join Bluegill - Big Bluegill

Comment by John Sheehan on November 6, 2013 at 6:49am: You have the right attitude ,Ken and Tony ! BTW I'm getting a kick out of the conversation and good nature coming off a post of a slimy ,gobby shell fish pic !

Comment by Tony Livingston on November 5, 2013 at 7:53pm: Man, I've been there myself Ken...and undoubtedly will be again! Keep at it, and remember what you learned from this outing.....You figured out what didn't work today, now you're better informed for the next time you encounter similar conditions!

Comment by Slip Sinker on November 5, 2013 at 5:46pm: Cold water and no fish... I got skunked! I could not find them even with the depth sounder! These low to mid 40's water temps puts the bgs out deep and tightly schooled. But look what ya miss if you dont go out!

Beautiful scenes like this!

Comment by Tony Livingston on November 5, 2013 at 2:29pm: There is no need to apologize Tooty, for I don't consider anything wrong was said. As you rightfully stated, it's about perception after all, and all of us here see things differently. My idea of what it takes to "earn one's BG stripes" will probably be different from yours, but that doesn't make either one of us correct by any means. I'll bet most of us at BBG have an opinion on what constitutes a good BG angler,. and chances are no two opinions would be the same.

I consider myself a pretty fair BG fisherman, but I don't believe I've earned my stripes yet. In order for me to be satisfied, I need to be able to go to any BOW, anywhere, anytime, in any and all weather conditions, and be able to pattern the fish, and catch consistently. And that's a tall order. But that's the goal that I've set for myself, and those are the standards by which I judge my performance....and I do enjoy it, although I don't have much time to travel around these days....and I do miss that part. But, I hone my skills right here on my own waters, every chance I get.

And I don't mind the practice.

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on November 5, 2013 at 1:54pm: WELL PUT TONY and you are right about learning on here and teaching others what ya know to be true . The only reason I take numbers anymore this year and last is because it has been such lowsy fishing for me lllllllllots of the time.
I will admit I'm a fair weather fisherman cause in the past I went no matter the weather , and caught fish. That was back in the Bass fishing days , before I graduated and went on to panfish as a whole .
Now I really think that anyone who can fish with a bare hook , and catch fish, has really accomplished something on the order of erecting Hoover Dam.

Yup to a new person to the hobby the selections are endless , AND A MONEY PIT !!!! The newest best darn thing that comes down the pike is a turn off to me , but really don't care what anyone else does in pursuit of the hobby.

One thing I have changed this year is throwing all the fish back at the smaller ponds I fish. My reasoning is maybe they will get bigger, especially at Kent's Pond and Doc's Pond. They are small and I was the only guy to harvest fish from both of em last year, but after last years drought here thought it was a good idea to give em a break ....

You of course are right about everyone on here being different and ya really pushed my button about the stripes thing , sorry buddy.......

Comment by Tony Livingston on November 5, 2013 at 12:45pm: I agree David....ice fishing is a piece of cake compared to cold water fishing.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on November 5, 2013 at 12:37pm: I would go ice fishing in a minute and not call it miserable.
Now, freezing, rainy-sleet, windy conditions...that's my idea of miserable.

Comment by Tony Livingston on November 5, 2013 at 12:30pm: No problem Tooty! I personally don't fish for numbers anymore, as it means more to me, and brings me greater satisfaction, to catch one big BG during difficult conditions rather than a couple dozen when the fishin' is easier.

But that's what makes BBG great....everyone of us is after something, or takes pleasure in a different aspect of BG fishing when compared to the next guy. If we all thought the same, it would be a pretty boring world. We may not understand, or even agree with everyone all of the time, but we accept one another for who we are. There's a place for all of us, right here.

I don't like to see folks go fishless either....I don't post much anymore these days, but when I do, that's the main reason.... To try and help folks to become better BG anglers, by sharing what I believe to be the fundamentals necessary to catch big BG.

Baits, bugs, jigs,colors, mono or braid......the list is nearly endless. And it can be confusing, especially to newer anglers who might be bewildered by information overload. My message to those fresh anglers these days, is not to get hung up on that stuff....it's important, sure, but it is no substitute for spending time on the water, learning how BG's operate.

My idea of a good BG angler is someone who can travel anywhere there's BG's, and put em' on the bank or in the boat. And I think that's about 85% skill and experience, and 15% what's tied on the end of the line.

You know what they say....one man's hobby is another man's passion.

Comment by Earl W Story on November 5, 2013 at 12:29pm: I'm finding myself fishing less and less in miserable conditions as the years roll by. I'll fish some in the winter if the weather isn't wet and icy. I've done the ice fishing thing in Idaho and just couldn't get into sitting in an outhouse staring at a small hole in the ice. Out in my boat with the sleet flying and losing feeling in my fingers. Breaking skim ice on a boat dock to get a jig in the water. Fortunately, here in my area there is only about 6 or 8 weeks of really nasty weather in the winter. So I'm not really shut down all that long each winter.

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on November 5, 2013 at 11:40am: NO NO JOHN AND TONY , NO ICE FOR OLE TOOTY!!!!!!!! SHOW US SOME SHOTS OF MISERABLE WEATHER FISHING TONY !!!!!!!!! IT'S ALL PERCEPTION BUDDY..... Some folks like me don't like to fish Ice for a number of good reasons. #1 for me is slipping and falling on the ice, I already have enough back and neck issues to suit a normal person for life. Don't need that.. #2 Even if I could go I wouldn't because I'm afraid of falling through and not being able to get back out , HYPOTHERMIA COMES TO MIND HERE.....#3 RECLINERS ARE MADE for old foggies like me to while away the winter thinking of spring and warmer temperatures...

Now onto my only exception I'll take with ya Tony : STRIPES EARNED AS A BG PERSON ........NOW I PERSONALLY DON'T BELIEVE I HAVE TO EARN MY STRIPES , SO TO SPEAK , or anyone else on here for that matter. I earned my stripes in the Marine Corps 1967-1971. This is just a hobby for me and not a vocation .

My bluegill stripes , if you will ,were won when I started inventing stuff for gills to eat. That was 30+ years ago , and countless bugs later they are still catching fish. Master Jacob Hill , Sir Jeffrey Abney , and a few others on here can attest to my bugs catching fish, and that is all basically that I'm interested in . Don't like to see folk go fishless when they can be catching fish on a bug.....
All of this means nothing I guess , but you struck a cord and pressed the right button for me to respond Tony.
That's just my two cents worth ........ Haven't intentionally meant to slam anyone Tony and haven't even used any profanity , just observations is all ..........