82 Days on the Albemarle.........a view from the Bluegill Chariot

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I decided on a recent trip that I would look back and reflect on a few of the memories of the 2013 season to date....If you have followed me at all on BBG you know that I traditionally count down to Good Friday as this usually marks the end of Winter and our water temperatures begin their slow crawl toward the 60s as we wait impatiently for our beloved Coppernose gills to become active..........Within 75 miles of my residence I have 12 river systems and over 50 creeks that regularly produce quality bluegills which I label as 10" or greater....When It's time to tear April off my calendar I get the chills knowing that May has arrived again and my three best months of the year are finally here.......I have checked every pole twice, retied again and again, put the battery tester on a half dozen times and written list after list to prepare for this moment, as the next 82 days will be a blur on the Albemarle........I have settled down in recent years so that I can really enjoy these moments with friends, family and gills.......I read in a local study that the grass shrimp hatch is one of the best ever and many may think, "well I'll never get a bite with all that forage in the rivers", but I think just the opposite.....it's very important to match the hatch and to fish with live grass shrimp and baits that resemble them.......Of course Doug has nothing to worry about at the local bait store as I have still been responsible for the purchase of 86 tubes of crickets since the first of May....A few local ponds near my neighborhood are producing quality grass shrimp and I go every couple days to fill up my aerated buckets with new specimens.....It would be abnormal to not hear the hum of dueling aerators in my garage this time of year.......I have big plans this season as several new anglers will join me on the Bluegill Chariot including friends from BBG.com and my grandsons also join me for the first trips for us together from a boat.....Twelve anglers fish with me during this 82 day period and 11 of them catch at least one personal best...It's both exciting and rewarding to provide friends and family with this great opportunity that is fishing........Folks from as far away as Louisiana join me in coastal North Carolina to pursue the big gills of the Albemarle.........During this period we experience three full moons and all are very productive and predictable........We have been unseasonably mild through April and the forecast is for more of the same in May.....But I have so many bugs and jigs to try and so little time to get it done......testing is fun and you never want to tell a guy or a gal that their  bait doesn't catch fish!  But when great imaginations are coupled with my bluegill addiction, big things can happen and in the days ahead I will document 82 days on the Albemarle Estuary between the first of May and the 21st of July..........2013 has been special as I have already topped 1,200 Crappie and 4,100 Sunfish.........If you get one thing from this blog, just remember how important it is to enjoy fishing for what it is and indulge in the memories as they happen....it creates bonds that are not easily broken if ever! Thanks to all the guys and gals that have got out with me this season and allowed me to share my addiction to the beloved Bluegill......I'm too old to change so you can rest assured that I'll be somewhere chasing gills or preparing a feast of those mouth watering fillets........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I called my friend Don up in Hampton, Virginia and told him the bite was picking up but the forecast for tomorrow included a 50/50 chance of scattered thunderstorms but I was willing if he was.....Don said sure and we met at Hardees for a biscuit and some rise n' shine coffee on the morning of the 18th......We started on the Pasquotank river but ended up fishing for a little while on the Little river too.....Here's what it looked like.....

After an hour wait at the launch for passing storms Don caught his personal best Gill......a Toad!

Here's a close-up of Don's monster......

We had wind and sprinkles and the bass were very active.......A line of storms chased us back to the launch and I suggested relocating to the Little River to get out of some of the wind....

We were there no time when Don snagged a nice largemouth........

The sun popped out for awhile and the gill bite picked up......

We fished on despite rumbling thunder and minutes later it was too late and we were trapped in a toad strangler.......This time we called it a day but we had a good time.....

An awesome daily double as we start to dry out.......

More quality gills on a shaky weather day on the Albemarle......

We fought the weather all day and salvaged several hours of fun.....wound up catching 71 gills, 9 Crappie, 4 Largemouth along with one each Yellow and White perch......good times! 

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

The forecast for the 17th of May was awesome so I packed up my gear for a trip to the North River.....a favorite destination of mine in the remote Dismal Swamp......Had a nice crop of live grass shrimp and crickets to tip with on this trip......This is how it turned out.....

The gills were pounding the Splash Jig tipped with live grass shrimp right out of the box.......

It got exciting early and stayed that way for several hours.......

21 Gills of at least 10" made this trip very exciting....

Had some beautiful gills today and I released them all for another day.....

Also caught seven nice Crappie today also.....

 The bass anglers should be happy.......the bite is frenzy like and I landed six of them on live grass shrimp....

This river has great numbers and true quality fish.....Also the location that the North Carolina state record Yellow Perch was caught.....

What a great time.....May always rocks in this region of the state......

Wound up with 81 gills, 7 Crappie and 6 Largemouth Bass..................really fun trip! Releasing the rest of today's gills.....don't mind holding them when the water is colder.........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

The forecast for the 15th of May called for stiff winds from the southwest which serves to raise our water levels and air temperatures in the Albemarle so I decided to hit the Little River and find some spots that I could hide from the 15-20 mph winds and this is how it went........

Water temperatures climbed overnight but first fish out of the gate was a nice Crappie....

But the gill action was hot and quality fish came early........All fish were released on this day....

Had 13 gills on this day of 10" or more.....a break out day on the Albemarle.....

Today's gills were in transition between staging depths and going shallow.....caught most on bugs/jigs under a float at 18 to 24 inches......

66 of today's 71 gills were Coppernose.......fun times on the Little River in coastal North Carolina.....

Water was moving in today from the sustained wind tides and that helped the bite immensely.......

This big banded Coppernose was big fish of the day and I settled for cpr'ing 71 gills, 2 Largemouth and 2 Crappie....Definitely a Little River luxury!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Well despite the calendar displaying mid May we are still having chilly nights which causes water temperatures to bounce back and forth which ultimately keeps staging fish from completely pouring into the shallows....But that's why they call it fishing and I had another opportunity to get my grandsons out on the "Tank" the afternoon of the 14th of May and here's how it went......

The largemouth bass bite is hot right now and it didn't take long for a telescopic battle and I felt lucky to get her in....

It was Owen's turn to shine and he couldn't get out done by Papa so he too wrestled in a tannic water largemouth.......

A little while later I stuck the pole in Cody's hands and we was very excited when he landed our sixth largemouth of the day....all between 12 and 17 inches.....

With the water temperatures remaining rather cool there are still some nice Black Crappie shallow and we caught two of them today......

Cody caught on to the telescopic thing quickly and wouldn't accept any help......cool stuff.....

The kids were excited to learn that so many species like the bugs and crickets we fish....here a little warmouth took a Silent Stinger from Tooty's collection........

Wound up with 32 gills, 6 largemouth, 2 Crappie and a dink yellow perch....most importantly we got out for some time together in the great outdoors .....They were pushing to go again while we were snapping these last couple photos.....

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Just getting started...this will be alot of fun when I get to June and July....but fishing was great in May so I must be patient!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

My friends from Virginia get the word on the hot bite and they insist on joining me ASAP.....why not tomorrow guys....we'll hit the Little River for some luxury........water has climbed to 75 degrees , remains high and lightly stained.....Air temperatures reach 80 this day and things appear to be ideal for a mid May fishing trip.....

Snagged a couple ice breakers right away and excitement started to fill the Ebbtide as the anglers knew this was a special day.....

Good gills continue to bless this trip and I'm real excited with overcast conditions....

My friend Doc admires a great Coppernose gill he took.....

We see numerous trophy gills on this trip and time flies as we have so much fun.....

We're three hours into today's trip and we are still slamming solid gills on the Little River......

You can tell things are warming up when one of the Dismal Swamp's locals speeds by........

We finally start running low on bait around 11:00 and we have put together a 113 fish trip including 100 gills, 8 Crappie and 5 bass....what a day! Thanks Matt and Doc for a great day on the water!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Well with the bite getting hot.....the Pasquotank River is calling my name and that can only mean one place in early May...the Stables......recent high winds have protected this area and it's bluegill population but I'm getting in there today regardless......water temperatures on the river today are at 76 degrees and levels remain high from prevailing southwest winds......I dream of days like today and what a fishing trip.....here's how it went....

A tipped Cotton Candy convinces me that this was the right move today.......

These guys rarely get very big in my region but are very beautiful fish........

The big males are transitioning shallow and starting to change into their spawning colors...

 One great gill after great gill.....a tremendous amount of fun on the water today......

The pink/red Cotton Candy Silent Stinger was an all star today and I couldn't change......

One Crappie breaks up my 103 gill trip on the Pasquotank on this May Day.....All fish were released as the boys and I just caught a great mess of gills so these got a free pass for another day.....Exciting times are here!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Based on yesterday's success I have a chance to get my grandsons on the Little River on May the 9th and man what an afternoon we had......Water was 75 degrees and somewhat stained and high but I see lots of fish activity along intermediate areas and it turns out to be sunfish......The boys get very excited as I tie on a Brown Bro Bug from Northland and add a grass shrimp........I flipped a coin and Owen goes first and the rest of this afternoon was history.....Here's how it went.....

A Solid Copper snatches up the bro bug right away and Owen sets the hook on our 10 foot telescopic and the day is now official.....

Here's how we fished it today but I went through a handful of jigs as big fish continued to open up the wire hook or break it..........

Big coppers continued to rock the bro bug and the kids were jittery from all the action......

My youngest grandson Cody was very determined to catch his own fish and on this day he did.....he was very excited to catch this one "all by myself papa".........

The Bro Bug and Grass Shrimp combination was deadly on the Little River this day and we continued to catch quality gills for several hours....

A fine North Carolina neighbor was kind enough to snap this picture for me....can you tell which ones are the antiques in this picture...LOL

We had a fantastic afternoon with steady action for a couple hours and wind up with 84 fish including 77 gills, 4 Crappie and 3 Largemouth.......What a blast to share the Bluegill hole with my little fishing buddies!

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Well May the 8th rolls around and it's still very mild with air temperatures in the 70s and the water temperature has reached 73 degrees......brought down some by several inches of rain in recent days which has also stained the Yeopim River just a bit and it's a little higher than normal..... Nobody going fishing with me today so I'm off and running......

Business picks up right away and I'm encouraged by an abundance of staging gills getting ready to push shallow....

Eleven Largemouth Bass jump into the action and all were between 12 and 15 inches.....Fun to catch!

 Splash Jigs tipped with 1" gulp minnows and live crickets is doing the trick on the gills on this day.....

It turns out that this is a real break out day on the Yeopim River and I catch gills up to 10.75" on this trip....

This was my largest gill of the day fishing two to three feet deep in five to six feet of water.......I wind up with 73 fish on this day including 57 gills, 11 Largemouth and 5 Crappie......A real good time and I drive home on old highway 17 north feeling confident that things are picking up some and that's very exciting......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Thanks David and John....it'll be fun to put it togther and reflect on the good times we shared.....it will take me some time to get it all done as I plan to add a week at a time until I get through 7/21/2013....some weeks I fished everyday so that will add to the chaos....but it allows the people I had out with me to enjoy it from a different perspective as well.....appreciate it and hope you enjoy.....