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]

Thanks for the kind words Tooty and Dick.......remember you have to fish where quality fish roam......I feel blessed to have so many vast areas, most of which could support an individual's fishing year round but most importantly for my sustained success, I move around and let places recover and selective harvest......I eat more fish than most but I don't eat them all........The hardest thing I do is to skip a particular body of water an entire season.....it about kills me but is proven......Thanks again......Just 19 more days and I'll have the entire 82 days documented.....been a good time to look back and it's almost like dejavu if you will......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Back to the Pasquotank River on the second of July and we had another hot bite and made more memories....Here we go....

I broke the ice on this morning using the olive Gronaw Grass Shrimp jig....

The guys quickly realized that I had the hot bait......

I love it when you can watch gills this size busting up the shallows......this fish is showing the signs of working in the shallows.....

Beautiful banding on this fish and there is more sand in this region than others I fish.....lighter colors as the fish try to adapt...

Another shot of a beautiful fish....this one on a white and blue collared grass shrimp......

Dan was getting tired of taking pictures already.....

Pop whistled and told me the back of the boat still had some life.....LOL

You can't contain Dan especially when he changes baits to the one you're fishing....LOL

Bass with a mouthful.....

Nice side view of Dan's predator.....

I was trying to get Dan back on track with a nice Coppernose.....

This guy was banged up from working the shallows.....

Another awesome gill on a great July morning......my favorite month ......

What beautiful color markings.....

We were experiencing another great morning with 21 gills of 10" or over including this solid fish...

We were wrapping up another great morning when I set the hook and saw a Big and Ugly......

And since I like to use heavy line and baits.....I was able to fight this guy down and get a net on him.....a big old slimy Bowfin for a curtain call.......

We make it back to the launch and I look over at one of the beaches and I'm reminded of all that lives in the Albemarle.....eight foot Bull Shark caught just minutes from this location.......so some of the public beaches/swimming areas are surrounded by protective nets.......Tooty I need a bigger STINGER!

[dick tabbert]

I'll 2nd that Tooty.

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

UNBELIEVABLE JEFFREY !!!!!!!!! LOOKS LIKE YOUR MOM HAD THE BIGGEST ONES !!!!!!!!!!!! BUDDY IF THERE IS ANYONE ON HERE WHO CATCHES MORE QUALITY FISH I'D LIKE TO MEET EM , YOU ARE THE MAN ...........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Finally the peak month on North Carolina's Albemarle........July is here along with heat and scattered showers but the Stables was waiting so we packed up and headed out......Here's how we got July started last year.....

Dan broke the ice and this was a sign of things to come......

Pop snagged a nice one right after that......

Dan and I immediately followed up with a solid double.....

Dan found him a helment head......

The great gills continued one after another on this morning.......

Dan put the pressure on but me and my chartreuse splash jig were determined.....

It was hot and sticky at daylight on this morning......

And I followed that one up with another great gill.....

The average fish on this morning was 9.5"..........

And what do you know.....Dan and I snagged yet another double.....

I was worrying my nephew as my cricket tipped splash jig was rockin'......

This was an amazing day and you can see my jig is paying the price.....paint getting knocked off by these beasts......

A survivor with a healed up gash from days gone by......

It was over 90 degrees at 9:00 a.m. and the fishing was just as hot.....

We wrapped things up with a fish just under 11"..........wound up with 27 gills of 10" or over........which was 1 out of every 4 on this 110 fish morning....throw in some chunky largemouth and July is underway.......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

More storms were scattered throughout the Albemarle on the final day of June and Dan and I held out hope that we could get out there one more time and close out a great month......We only managed to get about an hour and here is how June 2013 finished off.....

Heat, humidity and distant thunder but Dan stuck a good one right away....

I too snagged a good one but the weather was bearing down......

I snagged another and Dan was setting the hook as I took this picture....thunder getting closer.....

Great fish Dan but it was time to pack up as an electrical storm pushes our way......

Here's a close-up of Dan's last fish and we had caught 22 in less than an hour when it was time to blast off before the storm......We ended up with 1,419 gills for June and we're heading into my favorite month in coastal North Carolina......July is going to be fun........

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

We had heavy rains and thunderstorms in the area on the morning of the 29th so we slept in a little while and waited things out.......By noon it had moved through with just a few scattered showers in the area, but Pop decided to pass so Dan and I loaded up my grandsons and headed for the Pasquotank River..... We caught some bruisers and what kids don't like to play in the rain a little.......

Dan got the boys excited right away with a nice one....

Owen was excited with his first gill of the day......

Cody followed up right away and the rains were back on us again.....

The boys took cover under my giant umbrella.....

And it came a "toad strangler" right after.....

No lightning....so we pushed on in pursuit of the gills....

It eased up a bit and we located another pod of good fish.......

Here's a nice hybrid that Dan snagged.....

And on his next cast.....one of biggest Coppernose of the year......what a nice fish.....

Couldn't slow him down after this one.....but more heavy rains were on the way.....

After sitting under a bridge for nearly an hour....we decided to call it and here's Dan's Daily Double for the 29th of June.....

My last fish was a solid Warmouth........

Here's another close-up........We had dodged the storms all day to catch 30 nice gills and the boys had a good time riding in the rain so it was a win-win......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

It was another hot and humid day on the 28th......we decided we would hit the coastal marsh and give it a whirl....we were threatened with a triple digit heat index so we hit it early to see what was going on......

We got on some solid coppernose right off the bat.....made for a fun morning...

Dan said what you can do.....I can do better!

We were on these fish though and what a blast casting to these brutes.....

I had to match Dan....I couldn't let him get bragging rights.....

Pop got into the action too with a solid coppernose......

My favorite species.....such a pretty bluegill....

Dan crushed another big one and let's see it a little closer......

Wow....one of 14 gills over 10" on this morning and we caught 80 in just two hours fishing.....we were heading out before 9:00 to beat the heat and clean the big mess from yesterday.....

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

After inclimate weather on the 26th.......we decided that we would hit my dad's favorite spot on the 27th of June......so we packed it all up and headed out to the North River for a wonderful trip....It was a hot and humid day so we got out there early and things picked up right away......Here's a few shots of how this trip went.....

With deer flies swarming.....we got it put in just after first light and headed out to the proving grounds...

We ran 15 minutes and settled down at a favorite spot......

Pop was hot early and made sure Dan knew it....

I added fuel to the fire when I landed a solid coppernose....

Things picked up quickly and the shallows were boiling with activity....

Dan snagged a nice one and I too set the hook for a quality double.....

Another quality gill on a filament jig from the River Critter collection......

These flooded cypress are very productive for multiple species but especially those bullish coppernose......

Dan and Pop snagged our next double....

They display a couple nice ones......

I didn't want to be left out.....

A bluegill sanctuary....

Just a beautiful place to face the beloved bluegill.......

Easy to get lost in these parts.....everything looks the same......this was on the way out after a very productive morning...

We took the opportunity to get ready for our big 4th of July celebration fish fry.......caught just short of 150 and cleaned 90......

Dozens of the largest fish were released and a solid creel of 8 to 10 inch class gills hit the fryer....

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

Pop rested again on the 25th of June so my mom decided to join us on another hot summer day on the Pasquotank River.........We had a great time fishing together and here's a few shots to show you how this morning went.....

Dan got out of the box early with a nice Coppernose....

Here's a closeup of Dan's first fish.....

Mom checks out a nice one and is ready to get in on the action.....

First I snagged another nice one......

It was time to stick Dan behind the camera early on this trip......

Dan snagged a nice Flier.....

But now it was Mom's time to shine and she stuck the big gill of the day.....

And what a great Coppernose it was......

Meanwhile Dan was back at it.....

All that pressure coming from the back of the boat......I had to get another to quiet them down.....

My fish in my right hand and Dan's in my left........who's the boss!