Well today we took the canoe across the street and started the Annual Blue Gill harvest. Got our first two bags of 32 Fillets. We came up short on a limit of 50 with 32 fish averaging 7.5 inches. Got a couple nice 8.5 inch slabs. They only hit the last two hours of daylight. We messed up by paddling all over the lake looking for fish. They were where they always are this time of year. Right up in the grass in 6 inches of water. Hot baits were tiny tear drops and spike grubs. Pictures of the next trip. It was great to get out again. 18 bags to go then its Pike fishing time. Im also going to get out on Lake Michigan this spring and get some pictures of fishing out there.
I miss the days when catching a mess of bluegills, perch & crappie was just another day. (down in the South) Now just trying to catch a limit of salmon or steelhead in the PNW has been a chore....
I plan on doing some more fishing this year as well. Thanks for the motivational post KF, looking forward to the pics!!!
I packed up two zip lock bags with half the fillets in each bag. Fill with water and squeeze out the air. They keep well like that frozen for up to three years. I am going to try to do a short video of the next trip.
Michigan, Ice is out and the shallow black bottom lakes are warming fast and bugs are hatching.Blue Gills and red eared sunfish move into the shallow lake across through a small creek . The water is much warmer in this black bottom muck lake. They go right into the grass on the edges eating small bug which are hatching from the mud. As the sun starts going down they come out into the little bays and pockets where lilly pads are already growing on the bottom. By June this lake will be unfishable as the weeds and lillys will choke off the entire lake. We have a window from Ice out till about second week of may.
I know when I go up to way dam the rock bass and pike are always hiring hard I wade out around the rocks and down trees and slay them.
We got a limit tonight , 50 bluegills. Lots of nice 7.5 to 8 inch ones. W e also shot some video of the fishing , me and the wife in our 14 foot jon boat. This time we were on our lake on the other side of the creek mouth where it comes into our lake. The big Bull Gills were stacked in there tonight.
We should be fishing every night right now as the bigger Gills are all in close to shore. We got those fish last evening in less than 3 hours. It was a hoot. Froze two packs of 32 fillets and are cooking some fresh tonight.
Fishing is one of if not the greatest survival tactic on the planet. The old saying teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for life.. When we found this house sitting high up on the hill looking down on the lake, 10 acres one way in protected by swamps and bottomless silt , choke points, funnels etc. we had to buy it. I could not find a better location anywhere near here. These lake here are very productive as in all forms of wildlife. Ill say it again. A lake is a pantry. A giant pantry.
You should be able to attach avi files. Most browsers can be tickled into playing them. (I've been wrong a couple times in the past ---)
I had to post it at face book before I could load it here. That is the creek mouth where warmer water from across the road comes into the lake we live on. Use full screen and you can see the wakes from the big Blue Gills running around in there. This video was the beginning of a 50 fish evening . Average size was 7.5 inches on the ones we kept. . Water depth near shore where the fish are is about 6 to 9 inches and we use real small bobbers , 4 pound line and either worms or spike grubs on tear drops for bait set 4 inches under the bobber.
Yanno, sometimes folks over here post things that makes you just want to hate them.....cuz they're doing what you'd LOVE to be doing and doing it successfully. WTG, Kingfisher and wife. Please, more reports and videos Kajun
We ended up with 20 packs in the freezer 30 to 34 fillets per pack which is our self imposed years limit. 300 fish /600 fillets. We have been fishing Brook trout the last few times out. We dont freeze them as they taste best fresh. We will going out next week for Pike and will fish pike until we have 10 freezer packs of 30 pieces. Then we will be on Lake Michigan for early season Coho salmon. After mid June we fish until November for Muskie. I will try and get more videos.