Welcome to The Bluegill Pond

The wild sounds of hundreds of geese dominated the river valley as I crunched along a gravel bar toward a favorite pool. The river widens where a spring branch enters, delivering a year around infusion of 54-degree water. Just below the spring’s entrance is a deep...

The stream thermometer read 53 degrees as I entered the clear water with a 5-weight rod and intermediate sinking line. The only sound was the rattle of dry leaves as they raced across the gravel bar. I knotted a size-12 North Fork Nymph to the 4X tippet and cast down...

Cool evenings demanded a return to waders and the comfort of a favorite flannel shirt. Both caused smiles while walking downstream on long gravel bars past a pocket water summer hotspot to a deep bluff pool in search of smallmouth bass. A Bald Eagle glided silently...

Cooler weather has prompted crappies to migrate from area reservoirs into the streams that feeder them. The purpose of their move is to feed heavily before returning to the lakes for the cold water season. Approaching a shaded pool with two deadfalls draped into its...

Excessive heat and a prolonged drought dramatically changed my favorite smallmouth stream. The water was low and clear with a sluggish flow. While there were fewer places for the fish to hide, I was concerned that the elevated water temperature would cause the fish to...

A Great Blue Heron squawked in annoyance as it took flight, prompting the sun-bathing turtles to slide from their deadfall perch into the still pond. I maneuvered my float tube into the shade of bankside willows, and the 8-weight rod sent a purple/pink size-2...