Welcome to The Bluegill Pond

Recent rains have rendered area streams unfishable, and with several cold, rainy days in the forecast, I embraced a small pond trip as my only fishing option. The day was sunny and warm, but a 20 mph wind with stronger gusts posed a challenge. Turbulence from the wind...

Two 60-degree days generated the hope of locating some active bluegills in a small pond. The water was still chilly, so I chose a 5-wt. bamboo rod figuring that if the fish were uncooperative, I could at least maximize my enjoyment of casting. I knotted a white...

Three hundred yards upstream from where a spring branch enters the river, it widens into a pool with a large, slow eddy. Recent cold weather convinced me that smallmouth bass had likely migrated from the frigid river into the spring. If that were the case, their...

Years ago, I encountered a man fishing a small creek’s entrance into a backwater lake. When I asked how he was doing, he said he had already put five 5-pound Largemouth Bass on his stringer, which he proudly held up, revealing that none of the five fish would have...

Thick gray clouds were draped over the river valley like wet laundry on a sagging clothesline. I assembled a 7-wt. rod and attached a reel containing 6 i.p.s. full-sinking line. A size-6 Zonker with a silver body, gray rabbit strip wing, and a matching wool head...

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...