Welcome to The Bluegill Pond

Last week a warm, humid evening was adjusted to comfortable by float tubing a large pond renowned for producing big bluegills. Several 7-inch bluegills and an undersized crappie were caught and released before a yellow sponge spider landed in the shade of a backside...

Revisiting an evening's trip this week I enjoyed using a very productive pattern of mine. Here's the recap: A deadfall interrupts a rocky shoreline on one of my favorite streams. A 5-weight rod delivered weedless streamers to the deep edge of the extended tree...

A summer late-afternoon wade trip to one of my favorite streams produced an unexpected surprise. The search for smallmouth bass was abandoned after I was distracted by fish activity on a shallow inside bend. Brightly-colored male Longear Sunfish, often misidentified...

Earlier this week I float-tubed a small pond with great success. Shaded deadfalls held aggressive bass to 15 inches while shoreline weed beds delivered bug bluegills with three measuring a robust 9 inches. All were caught and released on a size-10 chartreuse sponge...

On an evening trip to a nearby reservoir, I was intent on hooking up with largemouth bass but the trip didn't work out as planned. The bass population had a collective case of lockjaw, but green sunfish smashed my deer hair floater/diver aggressively. The green...

I have been deprived of wading streams for smallmouth bass far too long. Every time the streams begin to drop and clear another heavy rain pushes the waters out of their banks again. I've already been pretty pouty about it but that failed to offer relief so a pond...