Welcome to The Bluegill Pond

One of my favorite stream sections empties into a large reservoir three miles away. Weeks of river flooding delayed trips there and apparently altered the migration habits of some species. Initially, hopeful of encountering bass, I cast some large streamers without...

Intense heat accompanied a wet-wading trip to a favorite smallmouth stream. A huge gravel bar near the bridge access hosted sunbathers and swimmers that I bypassed to wade downstream. My 5-weight propelled a yellow Bully Spider toward the rocky shoreline. The third...

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...