Welcome to The Bluegill Pond

Fishable weather has been rudely interrupted by plummeting temperatures accompanied by freezing rain, snow, and scattered tornadoes (Yup! Snownadoes!) Deeply immersed in a major pout, I opened my reel bag and began checking the line on each spool. Many anglers use...

This year two consecutive days of mid-60 degree temperatures preceded a warm and very sunny Christmas Day. I was hopeful the sun had warmed the upper layer of the small pond's water and invigorated the fish population. Normally, of course, sunlight is to bass and...

An experienced flyfisher once bragged he had used the same leader for an entire season simply by adding tippet as needed. His rod, reel, and line cost roughly $1300 yet he chose to economize on leaders. Really? The key to fooling fish lies in presenting the fraudulent...

Walking along a high bank above my favorite stream revealed long stretches of clear, cold water seemingly devoid of life. Aided by polarized sunglasses, every rock and crevice was exposed. Gone were the schools of cruising minnows or any evidence of the bass, sunfish,...

A 37-degree afternoon deteriorated into a 27-degree windchill by steady 20 mph wind gusting to 30 mph that sent me into the protection of a bluff-shielded pool. A small spring branch created by a slow eddy that extended over a deadfall and rock-infested flat. The area...

The rapid onset of winter weather has slowed the warmwater fishes' metabolisms. In the hope of locating river fish that have entered spring branches to feed, I waded into a familiar spring pool with a constant 54-degree water temperature and began casting down and...