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Post by steiny on Mar 31, 2024 17:30:48 GMT -5
Spent all day Friday and Saturday at the strip pits near Dugger & Linton. Despite windy conditions we managed a pretty nice take of good crappie, gills and redear, cleaned about (50) and threw back a lot of small stuff.
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Post by omegahunter on Mar 31, 2024 18:19:38 GMT -5
Abbie and I got to a pond this afternoon and we were really on the bluegills quickly. Did fine till the wind started blowing and the bite turned off. We left instead of switching to bottom fishing. Couldn't stay long anyway, Easter supper at Mom and Dad's.
Left the bubbler on and threw 2 frozen Gatorade bottles into the cooler. I'll clean them after we get home later tonight.
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Post by esshup on Mar 31, 2024 19:59:47 GMT -5
Abbie and I got to a pond this afternoon and we were really on the bluegills quickly. Did fine till the wind started blowing and the bite turned off. We left instead of switching to bottom fishing. Couldn't stay long anyway, Easter supper at Mom and Dad's. Left the bubbler on and threw 2 frozen Gatorade bottles into the cooler. I'll clean them after we get home later tonight. IF and this is a big IF. If you get a chance, could you take a small cooler fill it full of ice, throw enough water in there just to barely float the ice and toss enough Bluegills in there for a meal and do your cooler with bubbler too on the same trip. Let me know if there's any difference in taste between the way the fish are handled post catch.
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Post by omegahunter on Mar 31, 2024 21:22:45 GMT -5
Bluegills were 8 to 8 1/4" long. No big ones this time.
All bluegills still alive and flopping when cleaning started at 9:30. Fish were in there 5 to 5 1/2 hours.
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Post by beermaker on Apr 1, 2024 5:41:46 GMT -5
Went to a new property Saturday and kept 18 crappie and one bluegill. The crappie were 9"-12" and very healthy. All were caught from the bank using different color curly tail jigs and a plastic minnow. The minnow and white jig seemed to attract the most attention. I caught these in about 90 minutes.
I can't wait to get back to this place again. The pond is (according to the owner) about eight acres and full of fish. He owns or leases land with five other ponds. There is good bank access to this one almost all around and the surrounding vegetation is well established. It should stay clean after heavy rains. I've studied the other ponds via Google Earth and I'm anxious to visit two of the other ones.
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Post by steiny on Apr 1, 2024 8:13:10 GMT -5
Bluegills were 8 to 8 1/4" long. No big ones this time. All bluegills still alive and flopping when cleaning started at 9:30. Fish were in there 5 to 5 1/2 hours. Anytime I keep fish to eat, we have a cooler of ice in the boat and fish go straight on the ice when caught. Chilling them down firms them up and makes them easier to clean, plus keeps the meat in good shape.
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Post by omegahunter on Apr 1, 2024 8:20:43 GMT -5
Bluegills were 8 to 8 1/4" long. No big ones this time. All bluegills still alive and flopping when cleaning started at 9:30. Fish were in there 5 to 5 1/2 hours. Anytime I keep fish to eat, we have a cooler of ice in the boat and fish go straight on the ice when caught. Chilling them down firms them up and makes them easier to clean, plus keeps the meat in good shape. I just use the livewells when on the boat.
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Post by steiny on Apr 1, 2024 14:17:24 GMT -5
I use livewells at times too, but spend all day on a boat catching fish when water temps start rising to 60 degrees and above and by days end a lot of the fish in livewell are dead and floating. Hasn't killed me yet, but I suspect the quality of fish would be better if they went directly on ice.
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Post by omegahunter on Apr 1, 2024 14:21:44 GMT -5
I use livewells at times too, but spend all day on a boat catching fish when water temps start rising to 60 degrees and above and by days end a lot of the fish in livewell are dead and floating. Hasn't killed me yet, but I suspect the quality of fish would be better if they went directly on ice. I didn't have trouble keeping fish alive till it got over 85° last year. Then I just started dropping in a few 20 oz bottles of frozen water into the livewells. Kept them alive just fine, but I also shut off the drains and used recirculation a few times. Frozen bottles were keeping my diet cokes cold in the meantime.
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Apr 2, 2024 11:34:08 GMT -5
Fishing, watching turkeys strut in between showers this morning.
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Post by deadeer on Apr 2, 2024 12:38:22 GMT -5
Fishing, watching turkeys strut in between showers this morning. Cant get any better than that!
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Apr 8, 2024 15:58:31 GMT -5
Fishing has been awesome since February. Today was the day to fry up some of those cold water bluegills and watch the eclipse.
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Post by beermaker on Apr 9, 2024 4:54:56 GMT -5
Bluegills were 8 to 8 1/4" long. No big ones this time. All bluegills still alive and flopping when cleaning started at 9:30. Fish were in there 5 to 5 1/2 hours. Anytime I keep fish to eat, we have a cooler of ice in the boat and fish go straight on the ice when caught. Chilling them down firms them up and makes them easier to clean, plus keeps the meat in good shape. I agree 100% Cleaning cold fish is way less messy as well.
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Post by steiny on Apr 10, 2024 7:25:35 GMT -5
Caught a nice mess of crappie Sunday and another decent mess Tuesday. They have been biting good each trip, just about ready to spawn.
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Apr 14, 2024 12:46:04 GMT -5
About 1/2 hr of fun once we found them. Two foot of water. Worms. Females full of eggs. Lost several. Dad’s first time out this year. Getting the rust knocked off still.
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Apr 14, 2024 18:46:22 GMT -5
So fun this morning, went back and caught some more in 15 mins. Fishing is on fire. Get another batch in the morning and scout for a turkey.
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Post by beermaker on Apr 15, 2024 4:43:04 GMT -5
Brought home 32 yesterday after battling the wind for two hours. The wind got so bad that it was not worth fighting anymore. Most were crappie and a few bluegill. All caught on a variety of jigs and color seemed to be the main difference. The female crappie were about to pop.
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Post by steiny on Apr 15, 2024 7:17:09 GMT -5
Caught / Kept 95 crappie in two days fishing with a buddy in southern IL, Lake Egypt on Friday and Rend Lake Saturday. Had to fight the wind Friday but it all worked out good.
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Post by MuzzleLoader on Apr 15, 2024 18:55:19 GMT -5
Not worth a darn this morning. Warm no wind. Tried tonight. Got back in them. Wind and waited for sun to go down. Worms a couple feet deep. Working to have a fish fry this weekend. Bass are on beds.
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Post by esshup on Apr 15, 2024 21:24:23 GMT -5
About 1/2 hr of fun once we found them. Two foot of water. Worms. Females full of eggs. Lost several. Dad’s first time out this year. Getting the rust knocked off still. The round one lower right 5:00 position is a hybrid cross between a bluegill and a redear sunfish.
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