This is the home of the
Mince,
these little guys only come out at night and their
favorite pastime is stealing bobber's and hanging
them in the trees on the edge of lakes and rivers.
They make excellent Mince Meat Pies and the best
time to go Mince hunting is at night. The best places
to find them are in the woods adjacent to water.
January,24,2017 finally
got out ice fishing and it was all work, there is 12-15 inches of ice +
5 inches of slush under 6 inches of snow. Fishing was ok but size was
way down on Horseshoe Lake compared to last year. A lot of fishermen
came in through the campground last winter plus campers there later
never stop at their limit. I would say it is being well over fished and
no at the campground really cares just bring them money.
DECEMBER,1,2016 Deer season is over and from hat I hear
not a lot of bucks were around. I as lucky and got a spiker so at least
we have some venison inthe freezer for a change. We took out the back
straps, tenderloins and ground the rest into hamburger. Here's a
tip............. get some beef fat and mix it into the venison at 15%
ratio and you'll have the finest burger you ever ate. There is a story
to this spiker I shot, Unusual hunting tale this year. My hunting partner missed a spike buck
and we could only find a few tuff's of gray hair in the grass where he
was standing and no blood. We searched the timber for awhile to no
avail. About 4 days later I shot a spike buck in the same field and it had a split in the hide on it's back and it's spine was showing. Same buck and he should have been paralyzed when John hit him.
To top it all off he showed up on my other partners web cam a couple of
times with a 6 pointer and you can see the crease in his back in the
photos. We hadn't checked the cam lately before this because Russ was
hunting with me. This just proves the point that deer don't go much out
of their square mile like the biologist say. We are allowed to hunt over
bait in MI and we bait 30 yards in from the Timber and he was sneaking
his way over to the baited area. He ran about 50 yards into the timber
before folding ( a lung shot.)Low and behold he had a spot of hide
missing about 1 1/2 in. in dia. and thespine
was exposed. You would think that it would have parlized him but
apparantly it was just close enough that it just split the skin.
SEPTEMBER,9,2016 Summer has faded and the
bluegill fishing was pretty good this year once they went deep. The
hunting season is fast approaching and it doesn't look very good. I
have yet to see a doe with fawns and only one dry doe is coming into
the yard. The lack of deer is having an impact on the gouse and rabbit
numbers because the Coyotes and Wolfs need meat and with the lack of
deer they appeared to have had a big impact on young grouse and
rabbits. We have not seen any young grouse and haven't had rabbit in
the yard in 3 years. The predatores have to eat..........
JUNE,6,2016, Finally got out fishing last week and it was super,
the males were srting to work into the shallows looking for a place to
build a nest. We were throwing small artificials while staying about 50
ft off shore to keep from spooking them. The spawn in the females was
still hard and the males were not peing yet. I should have checked the
water temps but we know we are 2 weeks behind on everything else. Two
very good friends of mine came to fish with me and us old farts made
the best of it. We had to throw back at least over 100 Bluegills and
small Bass, we kept a dozen for a meal ot have with a few beers.
April,2016,
Spring is 14 days old and
we have 5-6inches of fresh
snow on da ground
today.............. this
sucks. The ice on most lakes
is un-safe and it is too cold
to work out side so not much
of a cure for cabin fever is
in sight.
January,2016, Hopefully
a much smoother year than last
but I'm not really complaining
as I am still vertical.
The ice has been iffy but
should change today with zero
weather finally here. This
year I am going to try our own
lake which is right out the
back door and a short walk
down the lake. I haven't used
my large Shappel pop up
shelter for 2 years now, it
fishes 4 with room to spare (
105"x105") and with the heater
on it is very summer like warm
and comfortable. The only
thing I don't like about ice
fishing is that when the gills
are biting every Tom Dick and
Harry comes out and they don't
care if they rape the lake or
not. The biggest predator of
fish are these fishermen that
only fish Bluegills when they
are easily accessible like ice
fishing or when they go on the
bed's. The State of Michigan
is DNR has fallen far behind
states like Il, MN and WI by
not imposing lower limits like
10 Bluegills a day, then they
increase the possession limits
so it is worth while for
fishermen to make a trip
worthwhile. BS it is to
increase tourism for small
business owners. Here in the
U.P. most lakes are over
fished when compared to
Wisconsin and Minnesota where
the fishing is a lot better,
you can't even argue that MI
fishing is better because it
isn't.
October,20,2015,
Did the summer go fast, too fast. Had a
lot of medical issues this year but all fixed
now and hopefully they all stay.
WIRELESS INTERNET
I haven't a lot to blog about except my great
dissatisfaction with my internet connection. I
tried the 4G thru Verizon but that only lasted
4 days and I had it disconnected because it
used up half of the monthly data 4 Mb of
10 Gb. Then I found out that Verizon converts
all data to HD on a 4Gb connection. I then
switched to satellite internet that advertised
high speed connections, yeah sure. It's
been over a year now and all I can say is most
of the time it is below 5M/sec, you complain
and they want you to un-plug and re-plug the
equipment until it comes faster and 10
min.later it goes back down. My guess is that
they overload the satellite signal badly. For
10 Gb we pay $60/mo. which is ridiculous but
we have no choice. If you use up your
data they will sell you more for
$10/Gb.........Wireless internet sucks and is
not reliable and is for shit when used for
gaming.
June,15,2015,
Finally have this computer back on line
after the board went, now for an update. The
bluegills are just coming off the beds but
there are a few stragglers. We had a super day
a couple of weeks ago tossing artificial's
into the shallows, we tossed back 40-50 of the
9+inches type of male Bluegills. We should
have a good year this year as I saw a ton of
beds and I hope the greedy fishermen don,t
rape them too badly.
April,14,2014, If
our (Koch Puppet) Elephant Governor's new 7%
sales tax and gas tax bill in MI gets approved
by the voters it will in cost the average
person $424 per year (per Channel 6 report)).
What was your raise this year? The average SSI
increase was only about $335. When Snyder gave
the the corporations and upper 5% a $4.5
billion tax break how come we couldn't vote on
that? They are spending millions on a
advertising campaign showing pieces of
blacktop and hitting windshields and crying
mothers but don't mention that it is suppose
to fill the void left from the big tax cuts so
the budget gets back in the black. Wisconsin
is next...
March,6,2015, Haven't been fishing
for quite awhile now due to the coldest
February on record for the U.P. of Michigan.
Hope to get out a couple of times more if
march co-operates.
February,2,2015, I guess it's been awhile
since I last posted, we have been out a few times
but fishing hasn't been too good since the day we
put the shack out. I have fished another coule of
lakes but it has been slow and only have a couple
meals of gills to show for it. I guess I don,t
have the ambition like I use to have or maybe I
just require nicer weather these days. Cabin fever
must be setting in because I am thinking about the
boat and the head gasket I have to replace on my
30EL Mariner and the trailer wiring harness
installed on our Ford Escape.
December,22,2014, ice fishing is just
starting here in the U.P. We put the shack out on
the ice a week ago and there was plenty of ice "9
inches" which will hold a car. We did catch some
fish too, one Perch and a couple of Bluegills then
we quit to watch the Packers lose to the Bills,
.......... should have stayed fishing. Make sure
that you fish over weeds if you want to have a
chance at catching any fish. Just remember to
release the spawner's over 9 inches.
October,29,2014, well it is time for the
first white stuff as the rains that we have been
getting all year are going to change to snow
tomorrow. if you are planing on some travel here
use caution because the first snow here is usually
bad and greasy as hell because Marquette county
usually chases a snow storm instead of attacking
it like other county's do. if they would pre-treat
the roads before the storm they could save a lot
of accidents and reduce the cost of a storm.
does a penny wise and dollar foolish apply here ?
October,2,,2014,i haven't been fishing for
quite awhile now, in fact since sept. 28 (see
below) a couple of weeks ago I got a spike buck
with the crossbow so we have some venison in the
freezer. I think it will be awhile before we have
any hard ice.
September,28,2014, we had a pretty good day
today on bluegills and also fishing in comfort on
a friends pontoon boat. surprisingly a lot of them
were suspended about 20 ft. down which was also
the magic number for bottom feeders. most of the
fish were 8 1/2 - 10 in. of which we kept 14
with all the rest released for another day.
I was in another bluegill site today and on it
apparently a lot of the members on there get
chickens confused with bluegills because they kept
calling them hens. This is one of my pet peeves
when people come up with stupid classifications
trying to sound like a politically correct fishing
expert , i
have never seen feathers on a fish yet.
while I am at i don't think much about catching
and bragging about pellet fed private pond
bluegills of which most of them are genetically
engineered fish, I consider this nothing but
saying hey I can buy bragging rights, aren't I
good. show me the ones that come from the wild and
are a challenge to catch to get my respect.
september,19,2014 now
confirmed ........... the over
heating problem is cracked head
gasket which more or less ends the
fishing for this year with this rig.
by the time i get the casket for
this "89" marriner which is really a
yamaha the season will be over so i
will concentrate on a friends lake
which is mainly catch and release
but a heck of a lot of fun.
september,11,214 a couple of
buddies came in last monday for some
fishing and a little comaderie with
beer of course. we went to the
greenwood resrvoir on tuesday and
found the parking lot empty which
was the first clue that we might get
skunked. we never had a bite after
3hrs and marking fish in most areas
plus the motor would overheat a
liitle if we worked it so we were a
little apprehensive about staying to
long when heavy winds were predicted
to be coming. We left the lake and
went to big shag before the
afternoon got too short. we had tons
of action on the gills there but
they were mostly 4-5 inch ones and
we ended up with 5 keepers about 7
1/2" .end of the trip for them
because the weather was going to
take a dump the next day which it
did.
September,4,2014 the wife andi
decided it was time to fish another
lake that we hadn't fished yet this
year so we went to engman lake. when
we arrived the lot was full of dnr
vehicles which had taken up all of
the parking area. let's see there
was a ford f-450 diesel with a 30
ft. trailer behind for transporting
the front end loader and the bobcat
loader which were sitting in area.
Ione parking area as filled with and
and the other parking area had a
large tandem dump truck and much
largertractor type truck with 30 ft.
stone hauler behind it. I stppped by
the f-450 to ask the driver where we
should park, and mentioned to him
this must be our new license fees at
work and his response was he was
only following orders. The drive
into and around the lauch really
didn't need stone on it as it was in
great condition before i thought. I
would say a little over kill with 2
men and 5
pieces of equipment to do
a small job like this. after 2
hrs in lots of wind and no bites we
gave up.
august,25,2014 a good friend
and fishing buddy from wisconsin
dale and his wife came up last week
for some fishing and relaxing time.
We went fishing a couple of times
and did very good on the bluegills
but I am not telling where we were
fishing. Dale refused to pay
michigan's high price of $75 for a
fishing license so he bought a 24
hr. license for $10 which he had he
bait shop start at 2:00 pm which
gave him the whole afternoon to fish
and the next day until 2:00 pm. so
if you are planning on fishing in
michigan it is better to split it
over 2 days like 12pm -12pm and be
able to fish 6 days for $30.
August,14,2014 well fishing
has been slow this year with all of
the cool weather slowing down water
temps. Finally we have a
therm-o-clime and can do some drift
fishing. we fished little shag ( use
to be my favorite lake ) a couple of
times and caught just one meal. not
many bluegill left in this lake
anymore due to over fishing them on
the beds and just plain over fishing
the lake by people whom take
everything they catch.
July,14,2014 A buddy from
mercer stopped in for a couple of
days and he likes to fish bluegills
as much as i do so we had a few
beers first then did some fishing.
We took 2 rods with us one with a
slip bobber and one with out. we
never used the slip bobber rig
because they were in about 15 ft.of
water and we found them drifting off
the drop off's with a 1/32 oz jigs
and a small piece of crawler. we
threw back a ton of 7-8 inch
bluegills after keeping a couple of
meals of 81/2 - 9 in bluegills. I
caught one 10 1/2'' male that was
still spawning in 15 ft. of water. I
believe that there is still some
deep water spawning of big bluegills
going on, we released a couple of
females that still had spawn in
them. I finally got the hitch put on
my ford escape so maybe I can get
out bluegill fishing more now since
I am all caught up on my yard work
june,2,2014 summers finally
here .... maybe I and the wife went
fishing last friday for the first
time this spring, we did pretty good
using artificials casting shallow
water for bluegills. They are just
starting to get interested in the
process now and it should be a
couple of weeks before they come on
in full force. we got a chance to
use our new st.croix ps66lf2
fast action rods. They did a perfect
job for us with our light
artificials and 4# test lines, i
hope they work out in the boat as
drift rods too which is the other
reason we purchased them, so far so
good.
May,21,2014 I haven't posted
for awhile and maybe because I have
been waiting for spring to arrive
and wanted proof it has. Cold warm'
cold' warm take your pick it changes
daily. Once and a while I sell an
item on Ebay for pocket money and it
use to be easy but now forget it as
it is nothing but a pain. 20% fees,
1 hour to submit, 1 hour taking
decent pictures, 1/2 hr processing
for the web, 1/2 hr taking item to
shipper plus gas makes it a losing
deal. Then a buyer lies to
ebay and wants a return because it
is not as listed. Buyer said it
doesn't work but on the listing I
posted pictures taken with the
camera before shipping. I listed it
as no returns and no refunds
but ebay declared they could have
their money back and debited my
Paypal account.I did not find this
out until after the fact and Ebay
never contacted me.There is no
concern for the seller whom pays
EBay money and the buyer pays ebay
nothing but has buyer protection.
Kinda fucking dumb isn't it when we
sell on Ebay and make Ebay money and
they shit on the seller.
april,5,2014
again i sit here looking out
the windows at the pole barn
wondering when i can get the boat
out of it and start getting it in
shape and going over all the rods
and reels. I was thinking again
about haveing a forum on 2lbgil for
fellow fishermen to post pictures
and comments which would be great!
but after re-hashing this again I
decided not to as it would be too
time consuming and probably get a
lot of fishermen mad at me because
of how I would eliminate any post
that did not stay on the subject of
just bluegills. I use to frequent a
bluegill site that was great at the
start and there were some great
posts on catching bluegills plus a
lot of different schemes and methods
for putting lunkers in the cooler.
as more and more fishermen joined it
no longer was just a place for
bluegills and lunker bluegill
anymore because people were putting
up bass pictures, cars, boats,
trucks, preaching, personally
insulting people, obscene limits of
bluegill and everything else which
is okay but this is not what I was
interested in or why I had joined
originally. Being a moderator takes
a lot of time and I would rather
fish.
April,5,2014
the last week has been one that
can make a man drink way too much,
just when you think it is finally
going to warm up old man weather
delivers another dose of what he
does best when you think you'll see
the last of him. the yard was
starting to dry out a little where
it was kept plowed. Bang! we get
another 8" of wet snow and so here
we go again.........another
hopefully warm up that stays.
March,20,2014
here it is almost spring and we
are still the same weather as
February and it looks like this
weekend it will get down to zero
again. I think that the f%#$@#ng
Russian's are screwing around with
the weather and shoving the Siberia
winters on this side.
February,03,2014
at least it is getting a little
warmer and we are finally getting
above zero during the daytime. I
hope we get a little relief from the
cold so a person can get outside and
do something and maybe a little ice
fishing. The weathermen say this
cold is going to be here for awhile
and I hope they are wrong like
usuall.
January,20.2014
zero weather coming in again
for the next week, i won't be
getting out on the ice this week so
I need to find something else to
talk about and i have a couple of
subjects on my mind. one is how some
blugill sites like to refer that the
bluegills we catch in the midwest
are northern strain bluegills and
that the florida type of bluegill
"copper nose" is really the only
true real bluegill. In reality the
copper nose is a subspecies of
bluegills that is easily adaptable
to articial conditions like THE
SOUTHERN AREA fish farms and private
lakes and can be easily BE
conditioned into feeding on nothing
but special food pellets to promote
growth for the purpose of commercial
trophy fishing WHICH CAN DEMAND FEES
LIKE $500/DAY TO CTACH THESE 2LB
PLUS GIILS.
FACT - tHE BLUEGILLS THAT ARE CAUGHT
IN MOST BODY,S OF WATERS IN THE
MAJORITY OF THE STATES THAT HAVE
NATURAL POPULATIONS OF BLUEGILLS ARE
THE TRUE BLUEGILLS AND WITH THE
COPPER NOSE BLUEGIILS NO KNOWS WHY
THEY ARE DIFFERANT FROM REGULAR
BLUEGILLS AND ARE SUBCEPTABLE TO
ARTIFICIAL FEEDING CONDITIONS THAT
CAN PROMOTE SUPER GROWTH, WHICH i
MIGHT ADD CANNOT BE USED FOR RECORD
BOOKS.........
wE CATCH BLUEGILLS AND FLORIDA
CATCHES COOPER NOSE BLUE
GILLS....PERIOD.... NORTHERN
STRAIN PEOPLE THAT SAY REGULAR
BLUEILLS ARE NORTHERN STRAIN ARE
JUST DEMEANING TRUE BLUEGILLS TO
PROMOTE THEIR COMMERCIAL INTERESTS.
BLUEGILLS REPRESENT PROBABLY 99% AND
COPPER NOSE ABOUT 1% OF BLUEGILL
CATCHES.
i USED TO BELONG TO BIGBLUEGILL.COM
BUT REMOVED MYSELF 2 YEARS AGO DUE
TO CONFLICT WITH MY PHILOSIPHYS ON
BLUEGILL FISHING.....NUFF SAID
January,17,2014
our zero polar vortex has left
and finally we are getting back to
normal temps. We went out on a
local lake last saturday to check
out all of our ice gear for the
first time this year, there was
approximately 14-16 inches of ice
with at least 14-16 inches of snow
on top!. i needed to try out my new
porter cable 20v drill with the
lithium battery,s, which i was
hoping would do the job with this
much ice. I drilled 7 holes with it
and it was starting to stall a
little on the 7th one. I could
probably have gotten one more hole
if I needed to. I was using this
with my ice master adapter attached
to
the augar part of my 5 inch mora
hand drill. i have to say it was
pretty impressive the way it went
thru the ice as if it were butter,
it only took about 5 seconds to go
thru 16 inches of ice. I kept the
drill braced tight against my left
leg so the torque wouldn't twist my
wrist which it can do easily. a guy
should have a drill with the extra
handle on top. Russ my fishing
partner caught 3 and lost 3 gills
and i had 2 bites and caught a 5
inchr. as i am writing this we dont
have internet because my um-175 air
card went and I am waiting for a new
one to come from Ebay after I used
the neighbors computer to order it.
back on line now .................
january,7,2014 i
hope the weathermen are right when
they say the zero weather will be
leaving us and we are in for a
little warmer temps than what we
have been thru lately. I haven't
been out ice fishing yet but hope
to get out this weekend. I had
some health issues with the heart
but now everything is fixed and I
am ready to go. I heard there is
over 18 inches of ice on most
lakes but we also have a lot of
snow on the lakes which is not
good as it weighs down the ice and
puts slush between the snow and
the ice which can make for hard
walking.
december,7,2013
Deer season is over and with all
of the zero weather that we have had,
the lakes are freezing real good. some
fishermen have been seen on some of
the lakes here but I would use caution
the first time out and fish with a
buddy and carry a rescue rope. we had
had a lot of rain here this year and
the ground water tables are way up and
this is causing a lot of springs to
return to the lakes and the last thing
a fisherman wants to do is step thru
the ice over one. Pay attention !!!
october,31,2013
well the boat is put away
until spring and If I wanted to I
couldn't use it anyways because it is now
a storage bin in the winter for all of the
summer crap after we put away the yard for
the winter. It will be a good 6 weeks
before we can get out on the hard water. I
bought a new shappel ice shack last year
which holds 3-4 people for ice fishing
with room to spare. I have a few rod
reports to make on my new St Croix rods i
boughht last spring and gave a real test
on them.
So now i am concentrating on deer season
which starts november,15th. We have been
baiting our spots since October,1rst and
it doesn't look real good this year
because we have seen very little sign and
fewer animals than last year. What we need
this year is a Plot
Watcherto keep tract of how many deer are working the area
and the routes they use to get there.
September,15,2013
We haven't been out since last
Monday when I and a friend fished crooked
lake, I hadn't been fishing on it for quite
awhile because we have been refraining from
fishing it due to the reduced bluegill
numbers. we fished it for 4 hrs. and it
appears the numbers are down significantly
since we were here last, and it appears like
it was fished pretty hard this summer. There
is no public access on this lake but certain
individuals always find a way to con one of
the property owners into giving them access.
We caught fish but had a hard time finding a
lot of keeper size gills and we didn't find
that many small gills like there was 4-5 years
ago.
September,6,2013
Fishing just isn't the same this year
the way the weather is, we were out yesterday on
Little shag and never caught a bluegill which is a
first for us. The Last 2 weekends we took the
grand children out on a friends pontoon raft on
one a lake that has no public access but a ton of
bluegills in it, but has a catch to it and that is
they are all the same size ...... 7 in.'s. or
less, You can catch one after another sometimes
and the kids have a ball. I would say that the
bluegill population is way down in most of the
lakes the last couple of years and there are a lot
fewer fishermen on them this year than other
years. It might take another 4-5 years for them to
come back and that is if we have a better spawn
than we had this year.
August,29,2013
The summer fishing has been about
a month behind this year due to the late
spring and cool temperatures in mid summer
that we have had. The bluegills will typically
in a normal year will be in deeper water come
the middle of july and this year it wasn't
until the middle of august. Bluegills like a
water temperature of mid 60's or higher in the
deeper water and this year the bottom temps
were in the lower 60's and are just rising
into the upper 60's now and should stay there
thru mid september. In other words we will be
getting some August bluegill fishing way into
September this year. The thermoclines are
about 15-17 ft. right now tat I have measured.
July,31,2013
i am a little late with this report but
better late than sorry is what they say. We
finally caught a couple of nice meals on on of the
local lakes a couple of days ago drifting in 20-22
ft. of water. The fishing was pretty spotty until
mid afternoon when they turned on after 2:00
and the feeding spree lasted about 2 hrs. We ended
up with 9 real nice bluegills and 6 perch 10-12
inches. We were using 1/32 oz. jigs with a small
piece of crawler. We are going to fish another
lake tomorrow that we have not fished in a long
time and hear that a few nice bluegills have been
showing up there. 3 gallons of blueberry's so far
and 1 more to go before we have enough.
July,28,2013
Been
awhile since I posted and that is because
we haven't done that good on the Bluegills
while fishing. Little Shag has not been
too good so far this year and we have been
rained out a few times and also been blown
off the lake. The Blueberry picking is
super though with tons of blueberry's in
the woods as they are everywhere and of
great size for UP berry's.
July,4,2013
boy I need to go Bluegill fishing
but this
isn't working too good as I'm not getting the
time to go this week .....................
this sucks!
june,26,2013
boy
we went to little shag yesterday yesterday and
today and not much to show for it, saw a few
old beds and when it got too hot to fish (88
degrees), this was beer time.
june,24,2013
A couple of buddies came over from 3 lakes and we
had a ball on the bluegills in a small lake using
artificial crawdads, they are done spawning in this
lake and were still in shallow water. Catch and
release of over 50 fish........a ball.
June,22,2013
we went out yesterday with some friends on "little
shag lake"..........."wrong"..........., fished for about
4 1/2 hours and had 2 keeper bluegills to show for it. we
only saw one spot that there were any beds and they were
full of debris already and so it appears that the season
was quick and short when we were not ther or the fishermen
cleaned the breeders out before they spawned which is more
common then you think. There are a lot fewer gills in this
lake than last year and if you don't believe me try it!!!!
Out brilliant DNR decision on giving the fishermen 3
days possession limit really is showing up now as plain
dumb. they say Their reason was to make it worth while for
the fishermen to come to the U.P.
.............. bullshit it was to cater to the
campgrounds and resort owners and sell more licenses. it's
about time that the mi dnr wakes up and start doing more
research like MN, WI and IL with the bluegills. they are
behind the times with their thinking as these 3 states all
are reducing panfish limits in their lakes.
June,13,2013
Well not much luck with the bluegills again tuesday
the 12th and we saw very few beds and we fished 2
differant lakes, the water temperature was 66f on the
surface in both lakes so it must be colder below to keep
the bluegills from spawning. we did find that the bass are
just now spawning and because we were tossing artificial's
we did pretty good on the bass. Everything went back and
we never eat bass anyways uuuggghh. check out some pictures
June,11,2013
we tried again yesterday and still didn't find too
many beds, the water temperature is 66f on the surface now
and that should bring the males in to make beds.
Apparently the water underneath is still too cold. last
Friday we were out and we caught a meal of 8-9 in. gills
in 18 ft. of water on artificials, they were in the top 4
ft. and suspended, I figured they were stageinging off shore waiting for the
water to warm up for the spawning ritual. Today we are
going to try again to get another meal. I have this
feeling that we won't have a full spawn again this year
for the third straight year .........not good
.........................Remember don't over fish the beds
as it only hurts you own fishing in following
years...............................
We have at last 2-3 year classes missing in most lakes
that I fish in the Upper Peninsula.
May,25,2013
haven't been fishing yet because I have a ton of yard
duties to do with the spring weather not co-operating at
all, plus the water pump went out on my
mariner so I had to order one online. The rig is fixed now
and is ready to go as soon as the weekend and holiday is
over. I only fish during the week and stay away from
trying/fishing on weekends.
May,1,2013
I took a ride today to some of the lakes here to
check on ice conditions,the larger lakes still have ice on
them while the smaller more shallower lakes are wide open.
The temperature reached 60 here today and I found one die
hard fisherman out on the ice but he was only 20 ft. from
shore over 6 ft. of water and no bites.
april
30,2013
Here it is the end of april and
we still have over a foot of ice on the lakes and according to
some fishermen it is still pretty solid ice, so It looks like
a good chance that come the opening of walleye season (may 15)
there will still be ice on the lakes which makes it a little
hard on the boat. If a person wants to fish the beds they
might have to do it thru a hole. bluegills
and beds It seems like every article that
a person reads on Bluegill fishing they always tells you that
if you really want to catch a lot of Bluegills you should fish
the beds when they are spawning. Really! now think about
this,... if 100% of blue-gill fishermen went out and fished
the spawning beds for gills there would be very little
bluegills left in 8-9 years which is the average life span of
a bluegill. Very few of these articles will tell the fishermen
to be selective on the size and sex of the fish to keep,
instead they talk about numbers and not catch and release
methods.
Don't get me wrong here as I fish them during the spawning
season my self, but I never use live bait during the spring
when fishing the beds, I only use artificial s at this time
and fish just for fun but occasionally I will keep just enough
of the females for a meal. During the spring time when the
males move into the shallow spawning areas you can see them
making beds for spawning, the largest bluegills will get the
prime areas and will drive all other gills out of that area
and use their energy on the spring ritual, attracting females,
spawning, guarding the young and will feed very little at this
time. The next size smaller Bluegill males which have been
excluded from the process use this period for bulking up on
the food chain available so they can get in on the action the
next spawning season and be available as bigger Blue-gills for
catching next year. If you don't release these big spawning
males then the smaller sizes of Bluegills will take over
the areas and according to the latest studies this will change
the gene pool and the size of the gills..