Sunday, 6/1/2014, I planned on doing some bluegill fishing. I needed one more Fish OH trophy to qualify for the master angler pin. In years past, bluegill has been one of the easier Fish OH's to catch and I had yet to target bluegill this year. I set out with 4 rods rigged. One with a slip float for nightcrawlers, a 1/32oz jig for nightcrawlers, my usual green pumpkin jig for for bass, and a swimbait for bass. My plan was to fish for bluegill until it got close to dark, then switch up to bass until dark.
I got on the water around 3:00pm. The water temperature was 82 degrees. My plan was to start shallow for bluegill. As I made my way past one of my favorite areas for bass I decided I'd cast the jig a few times just to see if there was a hot largemouth bite before starting on the bluegill. After 10 casts or so I hooked up with a nice bass. I quickly pulled the bass near and steered it into my net. This bass looked to be in the 3lb range so the day was starting off great. I removed my jig from the bass and laid it on my hawg trough for measurement. As soon as I see the tail hit the board between 18 and 19" the bass went crazy and flopped right back in the water... I'd lost a nice bass a week or two ago and now a let one jump back into the water without a picture. This was very disheartening but it would soon all be made it for.
I continued on down the bank casting my jig. Another 10 casts and I hooked another nice bass. Looks like the bluegill fishing was going to be put on hold as the bass were definitely biting. As the bass surfaced my heart stopped as I seen a monster largemouth on the end of my line. This bass had some serious girth to it and looked to be an easy 5lbs if not my first ever 6 pounder. It made a leap into the air and all I could picture was my jig flying out of its mouth. Two more leaps and a couple laps around my Nucanoe and I had the hog in my net and let out a yell of excitement. The bass still appeared to be an easy 5lbs but I wasn't sure if it would hit the 21" Fish OH mark. This time around I left my jig in its mouth for safety as I laid it on my hawg trough for measurement. It went 21.5", which was good enough for my fourth Fish OH species of the year and master angler pin. I was underwhelmed by the weight which was only 4lbs 11oz. It must have just laid its eggs and had an empty stomach.
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| 21.5" 4lb 11oz Largemouth Bass |
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| 21.5" 4lb 11oz Largemouth Bass |
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| 21.5" 4lb 11oz Largemouth Bass |
For the next 2.5 hours I bass fished and managed 3 more largemouth all around 14" all of which were caught on jig. I then finally decided to switch to bluegill fishing. Maybe I could get a Fish OH largemouth and bluegill in one day? Fish OH bluegill size is 9". I started out using nightcrawlers on the slip float set about 2ft deep and I had immediate success. For two hours I caught bluegill every few minutes. Just about everywhere along the bank I had success but I wasn't finding the size I was looking for. The majority were 6-7" and I had yet to break the 8" mark. When I hit the 40 bluegill mark it was after 8pm and I was ready to switch back to bass for the remainder of the evening. I don't know why but I decided to take one more cast with my slip float and nightcrawler to a piece of structure that looked good. This was a good choice as I finally got my first and second bluegill over 8" on the day. Here was the biggest one, a thick 8.5".
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| 8.5" Bluegill |
I threw my jig for the remainder of daylight and managed one 16" 1lb 11oz largemouth.
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| 16" 1lb 11oz Largemouth Bass |
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