Gills still hitting

[Illinoisgiller]

I talked the wife into one more trip out to my new favorite spot on the canal today. We didn't get there till 1:30 . We arrived to find the little parking lot near full and some parked on the road. We fished for 5 hours till she said she was cold. We were facing a brisk wind, but I didn't have time to get cold. :rolleyes: We ended up with 38 nice gills and two. We only got 1 crappie apiece. mine was barely 9" and hers was over 10 1/2" She was using the much loved Grizz jigs to get the 6 gills and the crappie and I was armed with the Shadles type jig in Chartruse till it finally broke. Then I switched to white. Great day!!! Hot fillets ready :D ,nuff ramblin, Mike

[hushpuppy]

I can smell em' cookin' right now. Good day of fishin'.

[capt.kirk]

Hush Puppy
Great Job On Your Masom Emblem.
Kirk

[Illinoisgiller]

I've found out that the two grandsons are out of school starting Thursday noon. I sure didn't want to travel far with the gas prices what they are, but they are grandsons. :p I think we will venture forth into the wilds of southern Iowa. Geode is closest, and nice gills, but may get over in the Belva Deer area near Sigorny. Belva Deer is fun to fish with Gills holding in tree tops 12 to 15 ft deep over 30 ft of water. Fireline or Power Pro is a must . Considering they are 11, we may hole up in Albia,at a motel for a night with an inside pool. A pool is a big, big, deal when one is 11.When they said to bring my swimming suit, I said I can just see it now, Two little porpises and a whale. :rolleyes: You can be rest assured there will be no pictures there. We have a family gathering also this weekend , and when I ask the day and time, I plan to get back an hour before it starts. :p Mike

[Illinoisgiller]

The Davenport West Lake is not the "Dead Sea", but it can sure make one think so at times. If you have two spools for that fancy new reel, put 8 lb Fireline or Power Pro on one of them, and I'll MAKE the time to try to put you on some gills when I get back from the trip with the kids.
With my working hides at home and the much loved grandkids, most of my fishing is just a spur -of-the-moment . PM me your available times and I'll try to work something out .
Note- When I was fishing at the canal, it was crowded where we were. Lots of people walked by and remarked how the cool front and wind killed the fishing:confused: I just nodded while sitting on my bucket of gills, hoping they wouldn't splash and get my behind wet while I was hiding them. :D Mike

[Illinoisgiller]

tough fishingng today. I was getting my oil changed today and realized that I was 1/2 way to a canal fishing spot I like. I tried near the canal visitors center, but only got one 7" gill. Moved east quite a bit and finally found some decent gills. The wind was rippin in my face from the south. It was so bad I had to turn my back to get a wax worm out of the snuff box because it was blowing all the sawdust out. Even with a 12' rod it was tough fighting the wind. By the time I had worked my way 1/2 mi. down the canal ,it was 7:30. I had 17 gills and 12 crappie. One of the crappie was 12" and 4 were 11". All were taken on those little tiny 124th oz. chartruse jigs.
What an afternoon!!! Fish fry tmw at my step dad's place down by Seaton. He recently turned 90. local family will join us . :D

[Schoe]

Nice Mike, What was that address of the fish fry? You have been hammering the Gills on a regular basis, more so than I have heard from anyone else.
Is there any special technique that you use or is it those fantastic jigs you tie? Schoe

[Illinoisgiller]

Schoe- It's probably those fantastic wax worms and dumb luck. Getting on these nice gills in the spring is new to me also. I'm getting a ton of help from the 8 lb. fireline coupled w/the easily bent 124th oz. jigs. I'm fishing brush for the most part, and I'm talking IN it most of the time. I'm using a float perfectly balanced with large shot 6" above the jig. I'm fishing 1' to 2' deep. I'm also working on my patience. Sometimes I hold a spot I really think is good till my nerves are shot. lol These larger ones got that way for a reason!!! Many times the float will just dip a bit or slide sideways. That's when the game is ON. My savy against a fish with a brain the size of a pea. Pretty even match. lol I start out with the wax worm just barely hooked in the tip of the tail, give it a slight tug against the hook barb while twisting and hook it again. I feel this is as important as anything I do. I am relentless when think I am on a big one.
I had a big one I just couldn't get 2 days ago. I even switched jig .nada- he wasn't impressed. I left to another brush pile .A hour later I stripped everything except the jig off my line. snuck back ,(as in hunched over behind a berm), crawled up where I could reach the spot. I slowly dropped the jig at the waters edge ,and just slowly swam it along the weed edge like it was feeding. When it got over to near where that gill was holding. He just HAMMERED it . Scared the bejeebies out of me. lol.
I'm going to get scunked one of these days, but till then, im sure enjoying the ride:D Mike

[Illinoisgiller]

Chris- What I'm using is a Sparkle Jig tied on a 124 th. oz. It basicly consists of mariboo tail, sparkle chinele body and fine hackle at the head. I and a grandson are tying them, but they originated fron a nice couple out in Vinton Ia., Jeff and Teresa Schadle. 319/472-5395 They don't own a computer .They have a simple catalog they would send. They have no jigs on hand. If you order some they will tie some when they get time. lol My kind of people. Even though I tie my own, thiers make mine look like childs work. I use 1/124 th oz. Sparkle jigs in White and chartruse ,sometimes pink and rarely olive. Geeze, I hope I'm not oversteping the bounds here, I just like thier skill. In fact, I think I'll order some more from them just to ease the guilt trip a bit from copying and using thier flies . Mike

[Illinoisgiller]

I and the wife stopped by a small city lake at Mathersville, IL last evening on the way home. We tried all the peviously proven jigs and depths. Nada, no interest in our feeble efforts what so ever. lol I knew it would happen .
Now for the fun part, the struggle back to success. I'm a little concerned about a trip to southern Iowa this weekend with the grandsons, but hoping the water may be a little warmer down there. Tight lines all, Mike

[Screen]

Mike! Good luck but the biggest catch of the weekend will be those grandsons!

Schoe say's you been killing them panfish - what works best or most every time for you?

[Illinoisgiller]

Screen(Bruce) Your question of what my favorite jig-lure for gills is somewhat varies for conditions. At this time, my go-to overall has to be a sparkle jig 1/124 th oz jig tied by Schadle. Now of course I am tying my own. I like it in Chartruse and white, however my grandson had a good catch on pink in the same jig this last trip.
The trip with the 2 grandsons, Johnathon and Brandon worked out great. We left thurs. noon when Johnathon got out of school.We went to Belva Deer near Sigorney, Ia. We got skunked there. That lake is known for nice gills that hold 12 to 15' over 30' of water in flooded tree tops. The wind was giving us fits in my 18' Osagian canoe /8hp Mariner. We finally loaded up and went southwest to Albia and holed up in a motel w/indoor pool.( I knew it would be a kids delight). After a morning wake up swim the next morning ,we went to Lake Miami. Having been there, before with them we quickly found a few nice gills. That spot went dead quickly. While on the hunt, Johnathon was proud to get a 16" bass. We tried many fishey looking spots before finally locating a Honey-Hole!!! Those boys out caught me by far.;) I spent a lot of time cleaning the results of their efforts.I told them we didn't really need 110 gills, but they had a great time getting them .:D We had planned to go home that night, but just plain having too much fun, so we went back to Albia motel. The only room was next to the pool, with only a single queen bed. I was ready to look elsewhere, but the boys said not to worry ,they would make do. We ended up sleeping sideways to fit in the 3 of us .Grandpa didn't get lots of sleep. lol In a conversation with a local fella over morning gas station coffee ,I got permission on annother small lake. There was no dock, so we backed the trailer off the bank, We had a tough time finding the gills in the gin clear water. Finally the boys wanted to bank fish, and they had a good time catching lots of small bass, as only youngsters can enjoy.:) I got on bank also and Brandon finally found the method that worked . A small hackled fly cast with no weight, and allowed to slowly sink. These monsters had seen all the traditional methods and fell prey to the different approach. Now the boys want fly rods. We took 25 there when I realized that we were all going to get a spanking if we didn't get on the long trek back home for a planned family get together:rolleyes: We arrived home only a 1/2 hour late.They are ready to get back there first chance. Mike

[Illinoisgiller]

Grandson Brandon just called and has one more day off for Easter. We are going fishing somewhere. We need to add to the 11 lbs. of gill fillets we got on the trip not counting what I consumed last night. lol Wish all tight lines, Mike

[Stump Bumper]

Sound's like ya'll had a great trip! It's time well spent any time you can take the kids fishing, those are the times they will always remember....Ray

[Illinoisgiller]

yesterday's trip was a battle with the wind more than a neat fishing trip. We got a dozen gills a few Green Sunfish and Brandon landed an 11" crappie. We started at the canal welcome center ramp, and there were already a lot of boats out. The wind was giving us fits so we finally loaded out and took the short trip south to Buda. There is a public strip mine area there that is hard hit . We had forgotten that there are no moters allowed there ,10 fish limit, and has been my experiance that it is basicly a state funded picknick area.lol. We quickly moved on to a canal section that I haven't been to. That is where we found the Green sunfish and little else.
Still it was neat to get out with the grandson after two days without fishing with him lol .Mike