Just got back from Mantua, and both my boy and myself slayed the bluegills...AGAIN.
Like yesterday, I had another trout on. And like yesterday, the blasted 'Bow got away before I could bring him up. Caught some perch too..but I'd say between the two of us, we caught about 30 or more gills, with another 15 or so missed.
Out4Trout and I found a great place, and I plan to go there again hopefully next weekend. This was a great weekend of fishing--and I have the sunburn to prove it!! heheh
Derek
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Did and of the bluegill have any size to them? I was up to Mantua last fall and all we caught were really small fish.
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A few of the Gills were dinks...just 3 or 4 inches long was all. But we caught a lot that were pretty good size...I'd say a good 8" long. The few perch we caught were not very big at all. And the couple trout I did hook this weekend, were big to say the least.
They all seemed to like the wax worms the best. But we did get some strikes on crawlers and mealies.
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[cool]NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad you found the spot o.k. and really got into 'em! Boy, the fishing on the East side sure is 10 times better than the West side (at least while ice fishing, anyway). Do you have a float tube? If not, you need to get one or borrow one so we can assult them this summer. I hear it's even better then with 100 fish days not uncommon. I for one plan to float that place a few times once the water warms up!
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Jeff, we couldn't find your 'marker', but needless to say, we lucked out and were in the general vicinity.
I'd like to get me a pontoon boat this summer and a fish finder. : )
Boy, your fish finder was going crazy those couple times I peeked at it!!!
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Thats good to hear you got a few with some size to them. I might make a trip to Mantua before ice off just to get a few to throw into some beer batter.
WHAT TYPE OF JIG DID YOU USE?
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[cool]Hey smalls, if Derek was using to day what he was yesterday (which I'm pretty sure he was), I'd say he had a very small glow rat finky tipped with wax worm. He was doing pretty well with that.
As for my yesterday, I was using a tandem setup with a tiny chartruese Genz Worm up top, and then below that was a bigger chartreuse (on the front side) with two red eyes on it with nickle (on the back side) ice fly. Both tipped with waxies. I caught most of my bigger gils on the bigger fly that I had on the bottom. The jigs were about 18 inches apart. Hope that helps. Also, if I notice the bite getting slow for a few minutes while there was still fish coming through then I would jig it putting my rod tip in the hole and bring it up slowly, then keep my rod still. Usually after doing that I'd get a hit again about 5 seconds later. We were fishing about a half-a full reel crank off the bottom. Good luck!!
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Ill see if I can talk SKEETER2 into going up there this week to try are hand at the blues. Thanks
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Yep, try a little white ratfinky with wax worm...but honestly, I think they would bite on almost anything. We just happened to be at the right spot at the right time I think.
Yesterday, my boy was catching them just 2 or 3 feet below the ice, and I was only 10 feet away and catching them a foot off the bottom. Those pesky 'Gills are everywhere and I think you can catch them more or less at any depth at any given time. Good luck to you.
It's the elusive Kamloop (sp?) Rainbow Trout I'm after!!! One of them got away with my jig and I need to get my revenge!
Derek
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Good luck with the revenge on your trout and thanks for the advice.
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This picture was from last year. All the blue gill we caught were this little. The kids sure had fun though.
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Cute kid!! There's nothing better than seeing your children having a good time catching fish, no matter how small!
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