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My fishing Buddie and I hit it just right today ...
1lb + shell crackers I think one of the fish he took home was almost 3lb, it was the biggest shell cracker I had ever seen. We probably should have called game and fish to see if he had the state record.
Pic below of my haul. two 1lb'rs there on the stringer.
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Man that's an awesome haul. I wish I could pull fish out that fast in the pond.
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i am curious are them fish the same fish we call bluegill here in the north or a different breed..dont know?
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Sure looks like some good old Bluegills to me! I have also heard people call them Brim. Fell in love with them when I was fishing in Ohio allot. The one thing you could count on was if nothing else was biting and you had some Wax Worms you could still rack up on the Gills! And, they are some of the best tasting freshwater fish that I have ever tasted other than Crappie and Walleye.
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Yea they are bluegills, it is just Arkansas slang for the giant ones.
Actually "shell crackers" is the Alabama slang for their species of Redear Sunfish, I guess the slang just worked it way up here to Arkansas somehow and now we call the Huge Bluegills here that too.
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yeap i got it now..we call them by alot of names [gills] most often ,...hogs.or pigs for the big ones..mainly becouse of the flat pug nose they get when there big..
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i have caught one or 2 that were that size but never a hole stringer. lb for lb I think they fight as hard or harder than any fish.
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they should be ready to start bedding thats the best time of course..i make sure to let the females go..
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[quote jigs]i have caught one or 2 that were that size but never a hole stringer. lb for lb I think they fight as hard or harder than any fish.[/quote]
Jigs, At that particular pond we catch them that size every time we go there and at least a few that are 3lb or better. We only hit that spot about once a month when we are pretty sure they are going to be hitting (usually right before a front is coming through) so we don't get bored of the spot.
That's the same pond that you catch a bass almost every cast but most of them are 1lb to 3lb and you catch about a 5lb + every hour or so. There are so many bass in that pond we end up throwing back about 10 a hour when Bluegill fishing with crickets even! A local guy hauled in a 18lb Largemouth Bass at the same pond last spring around midnight on a full moon with a Large Black Buzzbait.
It's a super secret fishing pond around here an most angler's that know how well it produces keep the secret from anyone other than their closest fishing buddy they know they can trust to never tell it's location. Those who know the pond location have named it GILL'S POND so if my friend Jimmy and I are in Walmart and overhear someone talking about GILL'S we say hello and then all get a laugh about how well the secret has been kept over the years.
It's so secret that in all the years I have fished that pond (at least once to twice a month) only once have I seen another angler there and he gave me that shet eating grin and a head nod of KNOWING that I kept the secret too!!!
It's one of those magical honey hole ponds you might come across once in a lifetime.
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