Pickwick 10-08-2012
 

Started fishing this morning at around 11: AM. Fished until 5:30 PM. During that time caught over 150 Gills with over half of them at 9 inches and the rest between 7 and 8 inches. Also caught a dozen White bass all at around 14 inches...all male no females. Caught 5 Smallies all at 13 inches. Once again was fishing a Bison colored Trout Magnet body on a size 10 tungsten jig head.....using 2# test NanoFil with a 3# test Phantom fluorocarbon leader. These fish were caught at the 30 foot mark. I intended to only fish the point in the lake for a couple of hours and then check out to see if the Stripers and Whites were below the dam. I never made it. I couldn't bring myself to leave the point. I will sit at a place all day long catching 9 inch Gills. I also hooked up....be it briefly...with 4 Smallies that were really big fish. These jig heads I am using have a very short shank.....it is difficult to get a hook set in those big fish. Got to get ready to head to Nickajack at 3:00 AM.


Regards

I couldn't agree more about catching those gills all day long. Most people only see bluegill like that in May-June around spawn.

Good luck with the crappie.

Had I not read that article in InFisherman magazine I wouldn't be doing this. Tungsten will change the way you fish in winter with micro jigs. Just ordered some 1# test NanoFil. I will be able to fling them 50 yards...LOL.


Regards

Those are some awesome gills! Great pics also!

Depending on cost for materials you could make your own via fly tying. All my midges that I tie are bare hooks with a tung bead slid around that stops at hook eye and thread.

http://www.feather-craft.com/wecs.ph...y&target=TL013

You wouldn't need to be a fly tying guy just slide the bead on then TM body behind or glue bead to shank. Dont know the weights though.

Nice fish and pics, Alpha. Oh yeah, I could sit in one spot and catch gills like that all day long...you had yourself another great day.

You are right Travis, I was wondering this myself, i think it will be cheaper this route, the only thing is finding out what the size/weight combo equals to on the regular sizes we are familiar with, I called this company and they were not able to tell me what the weights are,
any of you wizards can figure these weights based on the diameter of the bead and material it is made of??

Good luck at Nickajack Alpha!!, i will be looking for the report, one of these days you may have to stop here in Shelbyville on your way to Nickajack (hint hint) I would love to get good into some Crappie!!

Thanks Travis...going to try and figure out how to put the hook on one of these and maybe buy through them.


Regards

Alpha how do you find bluegill down that deep? Do you have spots that you just go to every year or have you found them on a depth finder? I love catching gills!

This is all new to me...after reading article from InFisherman magazine I thought I would give it a try. I just chose a location that Gills hang out off of a point in Spring and Summer. I know the water further out is over 40 feet deep so I just figured they would be close to their Spring haunts and would just move out deeper. I guessed correct...this time. Ideally you would locate the fish on sonar and vertical jig for them. I am going to be testing this technique all throughout Winter and will post how it works out.


Regards