BASS FROM THE PAST

My wife Linda with a Piney Run Giant...nearly 7 pounds and 22.5 inches. She got this outstanding fish on a live shiner in May a few seasons ago. Great fish!

 Here's one I got on a home made spinnerbait at a local pond not 5 minutes from the house...2 feet off the shore on a warm July evening. 23 inches! Cool!

Another big Piney Run fish. This one hit a live bluegill I was trolling for striped bass with the planer boards. Fish measured 22 inches, and was a great October catch in 2009.

And Linda with another big farmpond bass she got on a Senko in April on 4 pound test. Heavy fish!

And then she turns around and gets this 7 pounder on a Mepps #3 white spinner on a chilly, overcast day. I tell ya', it's tough livin' with this woman! Enough to make a man sick!

But then, I have to calm her down a bit, and show her how it's done...this is a 23.5 inch  eight pounder I got in early March in 2008...another close to home farmpond bass! Wow!

And here's my buddy Loren with an excellent 5 pounder on a 4 inch Senko. Very nice!

Here, my son Matt shows an excellent 4 pound largemouth from the PA portion of the Susquehanna River on one of our hot-water trips to Brunner Island. Unusual catch! The fish on the bottom is a fine 19 inch 4 pound smallmouth that he got in the same area, different trip. Both fish took a Zoom Fat Albert on a 1/8 th ounce jig head fished close to the shore.

One of the greatest things about fishing, besides the big ones that DON'T get away, are the simple views that we all take for granted so much in this world that God created. I am sure that I have missed way too many gorgeous photo opts in the past that it's just plain ridiculous. I should always be on the look out for the beauty of the Creator, rather than trying to pursue fish, the created things, from our God.

There's a lot of cool stuff in Psalms...check out Psalm 104: 24,25, it says...
'How many are your works, Oh Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures,
teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both large and small'

Think about that, if you can, the next time you catch a big bass! or even, a small one...

Micro Gear...Magnum Bluegills...Big Fun!

It has been reported that this past winter was the warmest in the eastern half of the nation since 1932. Most of us were not alive to remember that time, and this is clearly the warmest winter, and the earliest spring, that I can ever recall in my lifetime. Last week we had temperatures in the 70's all week, and the call is for another week of 70 to 80 degree temps in the mid Atlantic area. Traditionally, we don't see these kinds of temperatures until mid to late April. Water temps are in the low 50's, and we are seeing all kinds of insect hatches with big bluegills feeding off the surface. Kids and dogs are already playing in the water. Here my neighbors son, Cole, plays with his retriever, Dodge, in the shallows of their pond...and this was on March 12 th!
My good friend Patrick and I had the chance to fish another local pond this past Friday. We knew there were big catfish in the lake, so we set up several rods baited with chicken liver in hopes of getting a few, The lake owners wanted to have some of them removed, as the 30 inch plus cats are eating smaller bass and they think it would be wise to get them out. While we waited for the bite alarms to go off, we tossed small 1/64 and 1/32 ounce jigs tipped with various plastics for some of the ponds bruiser bluegills. We were not disappointed...

Custom 'firetiger' jighead w/nondescript plastic trailer coaxed many bull gills including this big male.

This nice looking hen couldn't resist the firetiger.

This seriously big male went for the jig. Check out those sideburns! Also, notice the lack of barring on these larger male bluegills...neat coloration, no less.

Here's another plump male. Most of our fish ran very close to the 10 inch mark, with weights from 10 to 14 ounces. They were powerhouse fighters on the micro rods and 2 pound test mono.

Patrick is all smiles with this bonafide trophy bluegill. Notice again the blended coloration of these fish...real beauts!

Another beautiful male with a huge ear tab. Fishing was almost non-stop when it was cloudy and breezy, as fish were taking baits within the top two feet of the water column. By actual count, we totaled 48 gills, most from 9 1/2 to 10 inches and 8 bass.The bass were punks...like this show-off that actually thought he could take on a #5 Mepps spinner...

 As you can see, this young upstart must think he's tough...guess that'll teach him!
So...it's a good thing we brought the micro gear and mopped up on magnum bluegills. So what happened with the catfish efforts? As luck would have it, Patrick hooked a large fish on the micro gear that we almost immediately labled one of the ponds out-sized whiskerfish. Patrick played the fish like a champ on thread-like 2 pound test, and 20 minutes later. I slid the net under an impressive channel cat...

Yes, all those prime catfish baits out there, and chumming efforts and all. And the only cattie of the day thought he was a bluegill, going for the small stuff. An impressive fish for such tiny gear...26 inches and an estimated 8 pounds. Healthy lookin', too! We put her back, as we did with all our fish this day.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Patrick has caught a lot of catfish over the past several years, with a few nice blues to 15 pounds or so. But he was proud of this hard earned 'beauty'.

I can't help but reflect on the words of Agur, in Proverbs 30, where he points out that ' Two things I ask of you Oh Lord; ...Keep falsehood and lies far from me and give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread." Well, if I were to go by todays' catch, I would say we were more than blessed with 'daily bread'. Agur was a simple man, by his own admission...'the most ignorant of men'..., yet he 'got it', that is, the secret of contentment. A simple man, a simple prayer, with a heart of thanksgiving. Satisfied.

IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE BEAUTIFUL OR BIG TO BE WORTHY. JUST SATISFYING!

March Madness...What to Fish For?

Back here in the Mid-Atlantic east, the weather has been very mild, with record temperatures still on the way for the second week of March. It's just mad, I tell you, mad! Fishing has exploded, and it wasn't at all bad all through the winter. I have abandoned, at least temporarily, my carp fishing effort in an attempt to put some panfish fillets in the freezer. And...life is good...

Here's a close up of a pond gill on a 1/64 oz chub head microjig and worm chunk. Nice fish!

Another excellent bluegill from the local panfish factory. Purdy....!

Dinky bass show up now and then as well. Don't tell anybody I caught this, please?

Kept a dozen for the pan...yummy!

And I like this way-cool pic of a big bluegill with the sunset reflecting in it's eye...somethin', huh?

But bluegills weren't the only thing that was biting lately...check out these critters...

My fishing buddy, Norm , with an outstanding slab crappie that took a jig below a bobber at Piney Run Lake, in central Maryland. Nice fish, we also got gills. trout and small bass on that windy, warm day.

Here's one of 114 crappie I got at Piney Run recently. Kept 11 for the Friday Night Gronaw Fish Fry put on by me and my wife, Linda.

Dink bass seem to be everywhere this year...cute little guy.

But now and again you get a bigger bass. This fine 19 incher hit a Rat-L-Trap with force when I gave up on cold-front gills and tossed lures for bass. It was my first 'decent' bass of the season. Released her.

Let's face it...fishing is a great, great sport that not only puts us in contact with God's Creation, but enables us to enjoy his handiwork in all the mountains, streams, lakes, fields and the rain, wind and sky. You just can't look out there and not see God in all the things that are of natural beauty. Birds, animals, flowers, fish...they are all His, and they are ours to enjoy, not abuse or annihlate. He created them for us to enjoy, and to make good use of. Everything we need has been provided for us. Despite the incredible wealth of knowledge on the internet and in millions of volumes of texts, none, no none, surpass the knowledge of the Bible as He accurately gave it to many men through His visions to them. In 2 Timothy 3:16, it says. " All scripture is God-breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God can may be thoroughly equipped for every good work'.

I have tons of fishing tackle, but I'd rather be equipped by God.