Bread Balls & Bluegills

Crickets, wigglers and waxworms all have a place in the bluegill fishing world, as do popping bugs, nymphs and various micro-sized lures -- and I favor each of those offerings at certain times. However, when I just want to connect a child with a few quick bluegills, it's tough to top putting a little bitty ball of bread on the tip of a No. 8 or 10 hook and dangling it beneath a pencil-style float.

There's always at least one loaf of bread or package of buns at home, so there's no need to dig for worms or visit a bait shop. Plus, baiting a hook and fishing this rig are simple, so youngsters can do everything themselves and enjoy the rewards. Most importantly, bluegills can't resist bread.

My son Eli turned 9 last weekend, and around our house, birthdays and fishing often go together. I wasn't sure if the bluegills would still be shallow by the boardwalk at Tallulah Gorge State Park in November, but it's an easy access sort of place, and it's pretty close to home, and he wanted to do a bit of birthday fishing.

The bluegills weren't plentiful like they are from mid-spring through the end of summer.  However, a few were home, and the bread/bobber combination did its job. Eli also did his job, and he ended up catching a couple of very nice 'gills.

Marked Man

Most fishermen know that it happens from time to time. A little mess spills out of the wrong end of the fish, and when the fish flops, the mess gets transferred. This time it landed barely off-center on Eli's forehead, and we didn't realize what had happened until after we had gotten a few photos and he had released his fish. In my mind, it kind of messed up the photos, but maybe it's not a total loss. They seem to be Eli's favorite shots from yesterday.

Bullfrogs, Bugs & a Boat Ride

Eli and I did manage to catch a bass yesterday afternoon, but that didn't really matter. More significantly, we heard bullfrogs croaking as the sun began sinking, saw a spider enjoying a really good catch, and took the johnboat for a lap around the pond.

We both croaked back at the frogs, although I'm not convinced they were impressed. Eli, who is big fan of bugs and somewhat of a collector, wanted to rob the spider of it's dinner, but I vetoed that notion. In the boat, I did the bulk of the paddling, but Eli took control while I was untangling some line. He also did a fine job of paddling us to the shore when it was time to call it a night.

I actually had a work objective for our little evening outing. Eli helped me with a video that I'll share after it is posted. More valuable than my work or catching fish, though, was a bit of one-on-one time outdoors on a summer evening.

Capt. Eli

Eli, 5, running the boat for his brother Asher and me.

Eli enjoys to going fishing. There's no doubt about that. However, I sort of think he likes paddling the johnboat around the lake even more than he likes to try to catch fish. He's gotten pretty good at it, too. For a not-quite-6-year-old, Eli shows surprising command of the boat, especially considering that he works from the middle and has to move a couple of steps to switch paddling sides.

It used to be that when I handed Eli a paddle I was resolving to happily cast from wherever the boat happened to spin, which effectively meant not really fishing for a while. I didn't mind that at the time, but I have to admit that I kind of like him easing Asher and me along a bank so we can cast for bluegills and bass. In truth, I like it better than him slinging a hook past my nose when he casts from the center of the boat!

Yesterday wasn't a big fish catching day. We got a few bluegills in one mid-day pond lap. A couple of them came with Capt. Eli paddling, so I'm giving him guide credit for those fish!

Pond Play & Child-Friendly Rigs

Three of my children (Asher, 9; Autumn, 7 and Eli, 5) often go with my wife for an hour or two of afternoon pond play, usually with swimming as the primary focus. On Monday, I decided to tag along, and of course I toted a few fishing rods. I rigged simple hook/bobber rigs for Autumn and Eli, and we dug up some worms before we left home. I gave Asher a 4-inch YUM Dinger, rigged weightless and nose hooked with a 1/0 Daiichi Circle Wide Bleeding Bait Hook.

Next time, I might rig all three with the latter, especially if the bass are still up shallow. The worms produced some gills, but bobber rigs get twisted around the ends of rods pretty easily and hooks require nearly constant rebaiting. As long as weeds or brush aren't too thick for an open hook point, it's tough to go wrong with A Dinger on A small circle hook. a child can cast out a Dinger, and whether he simply lets it sink, reels it back or hops it, a bass it apt to bite, and with a circle hook, by a child realize a fish has hit, it usually is hooked.

Pond Play

Rain is coming tomorrow, followed by more cold, but this afternoon warmed up nicely and we had a little time, so it was a good afternoon to visit the pond with three of my children. Asher, Autumn and Eli all like to fish as often as they get a chance, and there really haven't been a lot of good chances so far this year.

It was a simple outing, walking the banks. Eli, 5, and Autumn, 7, both fish with worms on ice jigs under floats. Asher, 9, mostly threw a Lindy Watsit Grub. Eli had the hot rod of the pack, managing his first bluegill and his first bass of 2014.

I cast when I could with a little Road Runner Original Marabou, but I spent most of my time pulling hooks from branches, grass and shirts, re-baiting lines and undoing knots. No complaints there. That's all part of the fun. We also left a couple of float rigs out of reach from the shore in bushes. Nathaniel and I might have to retrieve them with the johnboat one day this week. I suppose we'll have to make a few casts when we do!

Favorite Fishing Days

When I consider some of my favorite fishing days from the year that's about to depart, they seem to have something in common. I just can't pinpoint what that something is.

A couple of days that come quickly to mind occurred on a pond near hom. One was on Eli's 5th birthday, when he went to work catching birthday bluegills while sporting the colors of Cheetos and Powerade on his face. Another was with my 7-year-old daughter Autumn, when she not only helped with the fish-catching duties, but she did a fine job taking pictures of a surprisingly big bass I caught on a little lure.

Another pond outing of note was with Nathaniel, my 15-year-old son, but on a different pond. The fishing was crazy good that day, and we caught bluegills, bass and crappie. I don't recall the tally, but I believe we concluded that it was as many fish as he and I had ever caught together in a day, and it all occurred in only a couple of hours.

A few other favorite days took place on streams. Two were with Asher, my 9-year-old, both on the same stream. One yielded his first trout, a pretty brook trout. The other, which was a dark an oddly warm afternoon only a couple of weeks ago, resulted in his first brown trout. Two of my other favorite trout outings were with Nathaniel at the Nantahala River in North Carolina. One was in May and one was in November, but both involved him systematically targeting extra big trout and succeeding in finding what he was seeking

Ponds, streams, bluegills, bass, brook trout, brown trout, warm weather, cool weather... I just can't quite put a finger on what all those favorites fishing days in common.

Birthday Bluegills for Eli & Dad

A birthday celebration around here often includes a trip to the pond, and No. 5 for Eli was no different. He put in a request for such an outing weeks ago and had remained hopeful it could work. Eli's birthday actually isn't until tomorrow, but we decided that the bluegills didn't need to know that, and I'm happy to report that they did their part in adding to the big event. We ended up catching five fish, which seemed kind of fitting since Eli is turning 5, all by vertical fishing with ice jigs tipped with worms.

Cheetos and Powerade served double function as refreshments and face paint, with the Cheetos performing especially well in the latter category.

Eli also carried a camera and helped me with photos, along with taking over as captain for a while. I was impressed by his resolve to figure out how he needed to pull or push the paddle to make the johnboat go where he wanted it to go. The johnboat tends to spin a bit, even with an experienced paddler, but Eli got us all the way across to the pond to the place where we put in and take out once he decided that we had fished long enough.

It was a nice outing and a big success, I'd have to say. I'm thankful that we had such nice weather. His mid-November birthday is a little bit of a wild card for good fishing weather.

Pond Fish for Everyone

The plan had been that Asher and I would make a lap or two around the pond in the canoe while Autumn and Eli played at the beach with my wife. However, soon after Asher and I launched the canoe, the skies turned black and some strong wind gusts began sweeping the pond. Wanting neither to get flipped by a rogue wind nor caught on the wrong side of the pond if a thunderstorm suddenly came upon us, we pulled out the canoe and fished from that part of the shore, landing a few bass and bream.

After finishing there, we drove to the beach side of the pond to visit with the others and make a few casts from the dam. The second part of that got Autumn's and Eli's attention, and soon there were four of us walking the banks, three rods going and bream and bass being caught by everyone. Autumn caught one bass completely on her own, casting a weightless worm from the shore, working it back, hooking the fish when it bit and landing it. Asher then jumped in and took over unhooking and coaching his little sister on how to hold the fish. Eli and I tag-teamed efforts with a Road Runner Original Marabou to catch a couple of big bluegills and his first bass. Asher worked solo and caught several bass on the Asher Rig.

Nathaniel wasn't with us because he was fishing other ponds with a friend, and apparently they caught about 20 bass and bream between them, including a couple of pretty good bass. Sarah was kind enough to stay home with little Holly, who needs to at least start standing before she can fish, so everyone else could play.