Asher’s Bream

fish from Asher's pond

The fish I caught Friday afternoon were among my favorites from this year, but it had nothing to do with size, species or anything noteworthy about the strikes or fights. It was all about location.

The 10 or so fish I caught — all bluegill or green sunfish— came from my son’s new front yard pond. Asher closed on his first house Friday, and the property includes a stretch of pond bank.

Two of Asher’s siblings and I visited Friday afternoon. We mostly went just to see the house and property, but of course I had my car rod and reel and a few lures handy and had to make at least a few casts! 

I started with a Crickhopper. A few fish pecked at it, but nothing committed. I could see some little fish around the bait, so I switched to an Itty Bit Mayfly on a 1/48-ounce jighead and put it beneath a small float. That was the ticket. Several catches followed in short order.

The other slightly noteworthy thing was the fact that some of the fish were green sunfish, and I hadn’t caught one of those previously in 2026.

We saw one bass, which probably weighed a couple of pounds, but didn’t get it to go after anything. Asher did a bit more fishing over the weekend and has caught some other fish, including a shiner. No bass yet, but I’m guessing it won’t be long.

'Gill Needed

Two species on the catch list two days from the end of January is just plain pitiful and means that I haven't been fishing nearly enough. I enjoyed great trout fishing at the White River a couple of weeks back and caught a bunch of rainbows and browns, and I'm thank for that trip. That's it, though. No ice adventures or trips to the coast, both of which are types of outings that commonly get the fishing year off to a quick start.

Beyond the bigger trips, though, I haven't even done any afternoon pond fishing this month and therefore don't even have a largemouth bass or a bluegill on my list. That's the part that must be fixed soon. I need to grab one or more of the little people who live in this house and head for a local pond so we can at least catch a few bluegills.

Middle of Nowhere Bluegills & Blog Reawakening

For starters I must acknowledge that the pond trip I'm reporting was more than a week ago. I've fallen woefully behind with posting blogs. More so than since I started this blog, I'm pretty sure. Plan is to fix that, beginning immediately. I also haven't fished enough since my return from the Trout Trek as I've been playing catch-up on writing. Plan is to fish at least three full days this week, so that part should be reconciled too!

On our most recent pond outing, Asher and I weren't getting much action by throwing the usual stuff around the usual cover. Then I randomly threw a Lindy Watsit Grub toward the center of the pond, let it sink, and started to work it a little deeper than we had been fishing. Almost immediately, I caught a bluegill. Naturally, I repeated the cast, and the result was the same. That showed Asher and me what we needed to know, and we proceeded to catch a bunch of bluegills and a couple of bass.

I found no rhyme or reason to what the fish were relating to, and they weren't in the deepest water, near the dam, like they sometimes are during the summer. They were in the middle, but up the pond, maybe relating to the channel that divides a shallow flat. The pond is small enough that you don't have to get really precise to catch them if you find the right general area. I've never really noticed the fish positioned the way they were on that day, but maybe I haven't cast to that area enough to have found them when they've been there. You can bet I'll try it again when the fish aren't around the regular stuff!

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.

Bread & Bluegills

This week Asher discovered what was my favorite bait for bluegills and golden shiners when I was a boy. (I grew up in Florida.) For sheer fish-catching ability, it's tough to top a little wad of sticky bread on the point of a small hook. Asher and his three younger siblings have been having a big time catching 'gills on breadballs for the past couple of days.

Using bread as bait is as simple as it gets, and you almost certainly have the bait you need at home already, and as long as you keep the bread in a little bag so it doesn't dry up, a couple of slices will last quite a while. I like a tiny long-shank hook and bobber. Asher and his siblings have actually been just putting the bread on small jigheads, and it has worked great.

Pond Homecoming

With Asher and I having been on the road for nearly a month and most of the week since our return having been spent playing catch-up, I hadn't been to our favorite pond near home for about a month and a half. That doesn't happen very often any time of the year, but especially not in the middle of the summer. So when my internet service got sketchy yesterday afternoon, I decided it was time to head for the pond (where Asher was already fishing).

We didn't fish super long, and the fish weren't just jumping into the boat on a mid-summer afternoon. We managed a handful of bluegills in a couple of quick laps, though, and it sure was nice getting back to the pond. I'll bet it won't be another month and a half till my next visit!

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.

Father's Day Weekend Start

It wasn't a planned outing. My wife was taking a few of my children to swim in the pond that we often visit, and I felt I was near the end of my productivity, writing wise, for the week. So I grabbed Asher, my 10-year-old, and we grabbed a bit of gear and drove separately to the pond (so we could stay longer, if we wanted to, which we did).

Planned activity or not, I'll count a couple of laps around the pond with Asher as a very nice start to Father's Day weekend. We fished with little Rebel critters lures (him with a Bumble Bug and me with a Micro Craw and then a Crickhopper Popper). We each ended up catching five fish. All except one bass caught by Asher were bluegill, and most were decent sized fish. We also had a bunch of smacks from smaller bluegills. Beyond the one bass caught, we didn't see any others, so I'm thinking that most of the pond's bass have moved a bit off the banks.

Split Shift Pond Play

Asher and I ended up fishing a split shift on the pond yesterday. We originally only planned to fish a couple of hours because of a mid-afternoon plan unrelated to fishing; however, the bite was so good that we couldn't resist slipping back out there after we got home from the other activity to fish the final couple of hours of daylight. Our rods were already rigged with what had been working, and the cameras and other gear were likewise handy, so running back over there was quick and simple.

Fortunately, the fish were right were we had left them and acting the same way. In fact, we caught more in the evening than during the first shift. Together, by our best tally, we caught 30 fish, which is more than  Asher and I had ever caught together at the pond. Most were bluegills, with good quality overall, and we also managed to catch a handful of bass.

Asher did almost all of his damage with a Rebel Bumble Bug, which is a lure he only discovered yesterday and that now seems to be one of his favorites. He would let it rest initially after a cast and twitch it a time or two, giving fish the chance to attack it on the surface, and then reel it back slowly so it wobbled barely under the surface. Most hit it on the retrieve.

I caught almost all my fish on a tandem rig, fishing a Rebel Micro Pop-R with a Prince Nymph on a dropper about a foot and a half beneath it. I caught some on each lure, but most took the nymph. I believe, the popper draws them in and then they see that easy looking meal dangling in front of them and simply cannot resist it. Often right after one slaps at the popper but doesn't quite take it, the popper darts under like a cork. Whether it's the same fish that does both in most cases or whether the strike attracts more fish, I'm not sure. I just know it works really well.

I also know that Asher and I will be back to the ponds with the same rods rigged the same way soon. However, our next stop might be in a trout stream. North Carolina's delayed harvest streams will open to the harvest in a little less than a week, and we might just have to give a couple of them one final shot during the catch-and-release period. The #RebelTroutTrek is only seven weeks away, so we need to be well practiced with trout fishing and travel!

Birthday Fishing x 3

I awoke a little later than normal this morning, and Nathaniel's truck was already gone. He had left just before daylight to meet a friend for a morning of fishing at a lake just up the road. Nathaniel turned 17 today, and birthdays and fishing tend together around here. He and his friend each caught one bass.

It was a little odd having Nathaniel already gone for his first round of birthday fishing, but I got in on round two. Traditionally, assuming everyone is in town, we'll do at least a lap around the ponds nearest home on a birthday, and Nathaniel, Asher and I did that this afternoon. The bite wasn't crazy good by any means, but the boys each caught a bass and I caught a few bluegills.

About half an hour after we got home from that outing, the same friend Nathaniel fished with this morning picked him up for round three, at another pond. He's still gone and I've heard no word, so I don't yet know what they caught. I know he's be happy to be fishing for the third time on his birthday, though.

Pond Bass Playing Hard to Get

The bass in our favorite ponds around home showed themselves early this spring, sunning in shallow water and seeming like they were ready to move up and get active. That was a few weeks ago, and we've had quite a bit of spring-like weather since that time. The fish have largely remained hidden and tough to catch, though.

Nathaniel, Asher and I hit two of the ponds for a couple of hours today and only managed three small bass. We tried a variety of approaches -- stuff that normally works this time of year -- mostly to no avail. All three fish we did catch took shallow crankbaits. I caught two on a Rebel Bluegill. Nathaniel caught one on an XCalibur Square Lip. Beyond not catching many, we're not really seeing them. We only saw one bass that we did not catch today, and that has been more the norm than the exception since that one sunny early-spring day when fish were cruising shallow all over the place in the same two ponds.

It's not all bad. Trying to figure them out is part of the fun, and the boys and I always enjoy just going out to the ponds and riding around in the johnboat and/or walking the banks. It's just a bit baffling.

Ice Rod, Open-Water Bluegill

Did using an ice rod provide any real advantage? No. If the boat was still so my tiny jig went straight down I could pick up the bait a bit better on my Humminbird than with a longer rod, but I can't claim that helped me coax any fish into hitting. The truth is that it was pure novelty. We had an ice storm, so when Nathaniel and I headed went to the pond for a bit of fishing, I thought it would be fun to fish for bluegills with an ice rod. And it was.

The bite was tough. We made one lap around the pond casting for bass (with regular length rods) and got no strikes. Then we switched to vertical presentations of ice jigs tipped with worms, with only me opting to use an ice-fishing rod. For a while we didn't think we'd catch anything. We weren't marking much and were getting no bites. Eventually, Nathaniel and I each managed a single bite, and fortunately we both succeeded in converting bites into landed fish. I notched my first open-water fish on an ice rod, and we both enjoyed a bit of fishing with snowy banks.

Now we're ready for it to go away, though!

Asher's Fine Season Start

Yesterday I shared that the boys had gone off to the pond in pursuit of bass and that I was eagerly awaiting a report. The blog was barely posted when I got a text from Nathaniel with a picture of the fine bass Asher had landed. Asher's fish, which Nathaniel estimated to have weighed about 3 pounds, easily bested anything Nathaniel or I have caught so far this year, and it was Asher's largest fish of any kind to date.

Asher actually caught two bass yesterday. Both hit a Bandit Shallow Flatmaxx over a flat, a little bit off the bank. Nathaniel hooked one fish on a shaky head, but it got off. The day was dark and fairly mild for early January.

Nathaniel, Asher and I all have matching 2015 species lists: largemouth bass and bluegill and all from the same pond. I hope to add a trout or two to that list before the week is over. Before the month is over I'll almost certainly expand it a little between planned trips to fish the Pennsylvania ice and to fish for trout in Missouri.

Boys Went Bass Hunting

After a pretty cold snap for Georgia, today has been damp but surprisingly mild, and the trend appears to be toward warming for a few days. I've thought since early this morning that it would be a good day to be fishing, but upcoming travel plans and stuff due suggested that I should stay here and write fish stories.

I'll have to settle for fishing vicariously through Nathaniel and Asher. They announced an hour or so ago that they were headed to the pond for a while, and soon after they were pulling out in Nathaniel's truck. We do a lot of vertical fishing for bluegills this time of year and typically do pretty well with that approach. However, Nathaniel said that he and Asher intended to cast for bass today. I know he mentioned a shaky head. I don't recall what else he planned to try.

So far no phone pictures have shown up in texts, but I'm eager to get a report. Maybe they'll accomplish enough that I'll have a whole story to share in a blog tomorrow.

8 1/2-hour Fish

I'm not sure what Nathaniel and Caleb did with the first 8 1/2 hours of this year, but sometime around 8:30 this morning, they tallied their first fish of the new year. Nathaniel guessed that they caught 15 or 20 fish, all close to the bottom and on little jigs, and pretty much all from one corner of the pond. Bluegills dominated, with good quality overall, but they each managed to catch a bass or two as well.

As for me, I stayed home and worked on fish stories and did stuff around here, so I remain fishless in 2015. I'll have to rectify that soon.

Christmas Eve Pond Play

Late yesterday afternoon, Nathaniel decided the pond bluegills needed a Christmas Eve visit. I agreed, and we both figured that Asher would like to tag along. We scrounged up a few worms, which were shallow and easy to find on a strangely warm and rainy December day, grabbed ultralights and ice jigs, and hopped in Nathaniel's truck.

When Asher's along, it's always a competition, so we settled on an inches game. We would measure every fish and total the inches. For modesty sake, I won't say who won.

We only had an hour or so to fish before dark, but the fish were cooperative. We caught about 15 fish and even managed a couple of doubles. We caught them all on tipped ice jigs, either fished vertically at the deep end of the pond or cast to the bank, allowed to sink and dragged slowly across the bottom. The fish aren't stacked in the deep water yet, but they are on the bottom, and some have moved all the way out.

Last fish of the year? Maybe, but we still have a whole week, so maybe not!

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!

Birthday Bass & Bluegills

Birthdays and fishing often go together around my house, as I fairly commonly take my children to a nearby pond for a while on their birthdays. Yesterday we sort of turned things around, with Nathaniel, my 16-year-old-son, taking me to the pond. We fished out of his johnboat and he ran it. I just sat in front cast. He also dragged a canoe down the hill and launched it in the next pond down so we could make a lap down there and hit some different water. (Bass in photo came from the middle pond.)

We enjoyed perfect fall weather yesterday, and the fish were even kind enough to join the celebration. We caught a dozen or so fish, most of which were bluegills, in a couple of hours of pond play.

I also spent a bit of my birthday with my wife at Lawrenceville Bass Pro Shops, picking out some bug-tying stuff that was a present from Sarah, my oldest daughter. I hope to wrap a bit of the new stuff on hooks today and use it to catch trout tomorrow, but maybe that's a different story!

Pond Appreciation

Eli (5) paddling big brother Nathaniel (16) on the upper pond.

Pond outings get discussed fairly frequently on this blog, so it seems maybe I should tell a bit more about the ponds we most often fish. I speak of going to "the ponds" almost as if they are ours, but only because the property owners are gracious enough to let us treat them that way. They allow us free access to the ponds and the canoes on them at any time, and Nathaniel often keeps his johnboat by one of the ponds. I'm very grateful for that privilege.

The property, which is only about 4 miles from my house, has three ponds on it, all fairly small. Two are man-made. One is a natural beaver pond. Each has a unique personality.

We spend the most time on the upper pond, which has good access to from the bank or from a boat. It has three houses on it and a small beach area, where my family also swims during the summer. It has plentiful bluegills with a good mix of sizes and big numbers of mostly small bass with a few big fish in the mix.

The middle pond is the smallest and just downhill from the upper pond. No boat lives there and it's a bit of a walk with a canoe, so we mostly fish it from the bank. It gets more grass (and this year dollar pads) than the others and has some flooded timber on the far side. We often scoot down to it for a while if the upper pond bite is slow and we usually can wrangle in at least a couple of bass.

The beaver pond is our favorite because it is natural and has a wilder feel, despite being on the same property and really not being that far from the other ponds. It's shallow and full of stumps and produces good fishing for bass and bream. However, it has been very low for several months now -- almost too low to get around and fish -- so we're concerned the dynamic could have changed and that it could be reverting to a swamp. Hopefully. Mr. & Mrs. Beaver will want more water again soon and will do some engineering work.

Durability Lacking

Well, I guess need to work on my tying mechanics. The fish made pretty quick work of an Ugly Bug yesterday. The good news is that the damage was done by a dozen bream and bass landed in about 45 minutes. So apparently it looked OK when we started the afternoon. It just wasn't put together very well. And it wasn't just that the fish were so aggressive that anything would work about the same. Nathaniel and I each tried other miniature offerings -- proven 'gill getters at times -- and those didn't do the job nearly as well.

A little better finish and a dab of cement would have served me well, I suppose. In fact, I ought to invest a bit of time watching a few videos about tying mechanics. One way or another, I know I need to get some more feathers on that jighead soon! Maybe before tomorrow, in fact. Trout waters await, and I sort of think the trout might like the same pattern.