Central Iowa Bluegills

[FishnDave]

Fly-fished during lunch yesterday at a local public pond.

Bull bluegills are hitting their nests in ponds here in Central Iowa. The fat females are hanging in deeper water near the nesting areas.
Bass are cruising around the shallows, as are a few channel cats and grass carp.
I couldn't interest the grass carp, but the bass and bluegills were willing to hit a foam spider-type topwater.

Biggest bluegill for me today was just over 9". What a beauty of a BULL gill!:

[FishnDave]

Today (5/22/0 I caught 7 nice bluegills, and 6 largemouth bass on the fly rod during lunch.
2 females were particularly huge. I took pictures of one to show how fat they are, and then immediately caught another fat female that measured 9" (didn't bother with a picture). Thats a BIG FEMALE BLUEGILL!!

I also watched a crappie follow and hit my fly, but I didn't hook it. As you can see in the pictures, it was sort of a light rain here today. I was prepared.

[Wild One]

That second gill looks like she's about ready to bust at the seems!

Lunch hour fishing sure does make the days go by faster doesn't it? I've had a great time wading a stream about 5 minutes away from my office lately. The smallies are definitely out and about here in central OH. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of the fish, except on my phone and I don't know how to upload those without a usb cable which I don't have for my phone.

[FishnDave]

Smallies sure would be fun during lunch! I had a few lunch trips like that on the Fox River in Illinois when I lived there. VERY FUN!

I know not all phones/plans are the same...but I can get my pictures from my phone to my computer by programming in my e-mail address in the cell phone's "Contacts" (phone book). Then I view the picture, pick "Options", and then send it to my e-mail address. When I get back to work, the pictures are waiting for me! Unfortunately, my camera phone takes HORRIBLE pictures like these:

[FishnDave]

I fly-fished a public pond for about an hour Tuesday evening. I used a wooly-bugger and caught at least 20 bluegills, 3 largemouth bass, 1 green sunfish, and 4 hybrid sunfish.
Here's a nice hybrid sunfish...9 1/8":


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[ohiotuber]

Dave,
You've been a busy guy & some great pictures to attest to the fact that it's been a fun kind of busy! Thanks for sharing.
Mike

[mashtom]

Great looking gills! They have yet to start bedding around here, but I suspect it will be any day now.

[FishnDave]

The males have been on nests for a bit over a week now here. A week ago, I thought the females were "fit to burst" with eggs, and would be spawning soon. I caught some today that were even fatter...looked like they were getting ready to lay a golf ball! Maybe they are waiting for the next full moon, which is June 18?

Absolutely beautiful bluegills! All released so they can finish "doing their thing".

Here's a nice bull 'gill from today, just under 9":

[Rick Z]

Good looking fish.
I have been getting some gills and some crappie over the past two weekends.


Not sure what the rain we got last night and this am are going to do to the fishing.

Rick

[FishnDave]

We got a lot of rain in this area as well, Rick, and it doesn't seem to have really affected the fish or the fishing in the ponds.

One public pond I fish is starting to get an algae bloom, which is making the fishing difficult. I spent almost 1/2 my lunch hour cleaning the junk off the hook of whatever fly I happened to be using.

This particular pond is constructed so that the water level stays pretty consistent, but I heard that a nearby lake has risen about 2 feet in the past 24 hours (Big Creek Lake). Saylorville Reservoir is another story altogether.