The Bluegill, Start to Finish

The bluegill is probably the most common warm water fish caught throughout the United States. A lot of us started fishing as youngsters fishing for the bluegill. These fish will hit almost anything that moves in the water. I remember catching this fish as a boy fishing from the bank in our pond near our house. The first fish my grandchildren landed when they started fishing was the bluegill. Any size bluegill will produce a bend in the light fishing rod. The excitement on the face of a small child landing bluegill is priceless. I know I have witnessed that excitement. 

Bluegill and Crappie are the only fish I keep to dress for table fare. Both these fish are excellent to eat if they are dressed and prepared right. I'm not a fan of the so-called tried and true method of cleaning these fish. Scraping the scales off their sides and cutting their heads off is how we prepared them for the skillet years ago. My family and I thought they were delicious to eat at the time. 

It took years for me to discover that a filleted fish has a much better taste than a fish fried whole with the skin and bones. You eliminate the fishy taste when the skin and bones are removed from the fish. I filleted my first bluegill 45 years ago one afternoon on the back porch of my school Principals house, dressing bluegill we had landed that afternoon. The first fish I filleted on my own wasn't perfect but over time I mastered the process. 

This little Rapala 8" fillet knife is all one needs to fillet bluegill and crappie. The knife needs to be razor-sharp. A dull knife will not get the job done properly!

Both these beauties were taken off the rock walls on Smith Lake using the Boogle Bug poppers this past Thursday. A meal for two can be prepared from the meat taken from 5 or 6 bluegills this size.  

I created this video some time ago explaining exactly how to fillet quality-size bluegill. The same technique can be used on the crappie as well. 

The Receipt for delicious bluegill and crappie

Take all fillets and place in a pan with water and add 3 to 4 tablespoons of salt and stir until all the salt is dissolved into the fillets---let sit overnight in the frig--the salt removes all the blood from the fillets

Remove the fillets the next day and wash all the salt off the fillets

Spray a cookie sheet with pam and coat all the fillets with cornmeal mixed with lemon pepper, salt, and black pepper

Bake all the fillets on 450 in the oven and turn the fillets over in about ten minutes and continue to bake until done. The process of baking the fillets takes about 20 minutes or less. You want the fillets to be tender and not overly baked which will make them tuff.

For those of you who like the fillets fried use a fry daddy adding Crisco, or Coconut oil to fry the fillets until they are golden brown--remove the fillets and let set on a paper towel to drain the oil 

French fries, coleslaw, and hushpuppies are all sides dishes that are delicious to eat with the fillets. Don't forget the tartar sauce and catsup---almost forgot a cold beer to top the meal off!!

Enjoy the meal!

The Micro Swivel/Vanish Flourocarbon

 

This past Friday was another steller day fishing Smith Lake for bluegill and spotted bass. I was alternating between my 3, 4, and 5 weight fly rods. All the fly rods I use to fish the lake are nine feet medium to light action. I like to use 4X, 5X, and 6X weight leaders in 9 ft. and 7 1/2 ft. lengths. I always snip at least 24 to 30 inches of the tippet section off and add a micro swivel to the remaining leader. This tiny little swivel is a must when fishing surface flies and poppers. The swivel gives me the advantage of adding tippet to a leader that lasts me a couple of seasons. The swivel also keeps my tippet line from twisting, when casting different size popper. As soon as the tippet section reduces to 8 to 10 inches from changing poppers I tie on a new tippet line. By following this procedure I'm always fishing with a new tippet line. You may be thinking I am spending a bunch on tippet material; not so when I can buy 100-yard spools of Berkley Fluorocarbon Vanish 4lb. 6lb and 2lb. test line that will last me years. What impresses me about this line is its low memory and being super clear. The spooled Vanish line and the Micro Swivel are money savors for the fly fishermen on a budget and retired!

The orange Bea Popper is still the favorite of the bluegill and bass! I use the size 10 for bluegill and the size 8 for the bass. The next 5 to 6 weeks is prime topwater action on the lake using surface poppers.  Hopefully, I can make a trip happen soon on the tailrace. 

Keepsakes

 A Keepsake can be defined according to Webster's and Google as something kept in memory of the person who owned it or something kept as a memento. All of us have items in our possession that would qualify as a keepsake or mementos. The older and longer an individual keeps the memento items the more valuable they seem to become to that person or persons. 

So you guys ask, where did this post originate from? As I was stringing my three fly rods for one of my early morning fishing trips the other afternoon, I couldn't help but admire the three flyrods/reel combos I had chosen for the early morning outing. It has taken me years to assemble the seven combos I own and all have special meaning. I can recall some of the fish I've brought to hand using each one.  All seven of my combos have met my needs for fly fishing and I will continue to do so for the rest of my fishing. This may be a bold statement, but I will never purchase any more fly rods or reels for the rest of my fishing days. All are considered special in my mind, but the one that really stands out is the combo given as my retirement gift 15 years ago. I have mentioned this fly-fishing combo numerous times on this blog. I am referring to my special Streamflex 9 ft. 3 wt. paired with my Orvis 3 wt. fly reel.

This combo is truly a Keepsake that I treasure and I hope it will stay in the family for many years.

Another Keepsake I treasure is the bone-handle Case hunting knife that my Dad purchased over 50 years ago. He never used the knife because he didn't want to damage it. Dad was a Case pocket knife guy and owned quite a few in his lifetime. My Mom gave the knife to me over 25 years ago. The sheath has seen some wear over the years but will still holster the blade and protect the handle.

Two written texts that I am glad I took the time to assemble are my  Ancestry research and my blog to book. Both have special meaning and will be shared with family members over the years.

All of you know what a big western fan I am and anything to do with the wild west interests me. Ten years ago,  my son gave me a solid bronze 8 lb. statue of a Sioux warrior in full battle dress. It sits proudly in our den and one day will sit in Jason's den.

Three years ago, I decided to give Jason a Christmas gift that he would keep for the rest of his days. His interest in fly fishing got me thinking about some unique streamers framed under glass. This is where my blogging buddy Alan at  Small Stream Reflections entered the picture. I wanted him to tie 15 streamers utilizing as many colors as possible in the streamer patterns.  Jason and I were amazed at the detailed work he did creating each streamer pattern. He is truly a master at the tying vice! This streamer picture is what one would consider a keepsake that will stay in the family for years to come. It has been hanging on Jason's bedroom wall at our house for the past three years. It will find a new home in Jason's house in Noverber, which is when his house will be ready to move in.  

All these Keepsakes or Mementos will hopefully stay in our families for many generations. I know all of you guys have mementos or keepsakes you value. What would you consider the top three or four items you would want to keep in your family?

Blogger is Changing

I found out a couple of days ago about some of the changes occurring with Blogger. I started using Blogger back in 2010 and have never used any other means to publish my post. Yesterday was a shocker for me when I found out that I couldn't delete some of the blogs I follow that don't post anymore. If you go to the layout link in the dashboard and select the gadget "Blogs That I Follow" you will notice that it has changed. This new version only allows you to follow ten blogs. If you try to add more than 10 blogs none will display on your feature blog page. The following links will not work anymore from this gadget. The Snippet of most recent item, Thumbnail of most recent item and Date of the last update. The only way for me to see if you guys have submitted a new post is to click on your blog title to see you have submitted a new post. If you are using WordPress or some other blogger support service, those blogs will show the broken links I have mentioned above. With Blogger I don't have that option anymore. 

My wife told me this might be a blessing in that I don't follow as many bloggers as I use to. The 10 I selected to follow is about all that I communicate with these days. Still, these little changes that keep occurring with Blogger are annoying. It makes me wonder just how long Blogger will be around for those of us who use it as a means to share our posts.  

I was on the Blogger Forum yesterday communicating with bloggers who are having some of the same problems I am experiencing. A lot of the individuals were experiencing other issues. I am sharing a link that helps explains some of the changes occurring-----Blogger Hints

Working Through Some Frustration

 

I'm glad summer with its humidity, rain, and heat is coming to an end. I got a feel of some early fall weather Friday morning as I launch my boat at the dam on Smith Lake. A light jacket felt good to be wearing as I motored to one of the many rock walls in Ryan Creek. Fall is some of the best times to fish the lake using a fly rod and popper. 

The closer you get the popper to the wall the better chance you have to get the hit. The heavy rains didn't affect the clarity of the water, making it easy for the bluegill and spotted bass to target the popper. 

The bass was not hitting anything on top and this one was the only one that hit the little popper. I am not complaining because anytime I can land quality bluegill using the 3 wt. I'm pleased!

The winner today in the popper category was the size 8 Orvis Bluegill Bug. I have mentioned how effective this little popper is before in a previous post, but today it outperformed anything I was casting. What makes this popper so special is its ability to go subsurface when moving it. Most all the hits today occurred when the tiny popper was submerged. I always select this popper when the fish are not responding to surface poppers and today was one of those mornings. 

What a great way to spend a cool early fall morning fishing some of my favorite rock walls on beautiful Smith Lake. All these beauties were taken using the little subsurface Bluegill Popper. 

32 fillets ready for the freezer to be enjoyed during the winter months. 

A little frustration, no a lot of frustration trying to maneuver a trout fishing trip on the Sipsey these days. I do have the option to fish on the weekend, but I'm not a fan of casting thirty feet from someone else above and below me. The weekends are the only time the generators are not running. I am grateful I have Smith Lake to fish during the drawdown. Today's trip help me work through my frustration----Hopefully, the drawdown will be complete by October.  

The Color "Orange"

Orange, red, green, chartreuse, and white are all colors that are used when fishing poppers for bluegill and bass. One would think brown or black would be dominant colors fishing for warm water species, but not the case when trying to get a hit from weary bluegill or bass. The primary color of almost all insects that touch the water surface on Smith is black and brown, but I get many more hits using bright colors as opposed to the insect colors. 

The fish were hitting orange on Tuesday morning. I tried other colors which resulted in no hits. As soon as I tied on the Orange popper the bass jumped on it. This Spotted Bass came out of the water to inhale the orange popper. This fish was the second landed on the popper off the wall in the background. The first bass on this same wall was larger and broke me off while I was trying to get it on the drag. Never let your fly line get tangled up at your feet while you are trying to land a fish. How I wish I could have touched that fish I lost!!

The following are some more orange lovers. The bluegill sucked the popper into its gills; it would be my only good bluegill of the morning. The depths on most all the walls now are 10 to 20 ft. as the drawdown continues getting ready for the fall season. The lake is well below full pool during the fall and winter.  I kept wondering what bug the fish thought this popper was? All the Spotted Bass today were respectable giving my 3 wt. a workout!

Who needs a ruler when one can simply have it tattooed on your leg. I think I will pass on this tattoo. Tuesday was another fun day on beautiful Smith Lake!!