Unusual Bluegill What Happen to This Fish?

This is a very unusual looking bluegill. I got this image the other day from one of my buddies at the gym. He knew I loved to catch bluegill on the fly. He told me he had never seen a fish in this kind of shape. We were trying to figure out just what happen to this particular gill. One theory was the fish could have got caught in some type of net when it was small and develop the cut in its back from the pressure of the net string over the a period of time. I thought it was worth sharing. I told my buddies that you guys might be able to figure out what happen to this fish. You might say that this is the crossword puzzle of the day.

Pelican Raider Boat Stabilizer

Got a comment from Mel over at Blog Cabin Angler about the post I did on the Pelican Raider Boat. He wanted to know how the boat handled in the wind. I forgot to mention in the Pelican Raider post that there are some problems with the boat as far as wind is concerned. I was having problems last year keeping the back of the boat straight and parallel with the bank on windy days. Of course I could control the front of the boat because of the trolling motor. So I started to think about a way I could control the back of the boat, and came up with what I call my stabilizer. By utilizing an old trolling motor mount minus the motor, I solved the wind problem.

I attached a 12 gauge piece of sheet metal at the base of the shaft of the trolling motor mount. I used my band saw and made a cut l ft. up on the shaft and inserted the piece of sheet metal up through the slit and secured the metal with two 1/4" bolts----enter the finished stabilizer which now holds the boat straight in line and parallel with the bank. Surprising what a little ingenuity can do for you.

Fishing From the Pelican Raider Boat

For those of you who don’t know the Pelican Raider Boat is a mini pontoon boat somewhat stunted. I had the opportunity to buy one of these little gems 3 years ago when Academy Sports was going out of business in Hoover Alabama. I had been thinking about a smaller boat for some time because I needed something small to fish the tiny nooks in Walker County Lake. I was getting tired of paying to rent an aluminum boat every time I wanted to fish the lake. At 4 bucks a pop for rental of a boat and 3.00 to pay to fish seemed a little steep. So enter the Raider boat, which turned out to be perfect for the type of fishing I was doing on the small lake. I could cover the entire lake with one charge on my trolling motor battery and still have power left at the end of a trip. With the lake being 160 areas I could fish all those little nooks and narrow channels with ease. It was perfect with my fly rod and I had plenty of rod rack space not to mention the extra space for tackle and a couple of small coolers. I learned early on that this little boat was more than I expected, because of the quietness, stability, ease of handling with a 30 lb. thrust trolling motor. The boat only weighs in at 85 lbs. because of the heavy gauge RAM molded construction. It floated high in the water which made it turn on a dime. In short, it has been the perfect little companion for my short trips to Walker or any other little water adventure. I don't know if you'll are aware of this but if you have a trolling motor on any small boat you must have it registered. Not having it registered will result in a fine. Guess who found this out?

Two individuals can fish from this boat. Your two seats slide along an open track which extends the length of the boat. I added a portable depth finder that operates off of D cell batteries. Perfect for a drop anchor 

The Bloggers You Would Want to Meet and Fish With?

Following suit with the OBN question who is the outdoor bloggers you would like to meet or fish with? I must admit that I have fished with a lot of individuals over the years and can honestly say I have found all to be good companions on the water. I guess I can contribute my fishing compatibility with the fact that I never meet a stranger or my easy going personality. I would really like to meet all the blogges I interact with during a week, but to list my complete blog roll would be a bit boring for my readers. A few that I would wet a line with are:


Jay over at The Naturalist Angler---Jay is an accomplished warm water fly fisherman especially with the smallmouth. I gather from his posts that he is very passionate about fly fishing. He and I will be able to accomplish our goal of meeting and fishing with each other in the spring. We plan on fishing Smith Lake in late April or early May and go after some of those mean Kentucky Spots. I really enjoy Jay’s post because our blogs relate to the warm water side of fly fishing.

Nate at Nate’s Fishing Blog—I found Nate’s blog through one of my email alerts. He works with his brother Justin and they own Herman Brothers Pond Management, which currently manages more than 1500 acres of water in Central Illinois. I find it interesting how he increases the size of bluegill and other species of fish. I also find it interesting how he uses structure to hold huge trout in an area. I would love to meet Nate and just discuss his work and see some of the waters he manages. He recently did a post where he uses the porcupine attractor to attract and hold trout; in fact he lands some monster trout from these attractors.

Chris at the Bream Bum---is what I call the ultra light fly fisherman. I consider him a master with the 3 wt and 2 wt. fly rod. He loves to fish small creeks and has the ability to dissect a small stream and land some awesome looking native brook trout. He and his buddy Will are both excellent at wading and fishing these little streams in the Ozarks in their home state of Missouri.

I hope I have not offended anyone by leaving you out of the list, but believe me all of you guys and gals are important to me and my fishing. I really look forward to reading your post each day and I have gathered a ton of information from all of you. Just keep putting out those great post.