Prime Time Farm Pond gills

[ILRiverRat]

Well - with the weather they had predicted - we pulled the plug on going down to the Kids Fishing Day at Meramec Springs park and decided to hit an old reliable farm pond.

Turns out this was the best plan. I mean - I like trout - but 15 min. is better than two hours, I like to eat 'em better and they are such a blast to catch. Only fished a couple hours - but that was more than enough to catch all I cared to clean...

Some pretty good gills in this mess. I think we ended up cleaning 55 - but after we loaded a couple stringers - we just started throwing 'em back.

[jcd]

Hi Carl,


I am guessing those are hybrid gills?...What did you catch them on?...It is hard to beat catching huge gills on light tackle in farm ponds..Pretty impressive stringer of gills..

Jeremy

[ILRiverRat]

No hybrids in the bunch. Plan old bluegills. Had some shellcrackers and punkinseeds too - but mostly - straight gills.

A LOT of these fish were in the 9-10" range.

but a buddy of mine put 60 in the livewell at a pond over in missouri and they were in the 10-12" range. That's impressive!!!

that's stupid big for gills..

caught them on bait - for the most part. wax worms

[jcd]

Hi Carl,

That is pretty impressive for just regular gills...The pond/small lake must have a pretty bait forage for the gills to get that big...Wish I could find a lake that has some nice gills in it...All the bigger lakes I fish seem to have small bluegill in it...


Jeremy

[ILRiverRat]

yeah - and while we didn't catch any this trip - this pond coughs up some pretty nice black crappie too. Biggest I've managed was 15" - but the owner tells me they've pulled out some in teh 17-18" range. Those would be some hogs..

It's pretty balanced but nobody fishes it much for gills - so we do our part to keep it 'balanced' :D

[jcd]

Hi Carl,

Does the owner of the small lake/pond feed the fish?


Jeremy

[ILRiverRat]

dont' think so.... It's a pretty healthy pond. Heck it's got nice bass too but you'd never think it with all the big ol bullfrogs out there.... Unfortunately - those are off limits to me.. :rolleyes:

[zettler]

Is this southern, central or northern Illinois?

I ask just to get a handle on if there is a relationship to spawn or the like...

Thanks and congrats!

[jcd]

I am not sure exactly the location of the pond..But, it is somewhat close to Alton..So I would say central Illinois..

Jeremy

[Illinoisgiller]

Impressive catch there ILRiverRat! Those nice gills beat the pants off a trout any ole day. :D That would be a fun time catching. Thanks for sharing the pictures. Illinoisgiller