Pool 7 Panfish Report 05.26.12

Memorial Day weekend, even though summer doesn’t start until June 21st, this is the weekend I typically deem the unofficial official start to summer. Not too many days after this holiday weekend, the kids are out of school for the summer. It’s also right about this time that the Bluegills start moving up in anticipation of the spawning push. As it is, we’re about 2 weeks ahead this year from the warmer temps we received a while back and the spawn is just about upon us. While some areas have already seen the panfish spawn come and go, areas on Lake Onalaska are getting ready for a full tilt spawn.

When the kids are out of school, there’s nothing they like better than chasing over eager Bluegills guarding beds as if their life depended on it’s defense.

Today my Son William, my Dad and I got out for a quick trip before the rains once again pushed back us to dry land. We were greeted with an abundance of Bluegills waiting to sink a bobber below the waterline.

You give a kid an old Zebco33 seated on an ultra light spincast rod rigged with a plain’ol hook and bobber rig and you’ll have a kid who’ll find themselves entertained for hours on end. William had no problem finding the sweet spot and hoisting Bluegill after Bluegill over the side of the boat.

If you missed my last Quick Report, click the link. The sized hasn’t changed. We’re still seeing some nice sized males in the 7.5-8″+ range. These squirt guns are hard charging and put up a heck of a fight on light tackle.

On this outing, we caught quite a few more fat-bellied girls signaling the spawn is quite close even though their bellies aren’t as soft as they should be. Some of these females are so packed with eggs they look like someone pounded a hard boiled egg into their midsection. All of these gals were handled with great care and were released to ensure that kids like William will have fish to chase when he grows older.

Before the rains chased us off the water, we managed to put 19 scrappy Bluegills into the boat for a fish fry in the very near future. William was shown how important it is to measure the catch as not to keep anything too small and to make sure all the lady fish were put back so they can lay their eggs. I think he has a pretty firm grasp on what means to practice selective.

I have the upcoming week off and hope to get back out after these Bluegills, this time chasing them with a fly rod and some poppers. I might even find some time to chase a Bass or 2…

First I plan to follow a hot lead I got on a good Catfish bite. Hopefully I’ll have a report to follow!

Good luck fishing.