Spent Saturday, Feb. 10, at Belva Deer Lake with my boy Owen and IDA (Herb.) We met at the southwest boat ramp around 6:30. We put on all the clothes we had, since the temperature was hovering around 6 below 0. In my last report, you might remember that we were fishing in 20 FOW. This time, Herb suggested we try water a little shallower. This suggestion turned out to be a good one. We were fishing in 12-13 FOW around the brush. The closer we fished to the brush, the more fish we caught, but the more we got snagged. The trick was to drill a hole where we had a happy medium between fish and snags. Picture 1 is of Herb set up in just such a location.
As always, the Vexiliar was a great tool. We could see the bluegills as they came up out of the brush. Then we could pay special attention the spring bobber and jigging technique as some of the bites were very light. The best bait for us seemed to be a jig which lay horizontally in the water, such as a rat finke. This would be tipped with a waxworm. Picture 2 is of such a lure in our best-producing color, as well.
Fishing was best at first light. Herb got us started right off the bat with a couple of 8 1/2 – 9″ gills and a nice bass. Owen and I decided we had better get set up and fishing before Herb caught all of the fish. After a couple of moves, we found a good spot. Fishing was never fast, but one every once in a while. It was certainly good enough to keep our attention. Picture 3 is of Owen with a couple of the bluegills he caught.
We left around 1:00 p.m., but Herb was still at it. He’s such a die hard. He had just iced a couple more gills as we were packing up. Picture 4 shows Herb inside his tent as we were leaving the ice. People came and went all morning. At one time there were 40 vehicles in the parking lot. It’s good to see a lot of people enjoying this fine sport on this great lake.
Glad to see Herb get away from Lake Podunk
Looks like a good day, wish I could have been there
The rat finkes seem to be making a come back this year, any color besides green?
Nice report
Yea,
Light green.
Excellent report guys! As a guy that only gets out infrequently, I can tell you that the detailed discussions of techniques, specific jigs used, and presentation are much appreciated-as well as the general info on structure and water depths. Some reports lately leave much, if not all of this valuable information out-leaving the reader wondering what more was the purpose of the report, other than showing the general public, “look how many fish I can catch”. Thanks so much for sharing your experience and knowledge!
Kudos for a great report!
Great report guys, thanks for sharing.
John B
Steve,
sure glad you and Owen came down saturday. Had a blast. The only thing that could have made it better was bringing Brian and Sean with you. Maybe next time.
Went back on sunday. Didn’t get there as early. Found out the color needed for me was pink and white. Ratso ans rat finkee. Could keep the tails on the ratso so I just doubled up with waxies and it worked just as good. But the biggest problem sunday was having to hole hop. Drill a hole and catch one or two fish and had to move. Started fishing other’s holes that were drilled and left and that worked out ok. But still had to hole hop. 13inch would not leave me alone. I think I had more of those than gills for the day.
I’ll bet they would have tasted mighty fine!
Great report and photos guys…love those gills!!
Thanks!!!!!!!