Four bluegills from my grandpa's pond.
I had no luck catching any trout today, so I decided to try the Westfall family farm pond.
My grandpa spent a lot of time and money making this pond work. He stocked it with bluegill and bass, but he also did he all could keep the pond from leaking. He also controlled the vegetation both around and in the pond.
In the last two years, his health deteriorated greatly. No one in the family paid much attention to it.
When I showed up today, it was lily pad city.
There was just a big hole of open waterin the middle where no lily pads were to be found.
It was like ice fishing, just with much warmer weather.
The old technique for catching a bluegill is to put a mealworm or small earthworm (“fishworm”) on hook. As soon as you feel a nibble, reel in quick. The fish’s reflex is to grab that which has been taken away from it, and when it grabs it, it will be hooked. (I was using number 10 hooks.)
They were really biting this evening. I caught these 4 within 45 minutes. The only time I lost my bait was to the effing lily pads.
I was shocked at how many fish were in this pond. It’s not a very big one and is no deeper than 6 or 7 feet int he middle.
But there were huge bass swimming around and tons of bluegill.
When we were kids, we’d beg our grandpa to take us fishing. He never took us when the sun was shining right on the pond in the evening. It had to be shaded a bit.
We’d beg.
“Not ’til it’s shaded.”
We’d beg again.
“Not ’til it’s shaded.”
And when it was shaded, we’d go out and fish. I caught a few bass and who knows how many bluegill.
There was one huge bass in the pond that we called “the Great Destroyer.” I hooked him a few times, but I don’t think I ever reeled him in.
Those were good times.
My grandpa passed in August.
Monday would have been his 79th birthday.
As I sat along the side pond this evening, I thought about those times.
I was a pretty lucky kid to have access to such a great pond– and to have grandparents who lived nearby.
Bluegill aren’t trophy fish in the least.
But their pungent stench takes me back.
This was a nice story! I didn’t know my dad’s parents very well as they lived far away from us. When my parents married, they lived with my grandfather until we passed. And then all 7 of us kids came..all in 9 years. We were poster children for birth control. The main memory I have of him, he passed when I was 11 yrs old from a heart attack, was the rubber binder. He would snap it on us when we were bad. So that was pretty frequent! LOL. Thanks again for the story and sorry to hear about the loss of him. My mom pased the end of July(dad went in 2007)
“You know when they have a fishing show on TV? They catch the fish and then let it go. They don’t want to eat the fish, they just want to make it late for something.” – Mitch Hedberg
It`s good to have such memories.
My grandfather was a coalmaster, and bred gundogs and coursing hounds. I remember him as always active, never seeming to rest.
Are bluegill good to eat?
If you like fish, they produce a fillet that is about the size of a commercial fish patty.
Nice string!
What a nice story. I’m sorry on the passing of your grandfather. He sounds like he was a great guy.
Gramps said the fish were mine and to charge $75 per fish to anyone that
catches one, wire me some pizza money.
Thanks for bringing back some fond memories Scottie. Bluegills are really fun to catch with a fly rod & good eating as well.
Growing up in Chicago my grampa would take me down to the Lake for Whitefish, Smelt, Smallmouth Bass, etc. Afterwards, we’d clean the fish & if any of the bass bait (crawdads) was left we’d cook them up as well.
As an adult here in MD I took my son & youngest daughter fishing at least a couple of times a month during the summer–usually to local farm ponds but also to the tidal rivers & occasionally the Chesapeake Bay. We’d catch huge batches of Sunfish–Bluegill, Cracker, Longear, Warmouth–Croakers, Yellow & White Perch, etc., bring ’em home, fillet ’em, & freeze ’em individually before packing them in freezer bags for later fish fries. They were the only fish the kids would eat! BTW: my daughter was the best “fisherman” in the bunch.
Over the years I’ve caught plenty of large game fish (Stripers, Bluefish, Large Mouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, et al) while out w/ friends & associates, but those trips w/ my kids were always the best of times.
Worst day fishing is better than the best day working ;) Thanks for sharing the catch with us they might not be trophies but they are handsome little devils indeed. Tell Willie to go get a job as an assistance dog or something and earn his own pizza money…trying to cash in on your fishing efforts…should be ashamed!
[…] Miley is getting braver about swimming. She won’t go all the way, but she will submerge most of her body. She looks very much like a hippopotamus among the lilies. This is the same pond where I caught some bluegills this spring. […]