5/7/14 bluegills

[slabslayer]

Hit the soft water with the rowboat again late this afternoon. Fished the C-5 area again. Bite was slower than last week and the size was down, but still got some really nice big gills over 8 1/2".  The weeds have really come up in the last week. The fish moved out of the reeds and into a little deeper water. I got them today on a Chartreuse hexi-fly 18" under a light bobber tipped with a waxie. I was targeting holes in the new lily pads and weed beds. Hope to fix the lower unit this weekend so I can fish out of a real boat next week!   But the rowboat is fun, that way I can say I worked out today! 

[gillhunter]

I've been hitting some coves too. Using ant jigs tipped with a wax worm. I have been playing with colors this year. Black and pink seem to be out performing yellows, now that the water has cleared up. Weeds are getting thick. The tactic that has been working, with a bobber, is not to let it sit but a slow retrieval. Letting the jig float over all the openings has been increasing numbers for me.
As of 5/18 the gills were setting up on the beds. Caught some nice 7"+ and a lot of rock bass so far this year. I was reading on another forum a guy claims he pulled an 11 3/4" out of nimi a few years ago. I have personally never seen anything over 9 1/4" (my personal best for nimi).
Maybe I will set up another thread to see what others best gill has been at nimi.

[Ntoiceman36]

Love to hear the stories about nimi, hope to see all you nimi fisherman on june 21st for the first annual friends of nimisila day! We can show our appreciation to her and her bounties by beautifying her shoreline! :-)

[slabslayer]

Sounds good. I do believe the story on size of gills there. I caught a 12" true gill from C -5, not a redear. I haven't got anything over 10 1/4" in 15 years though. I got that monster when I was 20 and skipped out on my college classes that day. I caught over 30 gills that were 9" or bigger that day. Best day of gill fishing I've ever had. Released them all, only took a pic and measurements of the big one to get a replica mount made. Only fish I've ever mounted, and I have caught an Ohio bass over 10 pounds and a crappie that was 17 3/4" too. That true 2 pound plus gill was amazing!  I'll probably never see one that big again in my lifetime.

[gillhunter]

Wow! Those sound like amazing fish. Clearly, by my name, I almost exclusively fish for pan fish. In my lifetime I would like to get into a least a "wild" 11" gill. By wild I mean in a large public body of water. I have been fishing the same farm pond since I was about 14. Every gill in there is a fish-O. I don’t really think farm ponds should count though. I literary have been the only person fishing there for 15 years, maybe with the exception of the owners grand kids. Let me tell you about fun!
I haven’t heard of this friends of nimi thing. Sounds like a great idea. I don’t have a boat so I am restricted to shore only. It really makes me sick when I see all the trash and line that is left behind. Every time I go I usually bring home more garbage than fish. I have considered taking a steel trash can with a raccoon proof lid and leaving it in them main street cove. I don’t know if the rangers would approve or not but anyway some yoyo would probably throw it in the lake anyhow.

[slabslayer]

There's a thread with more info on the friends on Nimi day on the site. Sustain do a search for it and it will come up. I think it's in general discussion. As for the gills, I agree. Wild public lake fish are more impressive. My crappie was a Deer Creek (Alliance, Oh) fish. The bass was a strip mine deal, but my biggest public water bass was a 9 pound 4 ounce hog from Deer Creek also. That lake has monsters in it. I saw a guy pull in a flathead catfish over 40 inches, I was with my dad when he got a 31" walleye, and I saw a picture of a 12" bluegill that a friend of a friend caught and released there last spring.   There are public water trophies, and they're so much more satisfying than a private lake/pond fish!!   Not that I will turn down fishing a private lake.  

P.S.  I moved that friends of Nimi day thread to the Nimi board.