Surprise mid day trip, 1-9

Got a call from 870 mid morning yesterday asking if I would like to join him fishing on one of his ponds. Since my work day was not busy, I gladly headed his direction to chase after some panfish and hopefully some crappie on one of the ponds we usually do well on.
We walked out on the pond about 1 and fished 'till almost 4 before packing it in. We didn't do well at all with the crappie, they actually eluded us completely but we did OK with perch and bluegills. And a couple of bass gave me some good tugs as well. We drilled lots of holes over both the deep spots and the shallower flats and moved from hole to hole, usually bringing up at least one of something. Had 1 hole that produced over and over again when I would go back to visit it. I kept any 'gill over 7", some were around the 8" mark.

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The big fish of the day came from this hole as well, a 12" perch and bass, and a 14" bass a bit later.

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The bass were returned but the perch and 13 nice bluegills came home with us.

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Lots of smaller perch and bluegills were returned as well. Crappie skunked yesterday but we hope to find them next time. We've got a stretch of January thaw weather here for the next few days so it will be a while before we get back after them.

Nice! Thanks for sharing

Nice catch!

Nice perch. Wonder why we eat those bass down south, but you guys don't. They make nice filets.

I have no problem eating those bass but in this small pond, leaving the bigger fish seems to make sense to keep the smaller, prolific panfish in check. Had I caught a couple of 8-10" bass they probably would have come home for the pan. CT size limit on most waters is 12" minimum but being private water, anything goes.

Awesome ice and post! Congrats and be safe. Thanks for posting

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Originally Posted by "D"

Nice perch. Wonder why we eat those bass down south, but you guys don't. They make nice filets.

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Because we have salmon, perch, walleye and pike. All better options. This past summer my grandson wanted to keep a legal sized bass and it ate just fine.

Salmon is a different class of fish, never had pike, had chained pickerel. Loved the walleye and perch. But bass taste as good as any down here. Especially 12 to 14 inch. And they filet just like a walleye. And most importantly, you left off crappie and I seen you put away those. And why do trash cans look like minions in certain campgrounds. :dono:Rofl

You know me, Danny, fillet and fry it and I'll eat it. And Minions are yellow, not blue.

Nice catches!