Eight is Enough

Kevin here.  I went back to one of my favorite ponds this weekend for some more bluegill action.  I ended up catching forty-eight nice bluegills.  While I was fishing, a blue heron got very interested in the fish I was catching.  He stood about 30' from me for the next 2-3 hours. Whenever I caught a smaller gill (5" or so), I tossed it to him. He ended up eating EIGHT bluegill. I figured one or two would have filled him up, but boy was I wrong. After the last one, he just turned around and walked down the bank.  That was one well-fed heron!  Here are some pics:





A beautiful fall day ...

My seatbox, bait tray, and rod are ready for action!

 

Maggots:  the bait of kings (and CPAs.)





Nice one!



The blue heron watches me reel in fish with great interest.




COOL morning on Lake Sinclair

Chris Clayton and Kevin Hendren braved the frigid morning temperatures to bag some carp on beautiful Lake Sinclair.  Here are some pics:

Chris shows the carp who's boss!

OK, guys.  Feel free to net me anytime now.

We take care of the carp!  That's an official "carp unhooking mat" he's lying on.

Chris shows off a nice 9-pounder.

Another tube trip

Kevin here.  I got out to one of my favorite ponds recently in my float tube and had a fun day with the bluegills.  Here's a pic of one of the biggest fish of the day:

It's not just the catching.

BNKJ Partner Jim Lahm shows that a shore lunch of fresh fish is hard to beat.  This picture was taken at the Marten River Lodge in Ontario on Jim's annual trip with client Harvey Watt.  Target fish are walleye and northern pike and were caught with live minnows fished on light spinning rigs.

Lake Seminole Fishing Report -- October 18-23, 2011

Ken Huff had the pleasure of fishing for bass on Lake Seminole last week and has kindly prepared a fishing report for all of us.

Lake Seminole is a 37,500 Corps of Engineers reservoir located on the Georgia, Florida and Alabama borders. Its main tributaries are the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers.

The fish seemed to be scattered with no real pattern emerging. Fish from 2 – 4 lbs were caught using a variety of baits. Early in the week top water frogs in the lily pads were the ticket along with spinnerbaits in front of the pads. Later in the week the frog bite fell off and Ken and his fishing buddies had some luck with trick worms around hyacinths and hydrilla grass. They also found some action using lipless crankbaits and “walk the dog” baits like the Zara Spook and Sammy over hydrilla grass beds. Wildlife was abundant with water fowl, wading birds, owls, hawks, osprey, eagles, alligators and more. It was a great week in nature.

Hope all of you enjoy the beautiful fall as well!

Jim lands one with a fly rod!

Jim Harvey, Director with Stanton Chase, shared this photo of a 27"  (blind) redfish who ran into the hook of Jim's shrimp pattern one morning off the coast of St George Island.  It took 12 minutes to land with the fly rod! 

Fishing at Sunrise...

These pictures show the beauty and grace of fishing. Thank you to BNKJ's own Ross Mackenzie for sharing. Just beautfiul shots!

CPE and Hybrid Bass - A Great Combination!

Recently, several of us attended a “Fish and Learn” hosted by David Ramey of Wells Fargo Advisors.  The “Fish and Learn” consisted of half a day of CPE (that’s continuing professional education for you non-CPAs) and half a day of fishing on Lake Allatoona.  Here are some pics from the fishing trip.  (The pics of the CPE class are not nearly as interesting.)

Here's BNKJ Partner Jim Lahm with a nice hybrid.

Here's Andy Bowen of the Cohutta Fishing Company with another one.

Fishing with Captain Bob

Kevin here again.  I took a trip to Naples, Florida last week and fished two days with Captain Bob Marvin.  Bob is one of the true pioneers of saltwater fly fishing.  He and Doug Swisher started the first saltwater fly fishing school in 1970.

Snook and tarpon are the major targets but there's always a good chance to hook mangrove snapper, jack crevalle, ladyfish, and spanish mackerel.  It's shallow water fly fishing with 6, 7 and 8wt outfits, and you will see most strikes.  One thing you won't see, though, is other fisherman.  If you'd like to schedule a trip with Bob, you can reach him at 239-877-9162.  He is very patient and can accomodate all skill levels.

Here are a few pics:

That's a 20-pound "baby" tarpon.

That's obviously not the Chattahoochee.

Mangrove swamp

Horizon

Mr. Snook meets Mr. Hendren.

More horizon

Nick Caught This Brother and Sister!

Nick Romano shared this DH Section Hooch Stocker he caught on his four weight by tricking the sister on a size 16 prince fly...

Here is the brother...

A Handsome Toccoa fish!

Nick Romano, President of SignUp4, says he didn't catch this handsome fish from Toccoa, but he did help revive her so we won't "tail" anyone :).

Quite a Catfish!!

We do not know this fisherman but are greatly impressed with his "cat"ch!

Fun with Carp at Lake Sinclair

Kevin here again reporting on a fun day of carp fishing at Lake Sinclair.  I was the guest of Frank and Cathy Lewandowski.  Here are some pics!

Here I am with a nice one.  (I am the one wearing the stylish hat and glasses.)



Thirteen pounds of muscle.  (No, not the fish.  That was my nickname when I played high school football.  Unfortunately, I weighed 140 pounds at the time.)

That's not a bluegill bending the rod.

 A nice 9-pounder.

The carp know me (and fear me) as "Dr. Shade".

You gotta use both hands for the big boys!

Hold her steady Mr. Hooper.  I've got something very big!

Jim Simons and Joe Vargas' fishing trip

Joe Vargas and Jim Simons caught this crappie in late February on Lake Horton in Fayette County.  The weather had been erratic and no one was catching fish that day, except for Joe and Jim, of course.



Joe and his crappie



In total, Joe and Jim actually managed to catch nearly 80 fish and kept 50.  Some of the crappie came in at over 2 lbs, which is large for a crappie.  They also caught a few bass and bowfin, 

It was so windy they could not even anchor over a spot, so they would find the fish and drift over them again and again until they stopped biting, and then they would hunt for the next school.

They fished with combination of minnows, jigs and savvy fisherman's intuition.
 

Good work, fine fellows! 

Fishing the Long Pole

Here is yours truly fishing the long pole at a Kentucky pond:

This was filmed for a TV show called "Kentucky Afield".  It's the longest running outdoor show in the nation and the fourth longest running show in TV history.  "Meet the Press", "The Today Show" and "The Guiding Light" are the only programs ahead of it.  (While the rest of the country was wasting its time watching politics and soap operas, we Kentuckians were focused on the truly important issues.)

We filmed on a sweltering hot July day.  Half the stuff I took with me was water and Gatorade!

Tales from the Tube

Kevin here, and I love fishing out of my float tube. Here are some pics from a recent trip.

The tube is ready for action!

Pretty shoreline

More pretty shoreline

Nice bluegill

Another one

Fish on!

Another fish on!

Little channel cat

Little bass

All fish were taken on a black trout magnet, 4# line, a Daiwa Fuego reel and a 5'6" St. Croix light rod.

Kentucky Catfish

Here's Kelly Hendren with a five pound channel cat. He got the fish in a small Kentucky pond on an 18' Japanese hera pole, 8# line and a #14 carp hook. Maggots were the bait of choice. Never doubt the power of the maggot! Here's a close up of another cat:

The hera poles are really amazing. They are telescopic graphite poles that are incredibly strong. There is no reel used, but they easily handled the catfish. I tried them out for carp the next day. I hooked one carp that promptly broke the 8# line. Note to self: use heavier line for carp!

Bonefish, Barracuda, Pompano... oh my!!!

This past February, Greg Esslinger (FTI Consulting) and his son Davis traveled to Marathon in the Florida Keys to celebrate Davis' 10^th birthday. 

Davis the avid angler and his father caught more than 40 fish the first day, including this pompano!

Later Greg cast four bonefish in the morning and landed three, the first of the season for Bus, including this 7-pounder below!

The final fish of the day was the magnificent 20 lb barracuda seen below, which Davis cast, hooked and landed unassisted after a 15 minute struggle!  The only thing bigger than the fish was the smile on Davis' face.  

Oooooooooooh Barracuda!!

What a perfect father/son outing!! Thanks for sharing, Greg and Davis and happy fishing!

BNKJ Family

Jeff Koch is all smiles with his red snapper caught while deep sea fishing in Destin, Florida!

The Kochs and their fish family!

BNKJ CPA Angie Koch and her family caught some beautiful red snappers on vacation last week in Destin, Florida.

Red Snapper season had just opened on June 1, so Angie and family chartered their boat, Sea Winder, a day later and took their three children (ages 13, 12 & 9) on their first deep sea fishing trip.

Seas were rough-- about 3-4 foot swells-- but the children (and adults) handled things well and they caught a lot of baitfish to kick-off their fishing frenzy!.  

Captain Stan headed out West and after a 30 minute trip their Red Snapper adventure began. The first fish was about a 10-12 pound Gag Grouper, but since that season closed, they had to unfortunately release it. Fishing got better for the Koch family after that, and at the end of 45 minutes of fishing the family had caught 10 Red Snappers! The biggest one was estimated at 18-20 pounds.

Fun vacation-- thank you for sharing!