Saturday, March 27, 2010

More pheasants, and the fishing heats up


This pheasant thinks he's hidden

I had the opportunity to take a few customers to our hunt Club last week for pheasants. It's a great situation when your customers are also friends, and you look forward to getting to spend time outdoors together. We hunted Thursday and Friday. We all stayed at the club on Thursday nite and I cooked, so on Wed I thought I'd try to catch our hors d'oerves for the next night. I hit the pond over lunch. And, of course, I forgot my camera.

I fished for about 45 minutes and landed 9 nice (7" - 8-1/2") bluegills, 3 crappies , including one pretty big one for the pond (about 12"), and 2 walleye - small ones. Order of the day was the usual combination of Cubby jig and weighted bobber on an ultralight rod and 4# test. I filleted the panfish for the next evening.

We had a great time hunting both days. And - the fresh fillets of 'gills and crappie were GREAT! We also had thin strips of fried nilgai and bacon-wrapped pheasant breasts. (A co-worker had been in Texas a week or so ago and bagged a nilgai. I was the happy recipient of some cutlets) A little wine and snacks, and we were good to go.

The reason for the post is 2 fold - to let you know that the ponds in N. Illinois are picking up, at least with the panfish bite. And, I happened to get a picture on the hunt that I really like. It shows the manager of the club in the background, a pointing bird dog, and the pheasant. Can you find the pheasant?? Click on the picture to see it full sized.


Find the pheasant!


I plan to be out and on the water almost constantly from now on. My posts will try to be informative, and will try to keep you all posted on the progression of the fish activity in my area. It's not a blog to boast about the fish I catch, or where I go - I'm much more interested in helping others try to understand their waters.

And - don't forget - springtime is one of the best times to catch fish from the shores and shallows of any water, and is, IMHO, the BEST time to introduce newcomers to the sport. It is the "time of plenty".

Finally, not everything you see in the woods is BEAUTIFUL or PRETTY. On our club, there are always a lot of pheasants roaming free. And, free roaming pheasants attract hngry raptors. There are a LOT of hawks in the area, and they kill and eat a lot of pheasants. How do you know that a pheasant has been killed by a hawk? The hawks eat only the breast meat. So carcasses like this are fairly common sites throughout the property:




The hawks need to eat, too, and they capitalize on the relatively easy pickings of the plentiful pheasants.

9 comments:

Mark Kautz said...

Hey Joe. I looked at the picture and I can't find the pheasant. I can only assume it's in the direction the dogs nose is pointing. Been a loooong time since I've seen one in the wild.

Mark

Wolfy said...

Mark - don't feel too bad - it's TOUGH to see!

I'll post a zoomed-in shot in a couple of days to show anyone who can't find it

Bill said...

That second picture is a classic! I'm pretty sure I see the pheasant, took some looking though.

Clif said...

I think I see the bird. Is it a hen?

Anonymous said...

Hey Wolfy! Way to go on the panfish. I've been giving them some thought lately, too.

That is an excellent pic of the setter. And I think I see the bird.

Thanks for sharing!! Nice to see pheasants - I've been hearing them in the mornings, though.

Anonymous said...

Wolfy- I do believe that I've spied that bird. What a great picture!

I am looking forward to reading all about your fishing trips this summer and seeing what I can absorb for my fishing brain bank! As a "newbie" I need all the help I can get!

Fish Whisperer said...

Yep, found the bird. Tell Mark he can use my glasses. Well done on the fishing.
Cheers

LarryB said...

Damn, what an awesome capture Wolfy! Work'n dog,boss and game, all in one shot.That panfish set-up yer using has all the right components to furnish finned food, where ever you go. Mine is quite similar, and deadly too.

Nice post all around my man. Thanx for sharing your Phishing & Pheasant Phun with us all. :-) lb

The Hunter's Wife said...

Love this time of year for panfish.

And I actually think I found the pheasant.