The pheasant revealed, and the panfish are biting

In my previous post, I challenged people to find the pheasant being pointed by the English Setter in the photo. When I took the picture, I didn't see the bird! Well, a few of you did see it, some did not, and a few weren't sure. Here you go:


The original photo



The hen pheasant was sitting tight on the other side of the tree! Click the photo for a better view


I made it back to the ponds over lunch again today, and the bluegills were fairly active, even though it is still pretty cold. Cubby jigs about 2 feet under a weighted bobber were the key. If there was wood in the water, there were usually panfish around it. The wood will absorb heat more quickly than the water and the panfish flock to dark wood early in the season. No real big ones today, but a good lunch. Totaled 8 'gils - all released.

I will be in Alabama on Thursday and Friday, trying to put my hands on some BIG bass. Last year, my son got one a little over 8#. It looks like we might hit it PERFECT this year. You'll get a full report over the weekend. My son is going back with me, but he has a handicap this year - he broke his arm on Friday. Luckily it was the left arm, so he can still cast and set hooks. We'll see how it goes. He'll undoubtedly catch a 12 pounder while I won't break 5!

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.

Pheasant hunting in March

Yes, the general pheasant season has been closed for months. But the season is still open on licensed Hunt Clubs. We have a corporate membership at a local club, and I had a customer out on Thursday to enjoy a day in the field.

Let me start by saying this is NOT intended to be a post to open up the proverbial can of worms that exists between wild bird hunters and hunt club users. Hunting wild birds on public land is completely different, if for no other reason than the state imposed bag limits. Hunt clubs are more geared toward shooting rather than hunting. When you go out hunting on public land, you may or may not even see any legal game, let alone shoot any. On a Hunt Club environment, seeing birds is not in question; nor is getting shots. But a well run and well designed club offers a great day in the field, nonetheless.

And that is the point of this post. The club we belong to is run as well as any I have ever visited. We hunt alternating strips of standing corn and dense pine trees, with woodlots and creek bottoms interspersed throughout the property. Some birds flush wildly, some sit tight, and some run. It is a very satisfying day in the field. On this particular trip, we had some huns, too (Hungarian Partridge). These little buggers fly fast and low and are more challenging than the pheasants, at least for me. Kick in the conditions - 26 degrees with a stiff NW wind - and they can be a tough target.

As always, we had a lot of fun, walked a long way in the 4" - 6" of snow, and shot a lot of birds. I shot unusually well on this hunt, although I'm sure I'll come back to earth the next time out. I thought I would show a few pictures to show the way the club is set up. It really is a great place for bird hunting.




Good looking mixed habitat




Field edges




The intended quarry


(NOTE - on all the photos I post, you should be able to click on them to see a larger picture)