Photo sharing...Panfish

[Mr. Pike1]

Esoxcop, Now those are some true trophy bull sunfish. Seeing those pics bring back to a time long ago fishing a lake just outside the boundry waters. We could see the sunfish on the beds and in the water with the polorized sunglasses they looked the size of dinner plates. They did not disappoint and once captured they went 12 inches plus and well over a pound. I have never since that time seen sunfish the size of dinner plates but these pic certainly remind of that time and give me hope that the elusive monster bulls are still out there

Fantastic pictures and thank you for sharing.

[EsoxCop]

Heres some more pictures

[Huntin&Fishin]

Wow! looks like you got a secret spot.

[Dan Thiem]

Them are the biggest pigs I've ever seen. Are you sure them aint hub caps off an old Chevy? Sheeze! Way to go!

[Corey Bechtold]

I'm jealous!

My guess is that the lake you are fishing is private or else everyone in the area knows about the importance of selective harvest.

Congratulations on those trophy's!!! Did you happen to get a measurement on some of those Gill's?

Good fishing,

Corey Bechtold

[EsoxCop]

All fish were caught on public waters. You just have to time the spawn right or you won't find em. The fish in the photos on both pages are 10.5 to 12.5 inches with the biggest weighing in at 1lb 13oz.

[palisade1kid]

Those are some fantastic gills.

I have a spot that gives those beauts up but it's too tough to fish now.Come spring it's a ton easier.

We managed some slabs today.

[The Freak]

I REMEMBER THAT DAY!!!!! WHAT A DAY!!

[palisade1kid]

Those slabs&gills are bitting now that the water is cooling.

[fishuhalik]

Esox, I've caught some big gills before, and those are absolutely incredible, I've only seen one that was 12", but it wasn't near as fat as those. This is my biggest, caught last winter and it went almost 11.5, but as you can tell your fish are considerably thicker.

I definitely believe you on measurements and would say you're being conservative on the weight! It doesn't look like you have real small hands, and those fish are just absurd.

[Matt Johnson]

EsoxCop... we need to go fishing

[Cyberfish]

[Huntin&Fishin]

Wow thats neat, way to think out side the box!

[Cyberfish]

Jack took me out on the river backwaters today and we really got into the bluegills, mabye got 200, plus around 50 crappies

the sun is risin, on the road to the fish!

I start getting gills right away shallow with my 3 wt flyrod!

Jack gets a good crappie

more crappies

crappie on the red maki

gills on the stoni

topwater poppers

the jig, with a mousi plastic a killer combo

another Great day on the water!

[Matt Johnson]

Cool pics Mike! Thanks for sharing buddy!

[Matt C]

Heres a couple from the South Central Get Together last weekend...They were jumping in the boat.

[palisade1kid]

Here's 1 of many that are suspended out in deep water.

This is my bud from up nort!

[Cyberfish]

Here are some more backwater action pics!

Me and Jack got back down on the river Saturday, they were biting even better. Got lots of crappies and sunfish. got lots on my flys and jigs I made, and many on plastics too

First fish of the morning!

more slabs

Bluegills

even some toothy fish showed up

had a big pike on for a while but it must have been camera shy, no pic!

some of my flys

Unleaded

leaded

[/

[Cyberfish]

Got back to the river this weekend, the bite was slower but the fish were bigger with some crappies and jumbo perch over a pound! I got mine around three ft down with jig and plastics...

Jacks slab

Some good ones

nice color

Jack gets his favorite fish!

Dave and mitch seek some slabs in the timber

boatin'

nice perch

a true jumbo perch!

another great sunset to end another great day!

[The Grebe]

Cy...I normally don't get excited about summer perch, but the ones in your pictures would get any perch fishermen excited, summer, or winter! Man, what nice looking fish, that coloring is great!

Perch fishing on Mille Lacs is one of my favorite winter outtings. I've also fished em in the fall for the last couple of years, although enjoyable, I'm not much for the crowds and the size isn't comparable to the winter season....so I cut that enjoyment short.

The last time up, my friend and I hunted the perch in areas away from the crowds and only wound up with afew, but we also got afew walleyes and about 20 largemouth bass up to about 3 pounds. That kind of surprised me, I thought the muskies would keep them kinda thinned down? Anyways, nice fish!

[juggs]

The Mississippi River perch are definitely making a comeback. I used to get Mille Lacs quality fish as a kid in the pool 9 area of the river. I don't fish down that way much anymore, concentrating my efforts mostly on pools 4 and 5 and have found some very nice size in recent years.

[Matt Johnson]

Nice fish Jack and Mike! You guys are on 'em!

[The Grebe]

Juggs...Okay, here's the next question...do you fellas occassionally eat the fish you catch out of the Mississippi?

I've always been a little leary of eating anything that came out of the river from below the Coon Rapids dam on down.

I know that people do, I used to occassionally eat a walleye out of the lower Mississippi when I was younger and it didn't seem to cause any harm?

I still have all my parts and I don't have any extra parts that I'm aware of? I don't glow and my teeth are still fairly good. Everything works...of course, not as good as when I was a younger buck, but I don't think that is the fault of eating fish out of the lower Mississippi?

Anyways, that might be a fun trip to make, get a dukes mixtures of fish and catch the sights along the river. Not this year of course, maybe next?

Say, do they ice fish those perch with much luck, down there in the winter?

[andrew chadwick]

Cyberfish- what kind of lens did you use for the close ups of those bluegills?

[juggs]

When I was a kid, my family ate gobs of fish from pool 9, which isn't quite as clear as pools 4 and 5. I still eat them, mostly in the winter as I do a lot of ice fishing on the river. I guess I don't see anyone throwing back the pannies. As far as the perch go, they really don't get targeted since there aren't great numbers of them like everything else. You might find a nice school from time to time. If you are specifically going after perch, I wouldn't pick the river as a destination. Now crappies and bluegills....that's another story.