Great Day in East Harbor 7-4-16

[fishNtails]

Took my family from Tennessee out to East Harbor in hopes of a fun day of fishing. It did not disappoint. We fished from 8 to 4 and caught 13 perch, including a 10" and 11" !! We also caught 9 keeper bluegill along with several throwbacks, 4 nice rock bass, and several largemouth. It was steady action all day and we all had a blast.

[jonk]

We have a cottage on East Harbor, and there are some nice fish in it. I've gotten some decent perch, a lot of bluegill, rock bass, largemouth, and so on over time. Also some big sheephead (well, still, "FUN TO CATCH" or so they say) and big catfish. Sometimes you get a school of white bass coming in or out of the channel and you can hit 20-30 on a small spinner or Mr. Twister almost every cast.

I've even gotten a few walleye in the channel very early in the year, before the boat is in, trolling and jigging from the canoe on a calm day.

And now I will tell you my fish story. Believe it if you will.

Like I say, cottage on the harbor. I was born in 79. When I was little, you'd get the occasional perch or catfish in the harbor, but no bluegill or bass. I'm told, when my mom was a kid in the 50s, they were there, then disappeared as the lake got polluted.

Dad used to take me to Resthaven, an inland series of lakes, when I was little to bobber fish for bluegill. Sometimes we'd put the bluegill in a bucket and bring them back to show my grandpa. We'd then release them in the harbor. Over a few years that we did this, we probably dumped several hundred bluegill right next to Channel Grove Marina. Within 3 years or so, we started to get bass in the harbor, as well as bluegill.

So, I'm the reason that there are bluegill in the harbor. And thus larger fish.

Now, I have no illusions, it would have happened naturally anyhow, as the lake cleared up. I guess it's more accurate to say I'm the reason there were bluegill and bass in the harbor in the late 80s early 90s. Still, I like to think that when I catch a bluegill, it is the umpteen-great-grandbaby of one of the ones I released as a child.

[Eyezcrazy]

We have a cottage on East Harbor, and there are some nice fish in it. I've gotten some decent perch, a lot of bluegill, rock bass, largemouth, and so on over time. Also some big sheephead (well, still, "FUN TO CATCH" or so they say) and big catfish. Sometimes you get a school of white bass coming in or out of the channel and you can hit 20-30 on a small spinner or Mr. Twister almost every cast.

I've even gotten a few walleye in the channel very early in the year, before the boat is in, trolling and jigging from the canoe on a calm day.

And now I will tell you my fish story. Believe it if you will.

Like I say, cottage on the harbor. I was born in 79. When I was little, you'd get the occasional perch or catfish in the harbor, but no bluegill or bass. I'm told, when my mom was a kid in the 50s, they were there, then disappeared as the lake got polluted.

Dad used to take me to Resthaven, an inland series of lakes, when I was little to bobber fish for bluegill. Sometimes we'd put the bluegill in a bucket and bring them back to show my grandpa. We'd then release them in the harbor. Over a few years that we did this, we probably dumped several hundred bluegill right next to Channel Grove Marina. Within 3 years or so, we started to get bass in the harbor, as well as bluegill.

So, I'm the reason that there are bluegill in the harbor. And thus larger fish.

Now, I have no illusions, it would have happened naturally anyhow, as the lake cleared up. I guess it's more accurate to say I'm the reason there were bluegill and bass in the harbor in the late 80s early 90s. Still, I like to think that when I catch a bluegill, it is the umpteen-great-grandbaby of one of the ones I released as a child.

Not trying to start anything but transporting and releasing fish into another body of water is illegal so mums the word.

[jonk]

Not trying to start anything but transporting and releasing fish into another body of water is illegal so mums the word.

These days, I'm well aware of that.

In 1983-5, maybe it was, maybe not, but if it was, so far as any game warden might have thought, we were just taking a passle of bluegill home to fillet.