[Opry99er]

Well, it's the biggest gill I've ever seen in person. Buck fought it for almost a full 3 minutes before getting it to me so I could put it in the net. 11 inches, and a freakin monster.

Unreal. I caught two beauties as well... Buck's not the best cameraman yet, so he cut off part of this fish.

Redear sunfish, 10 inches with tail squeezed together

And a 8 3/4 inch bull gill.... this one fought like mad as well.

The pond behind the house.... Gonna be fun learning that pond, for sure. =)

All fish were released to swim. I want to get Buck's gill when it hits 12 inches.....

 

[JWurgaft]

Sweet.

 

[pistoldog]

Beautiful!

 

[CF LURKER]

NICE!

 

[boondock]

Looking better than colorado already! You haven't even caught the bass yet
Beast of a gill

 

[WestSloper]

Crazy how much bigger they grow in a warmer climate! Nicely done Buck!

 

[baetisrun1]

good lord Owen, gone for a week and already putting stuff in the wrong spot. Out of state reports! LOL J/K. Looks awesome man. congrats.

 

[Opry99er]

Thanks fellas. Buck is still jazzed up about that gill.

His PB by far, and a PB for the entire family, dad uncles, grandpa... I've never seen a gill bigger than 10" in person. I actually did some research to make sure it was not another species... But its a gill, straight up.

Went gill fishing at my sister's pond again tonight. Caught 14, none over 6 inches. All are going under Magua's knife tonight.

 

[JWurgaft]

I was gunna ask if you were in TN now...looks like a blast on a UL rod or 3wt.

 

[Opry99er]

Yep. I'm using an oooold slow action UL that doubles completely over on fish like these. I had to lighten his drag a little bit when this one made it's first run... I thought it was a good sized bass and didn't want my 4# mono to snap.

We had two rods going at first... A MH Eagle Claw 6'6 I was fishing weightless on the bottom, dragging it slightly like a Senko. Nothing on that rod. When Buck got this fish on, we ditched the big rod and took turns on the UL.

Mucho fun, for sure.

 

[bobys]

Awesome man, you were complaining about leaving Colorado(where you did tons of gill fishing) and now in Tennessee you have a pond directly BEHIND your house and right away you catch a massive gill like that!!! I hope you aren't missing Colorado, seriousley

 

[swimbait]

that's swell.

 

[Oyey]

beasts!

 

[Opry99er]

Thanks swimbait and Oyey.

And bobys, I am missing Colorado. Not for gills or trout, but for family and views.

We live on the Cumberland Plateau, right at the foot of the smokies, so there ARE some hills and such, but no Rockies. There's no sports radio out here, so I have no way to listen to my beloved Rockies games or hear about the Broncs offseason.

But as far as fishing goes, I haven't missed Colorado at all... Yet. I'm sure I will feel differently when winter hits, fishing goes to **** here, and there's no ice.

But I haven't even had one real fishing trip yet and I have 48 gill filets in the freezer and we have landed personal bests on both redear sunfish and gills. I'm excited to get out to Center Hill and go for big cats, white bass, and crappie.

 

[hobiecat]

Huge pan fish. Nice. You keep on filleting 6 inch gills and you're new career may be as a surgeon.

 

[Opry99er]

Any suggestions on a good electric filet knife?? LOL

My little Berkley filet knife is really taking a beating. Some cuts are perfect smooth precision, some are ragged, ripping cuts that ruin the filets. I'm thinking either it is a varying quality of fish, or maybe I'm just trying too hard and varying my blade angle slightly without realizing it.

 

[hobiecat]

Use two knifes..One with a heavier knife blade to cut down, cut through the ribs and back fillet. Still needs to be sharp. And your fillet knife to pop out the ribs on the fillet.

 

[pistoldog]

Touch that blade up after every fish with that V sharpener you got.

It helps me.

I hate when I mess a good fish up :embarassed:

 

[bobys]

I use the mister twister electric filet knife, works fine on small and large fish

 

[Fordo]

Nice panfish!
if you want to keep your knife sharp, don't cut through the ribs, use the tip of the knife to slice along the back bone next to the dorsal fin. Stick our thumb in there between the top of the filet and back bone and peel it back as you use the tip of the knife to slice the meat off around the ribs leaving the ribs on the carcass.