2010 As Good As It Gets!

Hooray for spring! Oh, wait a minute, it's the first few weeks of winter, but you wouldn't know it if you looked outside of our house. The sump pump is working hard in the basement to keep up with the melting snow, and heavy rain, that fell last night over Chicagoland. It's hard to believe that just three days ago my son, nephew and I were sitting on our buckets over ten inches of solid ice and complaining of freezing fingers (from catching a mess of bluegills).

How quickly the weather can change here in Illinois. The old saying goes something like this. If you don't like the weather here in Chicago...just wait two minutes. Without a doubt, the weather here is about as up and down as it gets. After forty-three years you would think I would be used to it.

The kids, Bryan and Tyler (son & nephew) made quick work of the bluegills on Tuesday as we caught 82 fish in 1 hr 45 min. Monday we had 51 fish in 2 hrs 15 min, 48 bluegill & 3 grass carp. Most of the fish were around 7 to 8 inches and taken over about 15 feet of water on wax worms. They both outfished me again, and I think that Bryan needs to start removing his own fish from the hook to slow him down a bit. However his hands would have been cold then (like mine) and he wouldn't have wanted to keep fishing. Get out this winter on some of your neighborhood ponds and experience this great angling action. The kids love it, and it can make them forget about video games for a few hours!

The break in the fantastic ice fishing we were experiencing gives me time to reflect on one of the best years of my life. I'm being really honest here, even while being unemployed for all of 2010, I have learned to enjoy the simple things in life more than I have ever before. The time that was available to me, made it easy to concentrate on my fishing, plan a few more days out on the water (& ice), and gave me moments to reflect on how special it is to spend our time outdoors.

What a fishing season we had in 2010! (see photo collages below) Ice fishing locally last winter for bluegills & bass. April gave us a beautiful a day on Lake Michigan searching for jumbo perch, although we never found them. May trips to St. Germain, WI (Little St Germain) for crappie, perch & pike, and Fremont, WI (Wolf River) for whitebass & catfish. June included our first trip to Whitewater Lake, in south central WI for largemouth.  Don't forget the outstanding week we had in August at Pelican Lake in Orr, MN catching big smallmouth. The fall brought us back to the St. Germain area and Big Arbor Vitae, for muskie action. In between all of that fishing we found time to pond hop local hot spots and wade the Fox river. Now you know why I had the best year of my life!

I'm looking forward to 2011 and many new opportunities for Cappy's Pond! The Outdoor Blogger Network has made my blogging experience the best it could be, while also increasing the site views and following. Can't wait to see how many people come fishing with us in 2011!

Lastly I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for the great comments you have added over the year to Cappy's Pond. Without you, the readers, this blog would be nothing! When I see a link from someones blog roll to Cappy's Pond I immediately think back to when this all started and what little if no future at all I thought this blog would ever have. Now I am thinking about taking Cappy's Pond to new waters in search of more than just a place to share a few thoughts about fishing.

Have a great start to 2011 and remember to take the pledge to introduce someone new to fishing this year!