Bluegills

One evening last week, three of us drifted across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore for a couple of hours of fishing. The word from Jim Phillips and his son, Justin, was that the action would be fast -- and it was -- even if the quarry was small.As soon as the engine was shut down in the parking lot at Wye Mills Community Lake, Justin was out of the car and down to the edge of a weedy tailrace below the small dam."Dad! Bluegills! Thousands of them!" was the sixth grader's immediate report.

When nature gives you a gift, take it. In winter, when the gift is a day in the 50s, that means playing hooky, even if it's just a few hours stolen from a day chockablock with work obligations and holiday to-do lists. But what to do? I could get arrested for drinking in a state park or walking carelessly at Loch Raven Reservoir. That would keep me from having to work the rest of the day - and probably for the rest of my life. Last Tuesday morning, my mind raced like Vanna White's fortune wheel before - click, click, click - stopping at the pie wedge marked "fishing."

DRAWBRIDGE - Eight tiny bluegills float placidly in plastic containers at the center of a high-tech Army project that biologists say one day could provide an early warning system for outbreaks of Pfiesteria piscicida or other toxic microbes. Housed in a 48-foot trailer parked for the last five months along the marshy Chicamacomico River in a remote part of Dorchester County, a sophisticated mobile lab is providing a continuous stream of information to scientists more than 100 miles away at the Army's environmental health research center at Fort Detrick in Frederick.

When nature gives you a gift, take it. In winter, when the gift is a day in the 50s, that means playing hooky, even if it's just a few hours stolen from a day chockablock with work obligations and holiday to-do lists. But what to do? I could get arrested for drinking in a state park or walking carelessly at Loch Raven Reservoir. That would keep me from having to work the rest of the day - and probably for the rest of my life. Last Tuesday morning, my mind raced like Vanna White's fortune wheel before - click, click, click - stopping at the pie wedge marked "fishing."

Every year, in the first few days after school lets out for the summer, I take my kids fishing -- not on the bay where the monotony of trolling either puts them to sleep or soon starts a squabble, but to a state or community park, where they don't have to fish.An odd way to go fishing, you say. After all, isn't the idea to catch fish?Well, yes and no.My purpose has been to get them away from the structures that have held them through the late spring -- schoolrooms, baseball leagues, household chores and the like -- and catch up with what they have learned of people, places and things.

One evening last week, three of us drifted across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore for a couple of hours of fishing. The word from Jim Phillips and his son, Justin, was that the action would be fast -- and it was -- even if the quarry was small.As soon as the engine was shut down in the parking lot at Wye Mills Community Lake, Justin was out of the car and down to the edge of a weedy tailrace below the small dam."Dad! Bluegills! Thousands of them!" was the sixth grader's immediate report.

Only thing doing better at Deep Creek than bluegills are 0) anglers catching themBluegills are deceiving critters, thanks to their broad sides and their scrap. Most everyone thinks they're bigger than they actually are -- especially when discussing the ones caught.But let's face it, a bluegill of 8 inches is a biggie -- in most places, that is. But not in 3,900-acre Deep Creek Lake, where a 9-incher isn't uncommon, and 10-inchers are checked in regularly at Johnny's Bait House on Route 219.Bluegills thrive in Deep Creek Lake, and anglers thrive on their availability.

If you've been looking for a positive and inexpensive activity for your children this summer, you might consider recreational fishing.All it takes is a little time, patience and some relatively inexpensive fishing tackle.One of the most important aspects of teaching youngsters how to fish is giving them enough to do to keep their attention. In other words, they need action. Just sitting around and enjoying the birds or looking at the water isn't relaxing to a five-year-old -- it's total boredom.

If it's a Saturday between spring and mid-autumn, William (Bluegill Bill) Dankmeyer probably can be found at Loch Raven Reservoir, trolling the coves and drop-offs for panfish and sometimes catching a surprise."

Ted Davis, a fishing pal from the Linthicum area, hijacked me last Saturday for a morning of bass and panfish fun on a farm not too far from Bristol, in the southeastern section of Anne Arundel County.I am a big fan of farm pond angling and claim more fish per cast over the course of a year at these spots than probably any other hot spot in the region. It's laid-back fishing at its best.Most farm ponds measure from one to maybe three acres. The one Davis and I enjoyed last weekend went about 2 1/2 acres and kept us busy.

Jim Greco remembers a fishing trip with his wife, Pam, to Utah's Green River a number of years ago, when he used a single pattern - No. 10 foam cicada - to catch so many trout, he had to protect his stripping fingers with Band-Aids. "We used about a dozen flies apiece each day, and we didn't lose any flies," he recalls. "Those flies lasted just eight or nine fish before they got so chewed up by the huge browns that they were worn out and we'd have to tie another one on." Here is the recipe for Greco's Cicada Dry Fly - good for bluegills, trout and bass - courtesy of the Potomac-Patuxent chapter of Trout Unlimited.

The locations Piney Run: Big bluegills and yellow perch are dominating the catch, says Jim Gronaw, assistant park manager. The bluegills are attracted by worms, while the yellow perch seem partial to minnows. Catfish are running from 18 inches to 22 inches; they're taking cut bait and chicken liver. The bass are post-spawn, with anglers catching a few fish off the beds on Senkos and plastic salamanders. Other anglers are reporting decent top-water action. Robert Buntin of Taneytown caught a 19-inch fish in excess of 4 pounds on a bobber/worm combo.

EDGEWOOD - In a small laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, eight bluegills put their tails on the line every day in the name of clean water. The fish swim in tanks of treated water piped from beneath the Army base's most toxic dump, a melange of decaying chemical warfare agents such as napalm, cyanide and sarin. If electrodes pasted to the tanks detect an unusual wriggle or cough, a computer alerts engineers that toxins may be getting past a multimillion-dollar water treatment system.

Andy and Opie. Norman Thayer and Billy (of "On Golden Pond"). Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Fishing buddies, one and all. It takes time and patience to cultivate a fishing buddy, and it's never too early to start. But if your potential buddy is a youngster, take it slow. Overwhelm a kid with equipment and "helpful" advice, and you may turn him or her off forever. "They have to want to do it. They have to want to go out with Mommy or Daddy," says Dee Taylor, who teaches kids how to use fishing equipment at T. G. Tochterman & Sons tackle shop in Fells Point.

DRAWBRIDGE - Eight tiny bluegills float placidly in plastic containers at the center of a high-tech Army project that biologists say one day could provide an early warning system for outbreaks of Pfiesteria piscicida or other toxic microbes. Housed in a 48-foot trailer parked for the last five months along the marshy Chicamacomico River in a remote part of Dorchester County, a sophisticated mobile lab is providing a continuous stream of information to scientists more than 100 miles away at the Army's environmental health research center at Fort Detrick in Frederick.

If it's a Saturday between spring and mid-autumn, William (Bluegill Bill) Dankmeyer probably can be found at Loch Raven Reservoir, trolling the coves and drop-offs for panfish and sometimes catching a surprise."

DEEP CREEK LAKE -- It's dark out here on Maryland's largest lake. The moon is obscured by patches of low drifting fog.Fishing lights mounted on the gunwale of guide Bill Teeter's bassboat reveal a small rocky island nearby; elsewhere there are lights from shoreside summer homes, and the green, white and red blubs of other boats cutting the waves in all directions.On summer nights, Deep Creek Lake is a busy place. There are joyriders and there are fishermen -- and some of the latter are scooting by in bag bassboats after a cast or two here 'n there.

The locations Piney Run: Go early or late for excellent largemouth bass fishing, say Jim Gronaw and Loren Lustig at the park office. David Burkhead of Eldersburg caught a 5-pound, 22-inch lunker from the pier using a live bluegill. Plastic worms are working on the edges of deep weeds. "Tanker" bluegills are taking nightcrawlers in 18-20 feet of water. The next round of night fishing is Aug. 2. Prettyboy Reservoir: Belly up to the (gravel) bars for some good bassin', says guide Duke Nohe.