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In the last 3 threads of this series we talked about basic fishing for big bluegill, catching live bait, and creating the ultimate dough bait. In this thread, we'll talk about setting up the ultimate fishing camp. NOTE: I use this camp for 24-36 hours at a time, so I can manage to set it up pretty fast myself. With 1-2 more people, we can get it completely done in 15-20 minutes. FOREWARD: Earlier, I had stated that to catch big bluegills, you need to stay out for a while. You can't go out for 45 minutes and say "it's too hot, I give up". That kind of attitude will never catch you anything. You can't stay out for an hour and expect to have stringer-full of 1-pounders. It doesn't work like that. It's kind of like fishing for 15+ pound bass - you fish all day, and might get one or two (except with bluegill, it's usually more). That is why a good camp is essential for anyone looking to catch big bluegill. THE BASIC RIG: For starters, get yourself a good tent, maybe 1-2 person. I personally prefer a 4-person, but 1-2 works just fine. I like a black tent, as it is stealthy on the shore. Other colors/patterns that work well are light blue, green, and camo patterns. The tent should have good screened-in windows, which you can place a cloth over to close them up. It should also include a waterproof tarp. This stays on top of my tent at all times, because you never know when rain might hit. The next step is to take a tarp, say 6 feet long by however wide your tent door is, and two big sticks, however high your tent is. Put the sticks firmly in the ground 6 feet away from the entrance to your tent, and place the holes in the tarp through the thin part of the stick. Then, place the other holes in the tarp through the tent rods. The last step to create a basic camp is to place a super-comfy chair under the tarp. Now, you have a nice spot to sleep in, sit in, and fish under. FURTHER ADVANCEMENTS: While the basic rig should work just fine, there are plenty more creature comforts that I like to bring with me. A cot is nice. I place a thick blanket over it, and have a pillow too. That makes for a nice napping place, and it's far more comfortable than my chair. One thing I have learned to do is light up my campsite at night. In the summer, I'll sleep for about 6 hours a day, in the hottest hours of the day. Night fishing works well for big bluegill, so I'm sure to be well rested so I can fish all night. To light the camp up, I usually hang lanterns along the tarp, plus a light in the tent. A basic cooking set, with a stove and some pots/pans/silverware can come in handy. Sometimes I bring it, but it adds a lot of weight to my bag. Sometimes, I just use MRE's. But after a long day of fishing, a nice cooked dinner tastes better than you'd think. I bring stuff to make pita pizzas. Look them up if you've never made them. They're easy and good. Another invaluable tool to have is a fan. They feel great when you're napping during the heat of the day. The only other things that I bring are my headlamp, a small first aid kit, and a small survival kit. GEAR TO BRING: You don't want to bring tons of gear to your spot. On any given trip, I have: All the above stuff A cooler, full of drinks 2 rods A tool kit, with a few knives, a multi-tool, duct tape, super glue, and hemostats A landing net Some containers/food/aerators for live bait; plus, some stuff to catch live bait If I'm going to use a boat, it's already at the spot. Carrying a big canoe gets tiring quick, even for 2-3 people Last but not least, a 2-tray tackle box chock-full of lures and terminal tackle WHAT TO WEAR: Camo. The main reason people only catch small bluegill is because they spook off the big ones. How often do you see a little kid wearing something that is dull green/brown/legit camo? They like to wear bright colors, and that's fine. It just means they won't catch big fish. Basic dark khaki cargo pants, a dull green shirt, and a blue hat is my "specially-designed" camo. The dark brown represents the dirt and dead grass on the ground-level. The green represents the trees, a bit above ground level. And the blue represents the sky, way above ground level. I also carry a gray hat and a white hat (white for really cloudy, blue for clear, gray for stormy). From a fish's perspective, you're generally above them. They are looking up on you. That's why this setup works. The other thing I cannot stress enough is to wear boots! I used to wear flip-flops on the trips, until I stepped on a massive fire ant hill. That ruined what was supposed to be the longest, best trip of the year. Also, high socks will help with the boots. BRAVING THE ELEMENTS: Many a time, anglers have backed out on me because of the weather. Usually, they're being sissies, but sometimes the weather can be pretty miserable out there. Light rains are never a problem, and they actually help. Brutal heat can be the most miserable. Occasionally, I'll go for a swim if it's that hot. Heavy, torrential rains are nothing a good angler/outdoorsman can't handle. Even snow can be fished through (that's where a good campfire comes in handy). The only weather I won't fish through are bad storms. That actually gets to be pretty dangerous. One tip I've learned over the years is that you should never cancel a trip until an hour before you leave. The weather can change very quickly, and one minute it may say it's going to storm, and then 15 minutes later it changes to sunny and 80 degrees. You never know, so you should probably go. After all, you can always come home. PEOPLE: Sometimes, having lots of people on a trip can be pretty fun. When fishing for big bluegill, I never have more than 2 more people with me. It becomes too much gear, too many people to worry about, and too much mess to clean up. Also, you have more people moving around the water's edge, which means there are more things to spook off that trophy 4-pounder you just saw. I'd say a two-man crew is best. LAST WORDS: Well, there you have it. You can now (hopefully) set up a simple shelter for 1-2 days, with all included creature comforts. Hopefully this thread has taught everyone something about the enticing world of targeting massive bluegill. See you in our next, and final, thread. Adios!

Well guys, it's time for the final thread in this series. I'm sure every angler has designed their dream body of water, stocked, of course, with their favorite species of fish to catch. Well, today we're going to design one for bullgills. So without further ado, here we go- PERMISSION: The first step is to get permission to build. This is very important! Without permission, you are subject to heavy fines, and possibly worse. You'll also need a nice chunk of land to build on. I'd suggest building right in the center of the land, as wildlife will congregate there. Be sure you have a healthy insect population, and a nice population of frogs is good too. I would, if I had the choice, have it so that a small stream runs into the pond. That way, anything in the stream gets rolled into the pond. SIZE: Any size pond can hold big bluegill. I've caught 1-pounders out of water no bigger than 1/8 an acre. I've also caught them on 680-acre bodies of water. I'd suggest a 5 acre pond. It's a nice size - you can use your boat, fill it with fish, and have plenty of open spots. If you must go smaller, get as close to that size as you can. I'd probably make the pond in a figure-8 shape. DIGGING: The next step is to either rent a backhoe and dig out the land yourself, or pay someone to do it. Neither is that cheap. Unless you can properly operate a backhoe, I'd have someone do it for you. When digging, keep the pond an average of 2-5 feet deep - big bluegill can and will come into extremely shallow water to catch some of their favorite prey items. Plus, they're easier to catch in shallow water. The deepest spot in your pond will probably be around 15-20 feet deep. I'd recommend having peninsulas, as big bluegill like to surround smaller fish against cover (in this case, land) and just pick them off one by one. When building the peninsulas, have it so that they drop off to deeper spots, that can be utilized as spawning beds. Make the beds approximately 10-12 feet deep. In the middle of the pond, have the bottom gradually slope down to a point 15 to 20 feet deep. A useful thing for anglers is a channel dug straight from the deepest points up to a shallow points, as it can be a choke-hold for fish. PLANTING AND DECORATING: By now, the entire pond should've been dug out, and for the most part, the construction trucks are done. There are a few things that you can do to make your pond better, rather than just having open water. That's so boring, and you probably won't catch nearly as many fish (mostly because they'll die off). The first thing to do is create a little bridge going from one side of the pond to the other. Use large rocks for this purpose, as it provide nooks and crannies for small critters, which provides space for the big gills to root around in. When building the bridge, make it so that it is completely out of the water when the water is lowest, but is usually deep enough for a small boat to pass over, with or without a motor. In any area that has a pretty flat bottom, put pea gravel over it, and plant it with grasses. It can hold small insects, which bluegill will greedily eat. Also, tiny gills will congregate near it. Finally, plant any coves pretty heavily, with hydrilla and pads. Plant the middle areas more sparsely with stalky plants and pondweed. Plant the shoreline of the pond with tall grasses in some spots, plus willow trees. If you can get some, plant some cypress trees. Plant the rest of the shoreline with stringy plants. By the time that is done, you can start submerging some trees. I'd recommend chopping down a tree or two and just throwing it into the deeper parts of the pond. Afterwards, you can build a dock. I like the "T"-shaped ones best, but any style will work fine. Make sure you can fish from it, as well as board a boat from it. STOCKING: Before any gills go in the water, you'll need bait in it. Introduce bait species like fatheads, tiny goldfish, golden shiners, mosquitofish, baby bass (not a lot - only about 100 of these), baby bluegill, crawfish, and tadpoles. Let this ecosystem thrive for at least 6 months, but a year is best. By that time, you can introduce big gills. INTRODUCING THE BIG GILLS: By the time all your bait species have flourished, and various other small species have taken up residence in and around the pond, you can introduce the big gills. To introduce big bluegills, first make a list of bodies of water that are filled with big ones. Then, go to a different lake every trip. Catch your limit of big bluegill, and live-transport them to your pond back home. Only go to a single body of water once, so that you don't take all the fish out of a single body of water. That means that you can't fish for big gills there anymore. To live-transport them, you'll need 2 or 3 pickups, a bunch of those gym totes, and a bunch of aerators. Once you catch a fish, simply fill a gym tote with water and hook the aerator up to it. One gym tote can hold about 3 big gills. Once you feel that your pond is well stocked (about 400 big gills, plus a few other fish), stop transporting fish to your pond. Live-transporting is much easier than stocking, and I'd love to see a place that stocks 1 pound plus bluegill. OTHER FISH SPECIES: Depending on where you live, you can introduce tons of other fish species to your pond. There isn't much that will eat a monster bluegill, so your trophies should be safe. If you have a 5 or 6 acre pond, you have a wide variety of options. Maybe you want some more panfish? If so, go for fish like crappie, tilapia, yellow perch, rock bass, oscars, mayan cichlids, pumpkinseed, warmouth, big shiners, or redear. Maybe you're going for some kind of bass? Go right ahead and stock largemouths, peacock bass, hybrid stripers, or even a striper or two. Maybe you would like something with teeth? In that case, cool fish include northern pike, walleye, chain pickerel, bowfin, longnose gar, or even an alligator gar (be careful with this one- he'd have no trouble eating a big bluegill). Maybe you just want something different? Try going with carp, American eels, channel catfish, blue catfish (will also eat your bluegill), or rainbow and/or lake trout. I have only ever heard of one person with a pond with lake trout, it was a 5-acre my friend in Canada has. If you stock a little more than 400, say 500-600, you should have no trouble keeping populations high, even with big gar or catfish. FINAL WORDS: Well guys, I really enjoyed writing this series, and I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it. More importantly, I hope everyone has learned something out of this. It is really helpful information, and can help turn a day full of 4 inchers into a day with a 4 pounder. So, remember these skills, and you may set the new world record! Thanks to everyone who read this far... Drew