Big Bluegill on a Crank

Just a quickie post.  I was on my way home from work when I stopped to do a little fishing in a pond I have ice fished.  Since I've drilled it full of holes and measured depth several years in a row I knew the area I was throwing my lure in was 3-4 feet, sometimes shallower than that.  I had a 3/4oz Bass Pro Shops XPS Lazer-Eye EGG  crankbait tied on from my last time out.  This crank can dive about a foot deep if I start my retrieve with my rod tip down or waggle back and forth like a wake-bait on the surface if I have my rod tip up.

I had my rod tip down so the lure was at a foot or a little deeper.  I say a little deeper because I had 8# fluorocarbon line on and fluoro sinks.  My crank was halfway back to the shore and still running below the surface when my rod bent and I instinctively swept the rod to the side to set the hook.  As I reeled the fish in I figured I had a small bass eat my crankbait.  That can happen and the fish that wiggled when I hooked it kept still while I wound it in.  When I got it near the shore I realized I was going to get to add to my "on a Crank" series of blog posts.  I caught a Big Bluegill, fair hooked in the mouth, on a big BPS EGG crankbait!

  

That's why I keep a rod in the car.  If I've got some time I need to wait anywhere I can find some water and go fish it.  If I'm near water I know I can stop and wet a line.  I caught several largemouth this outing as well but none were very big.  What I got was a chance to catch another species in a new way.  I've caught big bluegills before, but this was my first Big Bluegill on a Crank.