We have reached another milestone.

First half of 2010 is over and the last half is ready to move in.

I hope that you have caught more than half of the fish you had planned to catch this year, because over half of what is left is going to be taken up by the hunting seasons.

It is reaching the time of the year for the fishing tackle folks to start dropping hints on new stuff that is going to be available in 2011. And to please the kid in us, some of those items will be available during the fall. We can start using next year’s stuff this year. Yea!

I talked to a fisherman last week that was into the ultra-light fishing scene and using Bitsy Minnows over on the creek and catching a lot of fish. This plug is a hard plug, but a shallow runner. It seems to be an attractive bait for the panfish crowd, though they may not have found out yet, it is attractive to bass also.

Now on an ultra-light, you are using 4- or 6-pound line with the small plugs. A decent bass will break your line and take away your $5 plug. So even though it does cost $5 or maybe even $6 for each plug, you probably should take a few extra on your next fishing trip. You certainly don’t want to have to leave a hot spot to go and get more plugs. They may stop biting while you are gone. Not good.

The Bitsy Minnow is made by Strike King. Mister Twister had a small plug call Biggy Smalls. Both baits were and are made for ultra-light fishing. They are not heavy enough to use conventional equipment, so be prepared with the small ultra-light stuff.

Of course, these are the combos that you are going to use when you beetle spin fish. Both will catch bream with abandon, though none of them are that great when it comes to shellcracker fishing. The only artificial lure that I have ever caught a shellcracker using was the perch colored Keystone minnow from Renosky. You need to get down to 2-pound line to throw one of these baits very far.

There are some lakes in Callaway Gardens that have very big bream in them. Live bait is prohibited and most of the fishermen use the Renosky Keystone minnow. They catch big ones and a lot of them. Remember, it is the perch color. You don’t have to travel to Callaway Gardens to use a Keystone minnow as they work mighty fine right here in southwest Georgia.

Don’t just try and stick with these expensive plugs while panfishing. The beetle spin or one of its many look alikes is also something that catches a lot of fish and is better if used on an ultra-light fishing combo. Most of us use the Bett’s Spin. It comes in all the same colors that the original beetle spin came in and comes with an extra body in the package so that you can fish twice as long as with the competitors baits that do not come with an extra body.

Don Betts is from the old school of fishermen and tackle manufacturers. He believes in giving you something for your money. Not only that but his baits will catch fish with the best of them and his is one of the best.

The bass are still biting pretty good also. I went to a pond late one afternoon last week and caught three good ones and a couple of throwbacks. Threw back the keepers also.

Caught all of them on a worm, which is what I had rather fish with on most ponds. Of course, it is hot enough to fish with a black jitterbug between sundown and dark. After dark also, but I can’t see the snakes as well after dark.

With the jitterbug, I had rather be in a pond that has stumps still in it rather than in a cleared body of water. No particular reason, I just seem to do better in a stumpy pond with the plug. As big a fish as I have ever caught has been with the black jitterbug. The number on the package is 650-2.