Photo by Ron Sinfelt

"I got another one!" Hal called -- but I was too busy reeling in my own bream to pay any attention to him. We already had full stringers of nice bluegills at our feet, but we continued to catch one on almost every cast.

Hal and I had dug some red wigglers behind the chicken house on my family's farm and then ridden our bicycles to Black's Pond to fish for bass and bream. We were very happy, since school would be out in just two more weeks and the long summer filled with fishing trips would start.

When we got to the McDuffie County pond owned by the family of a teacher at Dearing Elementary School, we tried for bass for several hours without much luck. Then we went to our favorite place to catch bream in the upper end of the pond. There were two boards on the bank, so we could stand side by side and cast without sinking into the soft bottom.

On most days we would catch a few bluegills near the scattered stumps in this spot and then move when they quit biting. Our tackle was simple: Both of us had Mitchell 300 reels on Conlon 6-foot spinning rods. The 10-pound-test line was good for all kinds of fishing. On the end of the line were a No. 6 hook, a small split shot and a cork.

This day we stood on those boards and caught fish until it started to get dark. We had to hurry back to our bikes and head home fast to beat the night. As we rode home, we commented that the full moon would keep it from getting completely dark, and that could be our excuse for being so late.

All week we talked about going back and catching a pile of bream again. The next Saturday we went back to the pond and caught one or two small bluegills from the same area that had been so good the weekend before. Back then we had no idea what had happened to change the fishing, and didn't realize that the full moon could have had anything to do with our good luck. We had simply hit a bedding area without knowing it.

Bluegills are common in all Georgia waters and are always cooperative. You can catch them on just about any bait, so they're great fish to start kids with, since youngsters can enjoy the thrill of catching something. But the full moon in May is a special time for Georgia bream fishermen.

Bream bed when the moon is full. Although bluegills start spawning as early as late March in Middle Georgia, and some bed every month from then until fall, May is the height of the bedding season. Add in the spawn of shellcrackers that also bed at the full moon in May, and you have a bonanza of great fishing this month.

This year, May 2 is the date of the full moon, so fishing should be good during the first week of the month. There is almost a blue moon in May, because another full moon occurs on June 1. That means that the end of the month should also be good.