Managed to get out and do another round of chasing Green Sunfish. A little disappointed with the photos that I got last time so I decided to grab a video snap of a fish in excellent light for a better visual from this trip.
In truth I am searching for bucketmouth bass but my attention gets diverted whenever I see these guys in schools of quality. Depending on the location, one rod will get a tie up of a smaller presentation for this purpose. Most people would probably use an ultralight setup to take full advantage of the sport these slabby scrappers can provide. However, to simplify things I simply go with light line on everything and use one of the medium\fast action 7’ rods. Not perfect by any means but remember my panfish addiction is just a side gig to my bass obsession and this method lets me utilize all of the rods in full rotation.
Still hitting anything that moves these guys were more than eager to hit my small jig presentations run through areas with cover and thick vegetation. Weeding through a number of smaller fish I was able to land some decent examples. The problem is dialing in the larger fish around so many smaller ones. Patience and multiple casts seemed to be my only working strategy for this. The long rod would have been perfect had I brought the small trout bag with my assortment of flies. The #18 Mosquito was getting nipped at but not inhaled by the largest fish. With more selection I could have dialed them in with a smaller fly. This time of year they simply can’t resist it.
Another aspect of this time of year that anglers have to fish through is the white fluffy seed material being released from cottonwood trees. This “cotton” can get very thick on the water where cottonwood trees line the shoreline. As the sunlight hits the branches, seed pods open up and all it takes a slight breeze to bring the appearance of snowfall. Nearly half the lake is surrounded by these trees covering the cove in a white blanket. It doesn’t take long before my gear is fouled up.
Temperatures peaked slightly before noon and with it came the unrelenting heat of summer. Sweat was seeping into my shorts, my eyes and down the middle of my back. With the heat came added wind and the bite seemed to fade along with my visibility into the deeper water. It was time to call it a day, port out and haul the tooner back to the truck. This is the moment where I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures. So much focus was spent on finding large bass as well as keeping an eye out for batfish that pictures and video didn’t make it into the schedule. It may have been a bit boring to post a bunch of 4-inch gills and a few 2-pounder bass but in hindsight a little extra color may have greatly helped this post out.
My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.
4 comments:
Those are beautiful fish. I catch them around here but they don't seem to be as round like the one you got.
Sure Is a great looking fish. I fish these in Wisconsin as well and they taste great too!
Great picture!! I have been looking through your blog, you must live right near a lake. How nice for you. My Hubs would be so jealous.
@Justin: I have to weed through a few hundred smaller ones to find the slabby sized sunfish and gills. Seeking them out at prespawn also helps dial in the prime specimens. Thank you for the comment.
@J.M: Thanks man! I appreciate fish greatly for the color patterns and glorious fin slapping ability as much as size. These fish amaze me especially this time of year. We gotta start eating more smaller sunfish and toss these bigger ones back to create optimum conditions. The result is bigger sunfish for all.
@MJWC: Welcome to my blog. I am so glad you stopped by. Truth be told I live along the Front Range just west of Denver. There are a number of small ponds and lakes as well as three small rivers and a few small creeks. The fishing action varies by the day and my obsession borders on in sanity. This is what I do.
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