CaptainNemo68

I'm going with Ozark Bass as well.

I haven't gotten skunked in a while, but it happens Were you fishing for a specific species of Catfish? (Channel, Blue, etc.)

Nearly every picture I have seen of a Pumpkinseed X Bluegill hybrid has the red mark on the gill flap, which is another reason I was leaning towards Redbreast X Bluegill. But I guess in biological theory a Pumpkin-Gill hybrid doesn't HAVE to have red on gill flap - it could be all black like the Bluegill. Not sure.

I caught these fish on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Central Virginia. The history of this small lake shows that Redbreast Sunfish were in this lake before Bluegill were stocked years ago. Redbreast are very plentiful here on the East Coast. That was the reason I thought the first one might be a Redbreast/Bluegill hybrid. But Pumpkinseeds are also definitely in this area even though I don't see many of them. Green Sunfish are available also - I caught a couple of Greenies about 1/8th of a mile downstream from where I caught the aforementioned fish. The true Longears are found in the far Southwest part of Virginia and are somewhat rare.

Hi again everyone, caught a few Sunfish in which I am not sure what species they are. The first one looks like it might be a Redbreast/Bluegill hybrid and the second one looks almost like a Longear, but also looks weird. The range of the Longear does not extend this far east (supposedly). What do you think?

Yes, I would agree with you on that.

I caught my Smallmouth of a lifetime last year, but I was by myself and in a very bad spot along the river bank. It was extremely muddy where the river had resided. After I finally reeled the fish in the poor thing was completely covered with mud. The ground along the bank was extremely slick and I was afraid of falling (I had had back surgery), so with that I got the hook out and let it go. It was about the same size as Blazerman's wife's Smallie. I didn't get any pictures for my own safety reasons - I was in an extremely terrible spot. It was actually the easiest fish I have ever caught. I saw it out in the river and just simply threw the bait right on top of it. I kid you not - it took one second and the bait was already in it's mouth.

Sorry, no other pictures I will try to do better next time when it comes to taking more pictures

Both sides did not have the normal gill flap

Hello, caught this fish over the weekend but unsure as to why it lacks the normal Bluegill ear flap.

Most of the river accesses here are state owned, which means they will not be affected. I already called and confirmed this. Why would you limit your fishing spots to a federal owned access area anyway? Aren't most boat ramps and river accesses where everybody lives owned by the state?

If the pond has any vegetation and very little inflow/outflow then you might also find some Warmouth or Green Sunfish in there. Crappie is a bad thing for a small pond because they will overpopulate and stunt.

My favorite fighter used to be Smallmouth, but 5 weeks ago that all changed after I caught my first Bowfin! (See my profile pic)

Like a few other posters here, I have good days and bad days which do not seem to coincide with barometric pressure or the weather. I believe the most important things are lure or bait presentation; figuring out where the fish are; and whether or not the fish have already been eating that day. Some people overlook the fact that if fish have already found a lot of food that day, then they could be a little sluggish and might be less likely to bite anything presented to them.

Here is a bass that I caught last year with a similar problem: