Green Sunfish

[Bill Babler]

Guys, Please take a look at the post on the Table Rock Bass forum. topic dated 2/12 2/15 Topic title SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE BOAT AT HOME. Check out post no. 13.

These are the enemy we are battling as far as the consumption of walleye eggs and fry, according to MDC.

If you have a hankern for fish, make sure to put these little nubile nibblers on your plate.

We need a bumper sticker, EAT A GREEN SUNFISH, SAVE A WALLEYE.

[Phil Lilley]

I don't remember catching them in BS- now TR I have. Will have to target them if I get to go... they are great eating.

[Danimal]

Guys, Please take a look at the post on the Table Rock Bass forum. topic dated 2/12 2/15 Topic title SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE BOAT AT HOME. Check out post no. 13.

These are the enemy we are battling as far as the consumption of walleye eggs and fry, according to MDC.

If you have a hankern for fish, make sure to put these little nubile nibblers on your plate.

We need a bumper sticker, EAT A GREEN SUNFISH, SAVE A WALLEYE.

I've personally witnessed what a nesting smallmouth has to deal with from them, so eat a few more of those tasty little mothers for my brownies. Dan-o

[bryantsmallie28]

You better believe they are great eating, just like a goggleeye. I love getting a good mixed stringer of them and goggleeye in the creek and scale them then fillet them and leave the skin on them. They will just about rival any type of fish you can eat. And i can definitely understand that seeing as how they will eat about anything. I have caught them on big spinnerbaits before and wondered how in the world they fit it in their mouth.

[Jeremy Rasnick]

I agree with Phil, I have never caught a green sunfish on upper BS or what I would consider walleye waters. I find the green sunfish more abundant in the creeks as well as anwhere on tablerock that there are ledge rock.

[Sam]

Well, I'm pleasantly surprised at the favorable comments about my "perch fishing". I'll fish for most anything. If a bass fishing trip proves to be "one bite an hour", I'll quickly switch to another species that provides quicker action. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

But I've got reluctant to mention panfishing around some bass fishermen - some guys (with glitter boats and patches on their vests) really put it down. Sometimes hotshots even blow by too close with their high-speed wake, on purpose, if they see you fishing for crappie or perch. There's no use in that, we're all out there to have a good time.

I'll catch bass all day long if I get a chance, and I catch some real good ones sometimes. I never kill big bass though. I might eat a Kentucky once in awhile, but not a good largemouth and never a smallmouth. They're just too scarce. Same with walleyes, I'll keep four 18-21 inchers on Bull Shoals if I can, but I won't kill the big breeders.

Panfish, though, are a different story - they're made for the skillet if they're big enough. You're right about green sunfish being terrible predators of gamefish eggs - trouble is, most of the ones doing that damage are too small to keep so panfishing won't do much to control them. But I'll do my part and keep trying.

I agree with Phil, I have never caught a green sunfish on upper BS or what I would consider walleye waters. I find the green sunfish more abundant in the creeks as well as anwhere on tablerock that there are ledge rock.

Jeremy - One of the best green sunfish banks I know is on BS just below Piney Creek. That's directly across from the flat above Mincy where I've caught many spawning walleyes. There's lots of G.S. also on that bank straight across from the K Dock launch ramp, and as you know, that section of Bull Shoals is walleye country.

I don't think I've run into green sunfish much above Snapp Holler, though.

[Flysmallie]

But I've got reluctant to mention panfishing around some bass fishermen - some guys (with glitter boats and patches on their vests) really put it down.

Somtimes I'm one of those bass guys in the glitter boat, but I don't have any patches.

But your not going to catch me putting it down. If the bass fishing gets slow I just pull back in a cove and whip out the flyrod. That perch fishing is a blast with a little popper.

[Jeremy Rasnick]

Thanks for the info Sam, Im sort of in a bubble when it comes to walleye. I really dont fish for them unless it from the barker hole up, besides beaver creek. I need to broaden my horizons on those rascals. I totally agree with you on the bass fishing. We are on the same page. I love to fish for all species. It sounds like you fish a lot of the same waters as I. If you ever see an Duck Green G3 with a 75 merc thats probably me, flag me down and say hey.

[Sam]

Thanks for the info Sam, Im sort of in a bubble when it comes to walleye. I really dont fish for them unless it from the barker hole up, besides beaver creek. I need to broaden my horizons on those rascals.

I was wrong when I said I catch spawning walleyes at Mincy. Those are post-spawn, of course. I do better on walleyes on B.S. about June than at any other time - and by that time they're not just in the headwaters, they're all over the lake. Slow-troll a small Roadrunner tipped with half a nightcrawler, bumping the bottom in about 20 ft. depth where the flats drop into the channels and you'll see what I mean.

I've got nothing against glitter boats or vest patches, of course. Fishermen are great people, there are just a few exceptions in any crowd.

[jdmidwest]

Don't forget the Longears either, better known as redbellies. I have been targeting them on my favorite smallie streams for years. They eat tons of bass eggs. Normally its a wash, the bass eat them too. Just too many people fish the small streams around here and keep the smallies as soon as they get to 12" so there are less predators to keep the redears in check. A brown San Juan worm dropped on a Redear bed gets them every time.