Saturday Sunfish Surprise!!

[Johnsfolly]

Weather here in MD this last weekend had fishing all over it. High 50s to low 60s. I also had a spot picked out that should hold some different sunfish species. I have a goal to catch three new sunfish species in 2020. So @Ham made a contact on FB with a guy here in MD and he shared some photos of giant fliers that he caught in a public location. Ham put me in contact with Bret and he told me where and what he was using to catch those fish. Bret and I have yet to meet in person and due to circumstance have not been able to fish together. With the warm weather, I couldn't help but want to make the trip and find those fliers. With the COVID-19 concerns I did not reach out to Bret, but took My Betterhalf and Livie with me on this trip. The spot is a small impounded pond. I put on a John Deere microjig and made a couple of casts in the pool below the discharge.

I got two bluegill in quick order. I called down Livie and she caught four bluegill before we headed up to the pond. But no fliers.

My Betterhalf was fishing a worm under a float and having no luck. Livie had on a trout magnet jig and a worm as well. I still had the John Deere. I caught a small bass and they had no luck. I had them move to the corner of the pond and told them to fish the edge where the lilies were just starting to break the surface. Lots of missed strikes until Sue got a solid hit and hooked a feisty fish. The coloration was about right. So I was excited that she had hooked a large flier and got it landed !

I tried for a long time to catch one myself in that corner. I caught some small and large bluegill, a small largemouth bass, and even a redear sunfish that I really thought was going to be a flier .

Livie was having trouble as well and was only catching bluegill. So I put down the rod and went around the pond looking for other likely spots. The girls went back to the car and I decided to fish near a large brush pile made by the local beavers. At first the wind kept blowing my rig into the brush. So I fished an underwater trough that the beavers made. I ended up with 8 bluegill landed, but still no flier. By this time the wind died down In I got a worm baited hook to sit out near the end of the brush pile and got a solid hook up. The fish fought hard and got me wrapped in some brush. I had to give it some line and I was able to coerce the fish from the brush. After all that I had my very first flier in hand. This fish was just shy of 8" in length and I was excited.

So the girls were not excited to go back out the pond (especially Livie since she went in while trying to unsnag her mom's line form some lilies ). We had crossed a couple of creeks that had pools near the bridges that I wanted to fish on the way home. At the first I was able to convince Livie to try again. She had changed at this point so was not as cold and not wet. She was still fishing a small jig and redworm and caught a fallfish right away.

She followed that up with one bluegill after another. I was fishing a black and green or white and chartreuse trout magnet jigs and was doing well on fallfish. 

Livie caught a redear sunfish and another sunfish that we thought may have been a hybrid of some sort. Once the bite died down we went to the next creek and tried for more fish. Sue caught another flier and hooked her very first warmouth!

I have not caught a warmouth in MD yet so was jealous. Livie was just catching bluegill while I was still getting more fallfish on the white/chart jig.  Livie got hung in a tree on the other bank but too far out for her to reach and broke off. Sue gave her the rod she was using and offered her spot. Livie ended up catching her first flier as well as a warmouth (which was the same species of fish that we thought may have been a hybrid)!

Though I tried I could not catch a warmouth just to add to my list of fish caught in MD. Then again there is always next time .

 

[Quillback]

Those fliers get much bigger than I thought - didn't know anything about them, but had this impression that they didn't get very big.  

Congrats on another one for your list!

[Johnsfolly]

8 minutes ago, Quillback said:

Those fliers get much bigger than I thought - didn't know anything about them, but had this impression that they didn't get very big.  

Congrats on another one for your list!

Jeff I had always thought that they were smaller as well. Like a 4 to 6 inch fish. I also didn't expect them to fight as strongly as they did. Definitely a surprise😀.

[Ham]

😍