Rock Bass and Blue Gill

[Stagger_Lee]

Must be some dumb fish :-D

Got out this PM and rigged up a nymph in the lot and headed down.

Found a spot I was going to fish and the older gent who hit 3 times in the short time it took me to get out and situated heads my way to ask if I am going to fish in this hole. We starts to chat and I tell him my situation and he asks what I'm fishing with. Tells me no, takes a look at my box and hands me a popper .. sends me to his hole & says they are biting like crazy, if you don't catch any u suck .. tell him I already know I suck

Couple of casts and they are biting but I'm not catching any. 4th cast thought I was hooked but I lose the fly (sihtty knot I guess). Tye up a white dry and I'm off to the races. Caught 12 fish in abt 90 minutes and I had more bites but was to slow to hook'em.

None were trout but damn did I have fun, understood and practiced hooking when they bite, and had a smile on my face most of time.

Few negatives .. 2nd fish had the entire fly in his mouth and I couldn't get it out. Couldn't even unhook'em with the fishing forceps. I struggled for a while putting the fish back in the h2o so it could breathe, etc .. while I tried again I must have cut the line or something b/ my hand pulled back, rod went one way, then fish squirmed out of my hand and he and the fly were gone .. it bothered me for the evening. Had trouble unhooking a few others (when it was deep) but got them out and the fish swan away. Fine line when you try to be gentle with them but can't un-hook properly. Lost one other fly in the trees trying to cast near the shoreline but all in all and very enjoyable evening.

 

[SSChevyManiac]

I get frustrated with hook removal too. I'm trying to get switched over to barbless on anything bigger than a #16 or so, especially when I'm not planning on keeping any. But then you know that the big pig of the pool will spit a barbless hook 6ft from your hand and you'll curse that barbless hook the rest of the day.

 

[henrydavid]

White fly? Did you see any white flies? Are they out already?

 

[Stagger_Lee]

White fly? Did you see any white flies? Are they out already?

No, hence why I said they must be dumb fish.

Those lil guys were basically going for anything on the surface that resembled a bug .. no matter the color and not so large in size. Definitely must say that fishing is even more enjoyable when you a catching them at a nice pace

 

[Fishidiot]

Stagger,
Yep - sunfish are a blast. And yes, they tend to swallow flies. Sometimes it's just better to cut the line, but often a pair of hemostats will do the trick.

Although I caught trout over 15" during the Jam.....if you look in the Photos section the only fish I caught that was worthy of a photo was a big redbreast sunfish - my "best" fish of the 2012 Jam.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Fishidiot .. I agree. As a newbie to the world of fishing, I was happy to be catching fish on my own for the first time. They were falling for anything and it was fun and great practice for me. Gonna have to get better unhooking those fish with my hemostat.

Jam looked like a blast, hope to make it one daybut for now I'll stick to the newbie jams :-D

 

[springer1]

switched over to barbless on anything bigger than a #16 or so

Ditto. And it doesn't seem to effect the hook's ability to hold fish at all.

 

[Padraic]

If you have to cut the leader and release a fish without removing the fly don't sweat it too much. I'm told the fish will have a reaction to the hook that will create an ulcer around it and it will pop out in a day or two. Not a great thing for the fish, but it should recover. Just release them quickly and try to keep them wet and in the water as much as possible.