Pumpkinseeds of Summer

I've been catching some Pumpkinseed Sunfish lately (mid-July).  I think they are done spawning, but I've heard they tend to remain in relatively shallow water all summer.  Although chartreuse has been a great fly color for Pumpkinseeds in the past, they've been hitting pretty well on black lately.  They fly that has done the best was a simple unweighted #8 fly of black rabbit fur tail and UV black mylar chenille body.

Pumpkinseed Sunfish

Pumpkinseed Sunfish

And a few bass...nothing over 16" lately, though.

End of May-First week of June, 2016

Pond fishing is slowing down as crappies, bluegills, bass, etc, spawn and head out of the shallows.  Algae and weed growth is hitting the point where fishing is difficult.  But I've caught some decent fish lately.

Jumbo 9.5" Pumpkinseed (one pic above and one pic below)!

Below is a single yellow chick amongst all the regular-colored mallard chicks.

Here's a very Pumpkinseed-looking Hybrid Sunfish:

Have caught some nice bluegills...some females, but mostly males:

I've caught a lot of little bass, a few medium-sized ones (13"-16")...no big ones, but I have seen them.

I thought this was interesting.... I was flyfishing with a grayish boa yarn leech.  A fish broke my line on the hookset (bad line, NOT a big fish)..it then jumped out of the water trying to throw the fly, so I got to see it.  I tied on a yellow boa yarn leech and continued fishing.  About 10 minutes later, I caught the same bass and got my original fly back!

And...because I just can't get enough Pumpkinseed pictures...

Flyfishing Report, Early May 2015

The Crappies in the smaller ponds seem to be done spawning (but males are still hanging around the nesting areas), but are going strong in the bigger lakes/reservoirs.

The Largemouth Bass are nesting in the smaller ponds and probably spawned within the week.  They can be really finicky around the nest!

The Bluegills have just started nesting, and the females are about ready to burst!

PumpkinseedSunfish are also nesting, and currently spawning.

Speaking of Pumpkinseeds....I finally caught a 9-incher!  That qualifies as an Iowa Master Angler size...

Buffalo were spawning last weekend....didn't even know they were IN the pond I was fishing until I saw them.  Common Carp seem to be doing some spawning in the shallow weeds as well.  Grass Carp....I dunno... they are still a mystery to me.  I haven't figured them out yet.

I did foul-hook a common carp, which wasn't intentional, nor very sporting...but still perversely fun.

The hook pulled out before I could land it, though.

And the ducks....well....their chicks must be a favorite food of something in the ponds....the numbers of chicks has diminished from about 10/hen duck to about 2-4 chicks/hen duck now!

Evening Flyfishing, 5-28-2014

Flyfished last night at a pond that SKUNKED me during the ice season.  Turns out, there ARE fish in it!
I caught over 20 Bluegills (biggest by far was 8"), 5 Crappies (to 11"), 4 Pumpkinseed Sunfish (to 8"), 7 Largemouth Bass (to 14"-15"), and 1 Hybrid Sunfish that seemed HUGE (but measured at 9.25").

Also saw some Grass Carp.
Here's the beast Hybrid:

And here's a Pumpkinseed.  I thought maybe it was too dark out (I was wearing sunglasses), so I took a picture with and without a flash.  I thought the differerence was interesting:

Most of the fish were caught on a chartreuse microjig under an indicator.

Flyfishing Late Afternoon, 5-25-2014

I got out to flyfish for a couple hours on Sunday late afternoon, before a storm with lightning blew in.

I caught at least 20 Bluegills, 6 Crappies, 8 Pumpkinseed Sunfish, and 3 Largemouth Bass.
I caught fish on chartreuse Woolly Buggers, Chartreuse Microjigs under an indicator, and silver Springbrook Wunders under an indicator.
I love how colorful the Pumpkinseeds are, so I mainly just took pictures of them.

This Bluegill had an unusually dark belly and pelvic fins:

Here's a Pumpkinseed guarding a nest:

Weekend Report - April 20-21, 2013

I have to say that in the middle-to-later part of the week, the cold weather and almost constant rain really had the fish put down.  The cooler influx of water would have been very welcome during the summer months, but the water really hasn't had much of a chance to warm up yet locally.  What we ended up with was basically an influx of cold water into the local ponds, colder than the water that was already there, waters rose 2-3 feet in most ponds, strong wind and wave action stirred up the water and turned it muddy...reducing visibility considerably.  I got skunked at two out of 3 ponds during one stretch in the later 1/2 of the week.

But this weekend, the sun finally came out, the wind died a little bit, and the air temp warmed up some.  The fish were as ready to play as I was!

Saturday around noon, I got to flyfish for a couple hours.  I paid my 3rd visit to the local pond where I had discovered the Pumpkinseeds.  I spent most of my time in the shallow channel area between two pond basins.  I used a gold microjig under an indicator, and caught some Crappies, Bluegills, Hybrid Sunfish, and 4 more Pumpkinseeds.  The last two trips were made in the evening under cloudy conditions, and I felt the pictures didn't do justice to the coloration on these beautiful Pumpkinseeds.  So I took advantage of the sunlight and snapped plenty of pictures:

Saturday evening I also got out again, this time to another local pond.  There was a lot of dead time between fish as I worked my way around the pond until it got too dark to see.  I ended up catching 8 Crappies and 11 Bluegills, using a chartreuse microjig under an indicator.

Sunday evening I got out once more, and visited a 3rd local pond.  The wind was blowing strong, the pond was REALLY muddy, and there was a rainstorm approaching.  I started flyfishing where water was flowing into the pond, and the water was a little bit clearer than the rest of the pond.  I set the chartreuse microjig just  12" under the indicator, because I knew the water wasn't deep here, and I proceeded to catch a decent number of really nice, hard-fighting Bluegills up to 8.5", and a couple of Hybrid Sunfish up to 9" long.  Each fish was really stout, and each fought extremely well.  I was pretty excited about those bluegills!  I'd left my camera at home, otherwise I would have taken some pics for sure.  The spot died, so  I also hit a few other spots around the pond, and caught a few more scatter Bluegills and 1 decent 13" Largemouth Bass.  Before I left, I went back to that first spot and caught some more really nice Bluegills again.

Pumpkinseeds & Hybrid Sunfish!

Last night I fly-fished from @7pm-8:15pm.  I visited a pond just a few blocks from my house that, odd as it may seem, I had never fished before!  The pond is probably @ 6 years old (?), and I'm not exactly sure when it was first stocked.  I've seen folks fish it, see them catch fish that, obviously, were big enough to catch.  :)
I decided to try it.  The weather was crappy...37 degrees F, breezy, overcast, damp (it had been raining/drizzling sporadically throughout the day).

I stuck with my favored tactic of late...a microjig under an indicator.  Long story short, I caught @ 28 Bluegills, 10 Hybrid Sunfish, and 6 Pumpkinseed Sunfish.

Hybrids are cool because they are so aggressive and fight REALLY hard!  Of the 20+ public ponds in my town...I'm not sure I've ever caught a Pumpkinseed before.  If I did, I probably  assumed it was a Hybrid Sunfish.  But last night, catching multiple Hybrids and Pumpkinseeds at the almost the same time...There was a marked difference between these fish.  So...I am EXCITED, because I can now add Pumpkinseed to my "Fly Rod Species List"!
Here's some pics:
Here's 3 Pumpkinseeds

At @ 7", this was one of the bigger Pumpkinseeds:

And here is an 8" Hybrid Sunfish:

I'm looking forward to fishing this pond around spawning time...and get some good pics of these Pumpkinseeds in their spawning colors!