Pumkinseed Sunfish & Hybrid Sunfish

My buddy Jay met me out flyfishing Sunday evening.  At long last, this particular pond is pretty much free of its wide band of algae that typically clogs the entire shoreline all summer.  The geese and ducks have the shallows pretty muddied up right now.  I tried a topwater for bass, but did not get any along the stretch of shore I tried.  We fished for panfish instead, and caught plenty.  Mostly we caught Bluegills, with a few naturally-occuring Hybrid Sunfish.  I hoped for crappies, but did not catch any.  We tried a variety of fly patterns.  As long as it was chartreuse, it seemed to catch fish well.

In Iowa, the "Master Angler" qualifying size for Pumpkinseed Sunfish is 9".  We did  not catch any quite that big, but each caught Pumpkinseeds that measured 8.5", which was new personal bests for each of us. Such beautiful fish!!

I did catch one bass while fishing for the sunfish.  Most of the Hybrid Sunfish were moderate size, the 8.5-incher below was the largest, and also appears to have had a Pumpkinseed as one of the parents.

We left before it was completely dark, which unfortunately is only @ 7:15pm right now.  Too early!!!!  :)

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!