Green Sunfish

Caught my two biggest Green Sunfish tonight.

Quick evening trip

Rushed home after to work, to try and get an hour in at the pond. I arrived to find small fish rising eveywhere, and larger fish swirling after them. I tied on a black hopper and got the Green Sunfish, my first of the year. Caught two bass after that, but that was it. Nice night, mosquitoes are just starting to be a pain.

Return to Mosquito Pond.

I went back to the pond the other night. This time I brought my kayak, and some bug spray. There were thunder storms all around me though so I didn't really need the latter.

After a hell of a drag and some serious bushwacking I was able to get my kayak into the pond. These tules are thick, and the sides of the pond are almost vertical. I was able to submerge my whole paddle before touching the bottom.

Once I got in and paddled around it was well worth the effort. I hit all the likely spots, and was rewarded with willing green sunfish. They smash a Hopper like nobody's business. I must've caught twenty or more.

This was the best one.

I expected to catch some bass as well, but not this time. I will be surprised if there aren't any in here. I did see about a fifteen pound koi,  so somebody has put fish in here. I hope they also put some bass.
The drag out was a nightmare. Did I mention vertical sides? I had to get the nose of my kayak on the bank,shimmy up to the front, and flop out onto the shore. At least the sunset was worth it.

Mosquito Pond

I've been watching this pond for about three years. I've noticed it from the road several times. Mostly during duck season. There always seems to be ducks on it during the winter. I've thought about sneaking down there and throwing out some decoys, oh wait, it's only a hundred yards from the road and about three hundred yards from some warehouses. Hmmm, maybe on Christmas Day??

It was posted at one time. I can tell from the old plywood squares on the fence posts. There is still a fence in front of it but I doubt it would ever keep anyone out. It is so stretched out I can walk through it standing up.

I decided to see if there were any fish in it the other day.  Me and the Boy stopped to check it out. The tules are very thick. So thick in fact that I couldn't get to the water at all. I had to walk out on the tules above the water and cast from there. It was a pain in the ass. If I wasn't getting snagged on the tules behind me I was getting snagged on the ones in front. I did mange to catch three green sunfish, one was actually pretty nice.

While I was fighting tules the Boy noticed some mosquitoes on his pants. I asked him if I had any on my legs, and I swear there was forty of them. We had to make a quick exit due to some close thunderstorms. On the way home the Boy had two ticks on his pants. I pulled over gave him a quick check, and headed home.

This was the scene the next morning.

I'll definitely be going back. With some bug spray and my kayak.

My Home Pond

I have a pond. It's not mine. It's  public. It is the closest place to my house to catch some fish though. I feel like it is mine, it is only about seven minutes from my front door.

I occasionally share it with a bass fisherman, or a dog walker, or maybe just some beer drinkers.
This pond has some koi, some carp, a few bluegill, an occasional green sunfish, and a lot of largemouth bass.
The bass are very skittish. They're not like most bass. They're not aggressive. They are careful. They don't fight over flies. I have never seen one caught on conventional gear. I have watched many people try to catch them, throwing rubber worms, popper's, spinner baits, everything really, all without success.

I have had good luck catching them on flies, first on very small streamers, and then on small poppers. I never caught a bigger bass until dark, or just before dark.

 I recently tied up some mini hoppers from azwanderings.com. They have worked like a charm. These bass seem to only bite on relatively natural bugs presented subtly. I can flip these bugs to within about an inch of the opposite shore where the big boys are hanging out waiting for some small critter to fall in. I'm not sure if it's hoppers they're after, or caddis, or spiders, or what? There are definitely all three around this pond, and the fish are ready and willing to smack them.

Here are a few pics from the other night. A couple of smalls.

A couple nice ones.

And a monster green sunfish.

Rucker Lake smallmouth??

I took a trip up over Donner Pass yesterday. I had read online that there were smallmouth bass in Rucker Lake. I packed up the Sammy, grabbed the old man, and hit the road at 4:30 am. The Google map was dead on, and we arrived at the lake right around 6. The parking area was about a hundred yards from the lake. We got the pontoon set up, and dragged the kayak down to the water.

I tied on a Byron's Knucklehead, and cast back toward the weed lined shore. On my first cast I got a strike while untangling my line. (There are lots of things to get tangled on a pontoon boat.) I missed that one but on my second cast I landed a small largemouth. Not bad.

This kept up for at least 10-15 fish. I switched to a streamer pattern on a sink tip to try to reach some bigger fish. No luck. I must of caught at least 50 largemouth of this size. I decided to go to the other side of the lake to try my luck.

The far side if the lake is much steeper and rocky. I was able to land three decent sized bass.

I caught a few green sunfish, and probably could have caught them all day with a nymph or dry fly.

I really wanted to catch a bigger bass so I moved on. I kept hitting the structure along shore, and was finally able to catch a good fish. He was just off the shore, next to a tree, on top of a large rock.

It was a good day, and a good trip. It was nice getting the old man out, and getting him into some fish too.

Rucker Lake was a great lake for a kayak or pontoon boat. You can easily paddle all the way around it. The fish were plentiful, but small. I would really like to fish it again in the Spring when the bigger fish are spawning.



I didn't see or catch a single smallmouth in Rucker Lake. If you ever have please let me know.