A nod to summer fishing fun: the underappreciated sunfish
I love catching big, strong, glamorous fish. And I’ve been fortunate enough to get out there after some of the best, from steelhead to stripers to 90-pound tarpon.
My first love: sunfish.
And I still love them.
The other day, hoping to get some pictures for my story on sunnies that ran in today’s Roanoke Times, I headed down to the Roanoke River not far from my house with my daughter Maddy.
I had a 5-weight fly rod with a little popper, and an ultralight spinning rig with a Rebel Wee Craw.
I asked Maddy which one she wanted and she picked the spinning rig. I reminded her how to cast and she immediately started zinging 50-footers. She’s not a big fan of reeling with her left hand, but she’ll get used to it.
The water was a bit stained so I figured the Wee Craw would be money. But it wasn’t. Nor was the popper. Maddy started turning over rocks looking for aquatic critters and I picked up the craw and finally caught a nice sunfish. She held it while I shot pictures. Later she fooled with the fly rod and was actually casting well.
I caught one more, this one on the popper, and then we had to get going.
Maddy didn’t want to leave. Neither did I.
Sunfish will do that to you.
June 8, 2012 - 5:24 PM
I love fishing for bluegills too! I caught some nice ones in my neighbor’s pond a few weeks ago using cicadas. You just had to look around and pick your bait off a tree or fence post. Seconds later, you had a guaranteed bluegill or bass on!
Ranger — That sounds like a blast! I pretty much missed the cicada madness this year, I think. But next year we should have another good hatch in some area counties.
Aren’t they fun?! I also love to catch them on popping bugs. Some are a really decent size… Those that are “pan fish”… meaning bigger and fatter then our hand… are sometimes kept and fileted. They can fight like bass but don’t seem to jump out of the water and throw the bugs like bass tend to. My Dad taught me to fish, and fly fish, at an early age. How wonderful that your daughter has a keen interest as well!
I found a honey hole the other day, Mark, on the ‘noke. I won’t completely divulge my secret spot, but will tell you when you’re done fishing, you’re not far from some good cold ice cream.
One note – you probably want to remind readers about the consumption warning in the metro areas of the ‘noke. Eating enough Big Lick Bluegills to make a meal might give your whole family a bad case of the Trots.
The bluegills are hitting like crazy at SML. I was throwing a Pop-r over the weekend and they would hit practically as soon as it hit the water.
My wife has never really fished much. She started out helping the kids while I mowed the yard. She caught so many she lost count. Next thing, I know she’s asking for more white crappie nibbles and talking about us taking the boat out fishing. I about fell over. I love you sunfish.