Sunfish Questions

[OTIS]

a weight forward bobber and a popper or dry fly is just as good or better then a size 6 gold aberdeen with a worm piece or spikes. ice fishing lures in the small size are great producers too. a 10-12 inch gill or sunnie is usually close to a pound fish and if its a female i always try and release these trophy fish but thats just my opinion. a 12 inch sunfish is almost as rare as the 7 lb smallie, the 20 lb n pike, any size musky especially up in the northern usa states because of the shorter growing season. when im fishing for meat, ill keep the fish up to 9 inches[ perch up to 11 inches] because i feel that they taste better. tight lines, practice c and r, keep some for the table and insure that the future of our sport will be there for our siblings. big dave out.

We try like heck to practice catch and release, but its tough while teaching a 6 and a 4 year old how to fish.  The good news is we've only lost around 8 fish so far this year, and they've all gone home to the frying pan!

[Pasquatch]

Chances are, the bluegill population would benefit from a slight thinning.

[OTIS]

This pond is part of a city park, and is open to the public.  There is rarely more than one other person fishing when we go, and never for sunfish.  Everyone targets the largemouth.

[bigdave1018]

a small pond needs selective harvesting to insure a healthy population. removal of sunfish on a limited basic will insure the future for bigger healthier panfish. if the bass are the main predetor in said pond and fishers keep removing them , the future looks bleak. small ponds are always a fragile eco system. i know of a pond where the owner went and fixed it, brought in the dec , shocked it and removed all of the fish and restock it . he put 10 sunnies for every bass. that was like 20 yrs ago. he didnt let anyone fish it and now most of the fish are stunted because of lack of food. it sad seeing a 3 in fish thats 15 yrs old . just my 2 cents, big dave out.

[Skipper]

try using small lead head jigs. Sunnies will rarely get the head of the jig swallowed.  It will give you somthing easy to see in the fishes mouth, and easy to grip with your foreceps. The added color of a painted jighead will also help with a slow bite. Panfish can be very color sensitive

[Reel Wet Ride]

Fish swallowing the hook is one of the main reasons I never fish with live bait for gills or sunfish. Plus, why dink around with bait all day, get the boat dirty when all you have to use is a 1/32 oz jig with a small twister tail and you can catch just as many fish. Plus, using the jig will eliminate most of the small fish that your catching now. Use a 6'6" or better light action rod and spool up with 4lb. on a long spool reel. That will let you get it out there on a cast. You can try using a fly rod and a spinning reel, but I've never liked the feel of it.

For your kids, Upsize to the bigger gold arbedeen hooks (long shank) that way, even if they aren't right on top of the bite, its a little harder for the gills to swallow the hook.

As far as catching a 12" fish, I'd say you'd be wasting your time fishing for the white whale. In a pond that small, with seemingly a stunted fish population, you might get the occasional 8 or 9" fish, but I'd venture to say that they're probably few and far between.

[Fishingking]

I like using plastics or even a Small plain leadhead jig  with a worm. some of the smaller fish will steal your bait but at least they arent swalling it

Even just a hook under a pencil bobber. with the lack of weight pulling down on the bobber it keeps it laying flat on the water as soon as a fish starts pulling on the bait the bobber  begins to stand up straight and thats when ill set the hook. Ill do this all the time in the spring with maggots and a pencil bobber.

Good luck

FK

[bwalleye]

I use a mister twister grub with the tail shortened a bit.  Seems when the fish inhale it and try to spit it out the hook catches the lip.  My 2 cents