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mikechell

Sunfish fishing ... mostly

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Spent the last two weeks getting some fishing in. I had some time off, but just fished the St. Johns River (local BOW, for me). Most of my time was spent chasing sunfish for some fish fries. Mostly using just these two patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

Along with several dozen bream of different species, I also caught a few gar, bass and catfish. I kept all the bream that were "hand sized" or larger.

 

 

 

And the catfish.

 

 

 

The gar and bass were released.

 

 

 

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Sounds like fun! I didn't have much time to get out this year, when i did, I focused on river smallies....I am going to have to dedicate some time next year to some panfish on the fly....a basket of fish fries sounds pretty good!

 

Mike

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Great looking flies, the second one with the bead eyes looks like a fly I use down here to slay the panfish. That first one is a very interesting looking combination of materials.

That is a good looking bream, if the ones you kept were all that size, I know you had a fun time.

 

Kirk

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I posted an SBS on the first one, "My poppers", mostly to explain why I put the popper body on after tying in the tail materials. This particular one is turkey biot tail, black chenille abdomen, rubber legs and flip-flop foam body.

The second one is a pattern I saw for carp ... basically, I think it's a mini-clouser ... but the single tuft of hair over the hook makes it sink hook up and makes it fairly weedless.

I catch a lot of sunnies on both of these patterns, and release anything I can easily hold in my hand. I keep for eating all the ones that are bigger than that.

And yes ... ever since I arrived here in '92 ... I've thought of Central Florida as my heaven, thank you!!!

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Nice fish...I also really like that little popper...may just have to try tying some of those myself...doesn't look too complicated atleast...what did you catch that catfish on ?

 

So far I havent had any luck with catfish...I really wanted to catch one this summer but no luck :(

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I've caught two channel cats on the carp fly. One of the cats was sitting in flowing water and I was drifting the fly into outside bends of this little creek i was on. Mostly, I hook a gill or a bass, but this cat wanted it.

The catfish in the picture above actually took the fly while I was moving the boat. I use a paddle and scull the boat instead of using a trolling motor. So I had placed the fly near a stand of Kissimmee grass and was re-orienting the boat. When I started moving the fly, the cat was on it. No skill in that catch, the channel was hungry and in the right place.

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Hey Mike; The question is- Was you snacking on a Good piece of Southern Fried Chicken when you tied on that fly that caught the catfish? Happened to me once when I was with a guide friend while sight casting to cobia in Tampa Bay; a common hard head cat grabbed the fly instead of the cobia so we blaimed it on the chicken-Phil

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laugh.gif No, there's no scent on the fly, unintentional or intentional. But channel and blue cats are true predators, not scavengers like many other catfish. Both of these catfish will attack moving prey just like any other predator species.

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