My quest for a citation redear

Started by biggiesmalls, March 02, 2018, 11:58:27 PM

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Rivverrat

 WOW !!  Wouldn't have beleived had I not seen the picture... Jeff

biggiesmalls

Made it out four or five times the past few weeks, nothing though. Had warm weather last week, but got cold here a few days ago - not warming up until later next week.


Drew

biggiesmalls

Have dinner plans tonight, but I can update the thread right quick.
Was just out for around 40 minutes, trying a completely new approach. Big baits, big hooks. Using a 1/0 wacky hook and a breadball the size of one of the big 25-cent gumballs.
This worked on a 7" redear (so not huge, but still decent-sized), so no reason it won't work on the bigger 10" and above fish. However, it eliminated me having to deal with gut-hooking small fish, and even hooking or even messing with them at all. I received no attention from the smaller fish. An added bonus was that I could cast further, meaning I can get to deeper water with less terminal. Hopefully this setup will help me win a trophy.

Another thing I tried was, instead of keeping the rod high to try and keep the line tight, keep the rod low. This keeps the line in the water, and since I'm using fluorocarbon, it's sensitive when limp. And I'm actually relying on line twist, because when a fish picks up, I can see the line start to straighten. This keeps the line from making a big bow in it, so I can actually tell when there's a fish on.

Hopefully these tactics will help catch a nice fish. Now, the hard part is finding the fish.
Going back out tonight, I will be sure to update this thread.

Tight lines to everybody,
Drew

biggiesmalls

Dang, the night bite has just been nonexistant here. Before the sun set I had a few runs of what seemed to be decent-sized fish, but once that sun started going down it just shut off. No more fishing around sunset for now, I'll focus my efforts on daytime hours.

Drew

Tightlines667

Quote from: biggiesmalls on March 24, 2018, 02:14:29 AM
Dang, the night bite has just been nonexistant here. Before the sun set I had a few runs of what seemed to be decent-sized fish, but once that sun started going down it just shut off. No more fishing around sunset for now, I'll focus my efforts on daytime hours.

Drew

They don't call 'em 'Sunnies' for nothin'.

:)
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

biggiesmalls

I'll get some pics up shortly, but I got a massive hybrid sunfish today.
There are two ponds I fish, for the most part - both have big sunfish in them. One is across the street from my house, with stained water, and it's got some decent bass and a bunch of nice-sized hybrid sunfish in it - very rare to pull a pure bluegill out of there, and I've never caught a pure redear from it before. The other pond is in my backyard, this pond has gin-clear water and not a ton of good fish - but it's got the biggest redear I have ever seen in it. That's the exact fish I have been going for day in and day out and haven't had any success catching.

The hybrid I caught today was at least 10 inches - I have to look at the picture to remember how long exactly, I got a picture with the tape measure on him. He was 9.5" in girth, he was definitely one of the bigger sunfish I've ever caught. Got him on a big chunk of bread fished on the bottom not even 6 feet from the shoreline, he wasn't scared of me at all. I think the stained water helped with that.
I debated putting him back in his original pond or moving him to the backyard pond... I made the decision to move him out back in the clear pond with the hope that I can get a couple more nice sunfish in there.
Anyone have any reasons they think I should take him back out?

I'll post pics of him shortly. Big fish, but the pure redear out back is even bigger :)

Swami805

I think you made the right move.  Maybe get one of those auto feeders the use for dear and scatter a hand full of trout chow every day and fatten them up. That might be cheating though or you could think of it as your pet redear pond
Do what you can with that you have where you are

biggiesmalls

Yeah, there used to be a ~4 pound bass in there, maybe 5. Then I added another bass which was bigger, probably 6 pounds, to the pond as well. Over the last summer I found both dead, unsure of the cause of one, the other got caught by an osprey though. Neither of them are in there, and I think something with big sunfish would be a little more interesting than a typical pond where bass are the target.

I don't know if I could set up an auto feeder since it's in a neighborhood - but I could probably throw some out by hand every day. That might get them a bit more used to coming into the shallows, and I would have a dependable spot to catch them in - which would save blindly casting across an entire pond to try and find the fish.
You are right though, where does the line come with cheating? That might be it, I'm not sure. That's something to think about.


Drew

Benni3

Try nightcrawers on a bobber,,,,and i did take some big trout and stock them in a creek where you only see kid fish  :D and good job on that sunfish ;D

thorhammer

Boone and Crockett would recognize a trophy dear shot  over same said feeder....I sling a solo cup of chow from Tractor Supply off my dock every day. Got shellies well bigger than my hand under dock, cats about ten lbs, and some bass 6-7, plus pinheads.

xjchad

Quote from: thorhammer on April 15, 2018, 10:51:54 PM
Boone and Crockett would recognize a trophy dear shot  over same said feeder....I sling a solo cup of chow from Tractor Supply off my dock every day. Got shellies well bigger than my hand under dock, cats about ten lbs, and some bass 6-7, plus pinheads.


Wish I could fish your pond John!!!
Husband, Father, Fisherman

Swami805

If you do it by hand after awhile they get used to seeing a big shape by the water and lose their fear. Easy pickings for a coon on harron or something. Lots of people here have koi ponds and it's easy pickings for the harrons, the swim right up to them.
I'm with Chad. Love that pond fishing
Do what you can with that you have where you are

biggiesmalls

Let's see if these work. Fish was estimated over a pound, probably 18-19 ounces. 10.25" TL, 9.5" girth.
There's still a bigger one ;)

Benni3

#43
That's big one,,, good job;D

xjchad

Nice!  Congrats on your success!  8)
Husband, Father, Fisherman