Showing posts with label sunfish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunfish. Show all posts

Sunday, January 01, 2023

First Fish of 2023

First fish of 2023 and I couldn't be more pleased! Beautiful, dark green sunfish from a blackwater swamp in the state forest! I'll take this as a good omen for the new year, and look forward to more! Thanks, as always, for following along with me. '23 is the 10th year of The Suburban Angler, so I'm hoping to make it a good one!!



Monday, July 09, 2018

Today is the last day!

Today is the last day! IFTD and ICAST 2018 starts tomorrow with ICAST On The Water and the New Product Showcases!! While all of the exhibitors prepare their booths, I thought I'd prepare by exercising my casting shoulder and hounding some little sunfish!

Wednesday, March 07, 2018

Got the Hook

Do you suppose he was trying to eat the whole fly? Or was he just trying to pick a piece off, but happened to get the hook?

Monday, March 05, 2018

Bluegill fishing

Bluegill fishing on a footbridge on the Florida Trail with the Gulf of Mexico in front of me, Pensacola Bay behind me and historic Fort Pickens to my right. Now that's a beautiful bluegill spot!

Saturday, March 18, 2017

The Fly Fishing Show Atlanta 2017

flyfishingshow.comEvenin' Folks!  New for 2017, the folks at The Fly Fishing Shows made a venue change.  This year, for the first time, they moved the show from it's Winston-Salem, North Carolina location to Atlanta, Georgia.  More specifically, the Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, which is located about 10 minutes from the former The Suburban Angler world headquarters in Suwanee.  I say former because, as you know if you follow our social media pages, The Suburban Angler moved to Florida last fall!!!  Right before they announced that The Fly Fishing Show would be held in our backyard!!  I really hated to miss the show, I attended the last three years at the Winston-Salem venue, but we just weren't able to make the trip back up to Atlanta.  Luckily, a fly fishing buddy of mine very graciously offered to take a few photos of the show and even do a couple of live videos on Instagram from the show floor.  The videos, unfortunately, are gone forever, as is the nature of Instagram's live video feature, but here are a few of the photos he took for me.  Enjoy them, and hopefully I'll make it to Atlanta for the show in 2018!!
David Testerman from River Through Atlanta demonstrating some fly tying.
The venerable Lefty Kreh doing what he does at home on the casting pond.
Rob "The Mustache" Smith working The Fish Hawk (Atlanta, GA) booth.
The guys from Unicoi Outfitters (Helen, GA) are always glad to advise!
Cohutta Fishing Co. (Cartersville, GA) was well represented at this year's show.
One of my favorite bluegill paintings!
The art of Dave Whitlock is just incredible!
My buddy David (that provided the photos) was nice enough to get Dave to inscribe and sign the card for me!
Here's David, after a busy weekend taking photos for The Suburban Angler at his first The Fly Fishing Show!  Thanks again buddy!!

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Rainy day reading.

We're supposed to be having a very stormy Sunday here today (although the sun is still out), so I'm glad I got a "new" book in the mail this week. 1964 First Edition of Outdoor Life - America's Favorite Fishing. Hoping to pick up a few new/old pointers for catching bluegill! .
via Instagram http://ift.tt/2jFAU9b

Friday, September 02, 2016

A little reminiscing...

A little reminiscing tonight on these bluegill bruisers from back in the spring! I thought this guy would be the end of my TFO Half Weight. But, as you can see, the Half Weight won!!
via Instagram http://ift.tt/2bRxJHZ

Sunday, May 04, 2014

Georgia Panfish Research Series: 1-Identification

Afternoon Folks,
  I hope you’re all doing well today.  I don’t know about where you are, but here in Georgia we’re having an absolutely gorgeous Sunday, high in the low 80’s and not a cloud in sight!  I think I may have to hit the lake this evening! 
  In my last post I mentioned that I’d been doing a bit of research on the panfish species that inhabit the lakes and streams around me, so this post is my first installment on that topic.  I firmly believe in giving credit where credit is due.  The information below is not my own original work.  Rather, I copied the info form the Georgia Department of Natural Resources website.  I hope by being up front with that that I’m not breaking any rules.  One thing I did do, however, was put all of the information together.  On the GA DNR website you have to click an individual link to each fish species.  For our purposes, I thought having it on one single page would make things a little easier.  It’s one thing to see a picture of what you’re trying to identify, it’s a whole lot easier when you can compare pictures together.  You’ll also see that each post has its original image credit intact as well. 
  Each fish description from DNR is excellent, and the artwork in incredible (…to be so talented!), but I particularly like that the state record weights are included with each description.  I knew that crappie could get pretty good size, but I can’t imagine pulling in a 3 pound Bluegill!!! A new goal to aim for indeed!
  Look over the info here, and let me know what you guys think.  I’m going to keep researching and see what else I can find of interest.  Post any questions down in the comments and I’ll do my best to research an answer.  Now get outside and catch some fish!
  Tight Lines!
    -Nick

Bluegill

The bluegill is round and flat, with a distinct dark spot or smudge at the base of the dorsal fin. The ear flap is entirely black, which distinguishes it from a lot of other sunfish. Its back and upper sides are dark olive-green to black, and its belly is reddish yellow. The bluegill also has a pattern of vertical bars on the sides. During spawning season, males can be especially dark or colorful.
Scientific Name:  Lepomis macrochirus
State Record: 3 lbs. 5 oz.
Image D.Raver (USFWS)

Black crappie

With a compressed body, small head and arched back, the black crappie is silvery-green to yellowish, with large dorsal and anal fins of almost identical shape and size. It has a large mouth with an upper jaw extending under the eye. It has many dark spots on its sides and fins, which become more mottled toward the back. To differentiate between a black crappie and a white crappie, count the dorsal spines. The black crappie has seven to eight dorsal spines, while the white crappie has only five to six.
Scientific Name:  Pomoxis nigromaculatus
State Record: 4 lbs. 4 oz.
Image D.Raver (USFWS)

Redear sunfish (Shellcracker)

The redear sunfish is a deep, slab-sided fish with pointed pectoral fins. Its most distinguishing feature is a red or orange edge along the ear flap. With light green-to-gold sides speckled with red or orange flecks, the redear has a yellowish-orange belly. The redear sunfish also grows faster and larger than other sunfish, often reaching 2 pounds with 1-plus pound fish common.
Scientific Name:  Lepomis microlophus
State Record: 4 lbs. 2 oz.
Image D.Raver (USFWS)


Redbreast sunfish

One of the brightest-colored sunfish, the redbreast has green-to yellow-brown sides with reddish spots and a reddish-orange belly. It has bluish streaks on its cheeks and around the eyes. The most distinguishing characteristic of this species is a long, narrow (no wider than the eye) extension of the gill cover. These flaps may exceed a length of 1 inch and are entirely black.
Scientific Name:  Lepomis auritus
State Record: 1 lb 11 oz.
Image D.Raver (USFWS)

Warmouth

The warmouth has a thick, oblong body, which varies from brassy to dark olive-green. It has broad, irregular dark bars that give it a mottled appearance. It is easily identified by red eyes and a large mouth, which is similar to a bass. Its upper jaw extends to or beyond the middle of the eyes. Three or four conspicuous dark stripes radiate back from the eyes across to the cheek and gill cover. The soft-rayed portions of the dorsal and anal fins are marked with rows of dark spots.
Scientific Name:  Lepomis gulosus
State Record: 2 lbs.
Image D.Raver (USFWS)

Flier

Fliers are small, deep-bodied, compressed sunfishes with large dorsal and anal fins that are nearly equal in size. The upper jaw extends backward to the front of the eye, and the tongue has two tooth patches. Olive green to pale yellow sides are marked with several rows of brown spots. Small fliers have a prominent black spot surrounded by an orange circle in the soft dorsal fin.
Scientific Name:  Centrarchus macropterus
State Record:  None Noted
Image D.Raver (USFWS)

Information and images reposted from Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Division at: http://www.georgiawildlife.com/Fishing

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Winter Is Finally Over!!!

Hey there Folks,
  Thanks for checking in with me.  Now that winter is truly over and another semester of school is coming to a close, I can focus on the really important things in life...FLY FISHING!!!!  I'm afraid I haven't done much of anything fishing related in quite some time.  Last weekend it was finally warm enough to put the kayak on the water in Lake Lanier, so look for some pictures below.  I tried to stay abreast of what's going on in the industry, but since I live in the south, there is no steelhead run, no monster pike or musky and I don't own a decent pair of winter weight waders any more.  But, it's warming up, we're back into the 80s some and I'll be able to wet wade the mountain streams very soon.  So definitely keep checking back, because I plan on getting the blog up and running again in a big way this summer.  I'm still working on a post that covers the water access laws for the state of Georgia, so look for that soon.  Plus, I've noticed that with all the wonderful fly tying instructions that are on the web, in books and in magazines very few of them actually tell you how to fish the fly once it's tied, so, I've begun trying to track down that kind of information.  I'm still fishing my 6' 2-weight TFO rod, and still absolutely love it, but I've decided I'd like to get something bigger.  Not necessarily heavier, I love fishing an ultralight rod, but for casting out of the kayak on the lake I want to find an 8' or 9' rod.  I've got a very tight budget on that, so I'll try to keep updating my research progress here.  I've also been doing some research on Crappie and Bluegill.  Since I do most of my fishing in the lake and don't get up to the mountain streams as often as I'd like, I figure I need to get a better understanding of the fish that I'm catching more often.  Many flies that work on trout also work on panfish, but I'm pretty sure I could find some better flies that will target the lake slabs, and not just poppers, either!  
  I hope you all had a tolerable winter and are looking as forward to getting on the water as I am.  Thanks again for checking in and please keep coming back!
  Tight Lines,
   -Nick
If you follow me on Instagram you might've seen that I won a 3 month subscription to PostFly Box Co.  This was my first shipment.  Very nice looking flies!
  
Our first nice evening on the deck.  Enjoyed a pipe, had a Shiner Farmhouse Ale and added my PostFly Box Co. flies to my boxes.

First day on Lake Lanier this season.
This is the first and largest fish I took last weekend.  I'm pretty sure this is a male Bluegill, he took a black ant fly as soon as it smacked the water.  Hard hit and a great fight. Can anyone confirm or correct on species for me?

Friday, October 25, 2013

Fly Fishing on Suwanee Creek

Evenin' folks,
 I did a little fishing in Suwanee Creek on Sunday morning. It was a gorgeous morning to be in the stream. It's really starting to feel like autumn here in north Georgia, my favorite time of the year. I didn't catch anything this time out, probably a result of higher than usual water due to recent rain, but it certainly does my disposition some good just getting into the woods. It is fascinating the amount of wildlife to be seen when you consider that this stretch of Suwanee Creek runs between a subdivision and an industrial park.
  I decided to try my hand at filming myself fishing, the quality is not the best from the iPhone, but I thought it turned out reasonably well. I'd like to share the result of the experiment with you here. I'll try to get some better footage next time.
  Until then, Tight Lines and Happy Fishing!
          Nick




Friday, July 26, 2013

Skunked.....again!


Good morning folks,
  It's been a little while since my last post, but I have a good reason. Much like the rest of the country, Georgia has been getting an awful lot of rain lately. Since my last post, I've only been fishing twice.  I got skunked both times. I've been spending some time learning to tie flies and packing for my upcoming move to a new apartment.  We've been pretty busy at work recently and on top of that, there's only a few weeks left until school starts back.  Where did the summer go?
 I took the kayak out to Lake Lanier the Saturday before last.  The morning was very overcast, there was a pretty stiff wind on the lake and the water had a pretty good chop to it.  I had my 2 weight TFO rod and fought the wind with every cast.  The fish must have been down deeper than I could get with my floating line. After 3 hours on the water I only had two soft strikes. I didn't hook up once. I threw every fly I had that my two weight could handle. Then started throwing the flies that it couldn't!  Finally, I tied on this big, black streamer-/woolly bugger-type fly that I bought too long ago to remember and noticed bass nipping at its tail. I'm a fan and follower of the teachings of Tom Rosenbauer and the Orvis Fly Fishing Guide Podcast and one of his most often reiterated pieces of advice is that if the fish are showing interest, but make a last second refusal, change size first!  Well, that's all well and good, but I didn't have another size of that pattern. After about 20 minutes of watching the small fish try to school with my fly, I paddled back to the launch and called it a day. Skunked. But, with a plan.
  I spent the next few days listening to the rain fall and researching fly patterns and tying recipes (when I wasn't at work, anyway).  I decided to try my hand at tying up some woolly buggers, but most of the recipes I could find were for larger hooks, sized 6 through 10.  I wanted something smaller.  I determined that I could follow the instructions I had found, and just scale it down to a smaller hook.  Then, I stumbled upon instructions for tying wooly buggers on a size 14 hook and I decided that it could be done, pretty easily.  I bought the needed materials (I thought tying flies was supposed to be cheaper than buying them?) and spent an evening at the tying vise.  I'm a beginner at fly tying, so it took me a few hours to come up with a half dozen flies, but it's a very easy pattern to tie and probably a very good one for a beginner like me to get started with.   I've read that black, brown and white are the three preferred colors for wooly buggers, so that's what I tied.  I didn't use bead heads, but did put lead under the body to weight the fly down.
  So, armed with a half dozen, newly tied mini-buggers, I hit the lake again this past Sunday. The weather seemed a bit more cooperative, big clouds about, but mostly sunny and not nearly as breezy as the weekend before.  I spoke to a couple gentlemen bank fishing and learned that the fish weren't biting.  In the two hours they had been there, they only caught one fish a piece, both catfish on bait.  I pushed off from the boat launch and started to paddle back to one of my most productive spots so far.  I stopped and fished some along the way, but got no bites.  I was amazed at how few fish I could see in the water.  Normally, it seems, you can see bream and small bass swimming amongst the rocks in the shadows.  I paddled into a grassy area to fish around a fallen tree that has produced good bites in the past.  Not even a bite.  At one point, the best fish I had seen in a while showed themselves.  In about 2 feet of water there swam three carp that were each, easily, 18" long.  Swimming directly under and around my kayak, with I good net, I could have grabbed them!  They showed absolutely no interest in my size 14 wooly buggers.
Size 14 Mini Bugger
  I paddled on to fish around the rock dam where I've had some luck before.  I pulled up into a small inlet where I've caught a few bream in the past, and dropped my anchor right in the middle of the mouth.  From this spot I could fish almost the whole inlet.  There's a sloping dirt bank on the left and a steeper rip-rap stone bank to the right.  I was starting to see some more fish swimming around, so I thought, surely, I'd have some luck here.  The water was nice and clear and smooth and I could really see the action of my mini bugger as I stripped it in.  I was working it in every way I could think of, long fast strips, short slow strips, short fast strips, long slow strips, you name it, I tried it.  I would occasionally see small bass following the fly, but no bites.
  In the three hours I was on the lake fishing, I got two soft, but splashy, strikes.  I had things to do at home, so wasn't able to put in any more time.  By the time I made it back to the car, I had paddled almost 5 miles.  You tend to feel paddling that kind of distance more when the fish aren't biting.  I loaded up and went home.
  I got skunked, two weekends in a row.  See now why I haven't posted?  So, what have I learned?  If you're not going to catch fish, you should at lease learn something about fishing, right?  I need to do some more research, but I'm guessing that due to the cloud cover over the lake the fish must have been holding deeper than I could reach with my mini bugger and floating line.  At one point I had crimped on a small split shot to my line.  That seemed to garner the most attention.  I think I'm going to spend some time tying some more mini buggers, but this time I might try some tungsten bead heads.  I also might have to look into investing in a spare spool and some sink tip line.  One of the purposes of the original wooly bugger was to imitate leeches.  From what I've read, freshwater leeches tend to prefer living in and around rocks.  I need to tie my mini buggers so they will get down into the crevices of the rocks and can be worked in and around.  The buggers I tied had 5-7 wraps of .015 lead wire, but with the chenille and marabou it just wasn't enough to take the fly down more than a foot and a half or so.  Even to reach that shallow depth required me to wait probably a full minute.  Being that I'm still new to fly fishing, coming off of years of fishing Texas rigged worms on spinning gear, I'm not used to waiting so long for my lure to reach the bottom.  A bit more weight on the fly and a sink tip line might just do the trick.
  Hopefully soon I'll have some caught fish to share with you.  I'll post a photo tutorial on the mini buggers that I tied.  I'm still working to get them right and practice my tying skills, but you folks can critique me on how I'm doing so far.
  Thanks for reading.  Tight lines and Happy fishing,
      -Nick




Jim Misiura - Wooly Bugger Tutorial
Tim Cammisa - Wooly Bugger Tutorial
The Orvis Fly Fishing Guide Podcast


Today's Equipment

Flyrod: Temple Forks Outfitters 6'6" 2wt
Fly Reel: White River Fly Shop 3/4
Line: Rio 3wt WF
Flies:
    #14 Mini Wooly Buggers asst. colors

Knife:
Kershaw Ken Onion Scallion


Thursday, July 11, 2013

Some random kayak photos.

Good Evenin' Folks,
  I was looking through the pictures on my iphone earlier today and came across this set from my first trips in the kayak.  These are all just kind of random.  The best part about the new kayak is that I can finally use my fly rods a bit more.  The stream and lake banks around this area tend to be so over grown that I end up just using my ultralight spinning rod.  I have a pair of waders, but they're sock foot and the boots are shot.  On top of that, even though it's been a pretty cool summer so far, neoprene chest waders are still too damn hot!  I'm hoping to put the kayak in the Chattahoochee soon, but that fast moving water makes me a bit nervous.  I've been looking into some kayak classes, so the river may have to wait until I get some swift water training.  I have really enjoyed the little bit of paddling I've been doing around some of the coves.  I've been watching lots of videos on YouTube to learn some of the techniques to get me going.  It's really way easier and way more stable than I ever expected it would be.  I don't think I'll be standing up on it any time soon, but I'm sure I'll have to try that at some point, too.   I'll do a good post on the kayak sometime soon and put up some pictures of it.  I picked up a few back issues of Kayak Angler while I was in The Outside World in Dawsonville over the weekend.  I'm amazed at the accessories and modifications available to kayaks to make them more conducive to fishing.  I feel like I'm doing pretty good with the built in rod holders and my old belt pack to hold my fly boxes.  I'm on a very, very limited budget, but I'll try to show the modifications I make as I make them.  An anchor trolley system will probably be my first big mod, along with a good milk-crate setup to stow my gear.  The hardest part is dealing with the fly rods.  The boat came with two built-in rod holders, but they are tubes that go into the deck to hold spinning or bait cast type rods.  Since fly rods don't have the long butt below the reel, the rod holders won't work.  I end up bungeeing the rods to the side of the boat, and I'm afraid that's just going to lead to a broken rod tip.  There is a kayak accessory company called Scotty that makes some really nice looking, and highly rated, fly rod holders, but at $30 a piece, it'll be a while before I get one.  But, I should save all that for another post.  This was supposed to be just a quick post to share some pictures!
  Hope you enjoy.  Tight lines and happy fishing!
               -Nick

The new kayak on the day I brought it home.  Still need to find a better way to haul it, it tends to rub on the roof!
One of the parks on Lake Lanier where I launched the kayak from.  This one has a sand beach, picnic areas and bathrooms.

An accidental photograph. I was trying to film a video for YouTube and pressed the wrong button!
First fish in the kayak!

Quite possibly the largest fish I've ever caught!

I found a rocky shoreline in the shade and these guys seemed to like my popper.

I love the mobility the kayak allows me.  I never could have fished the bank in this area.

Tried to take an artsy-fartsy picture.  The iphone isn't the greatest camera, but I still like the way this one came out.

Zooming with the iphone really ruins the resolution.  I wonder what the lake looks like from a hot air balloon's vantage point.

Sunday, June 09, 2013

Trying to beat the rain.

  After a week of on and off rain and little time, I was finally able to get out on the water today.  I headed out this morning to a stretch of Suwanee Creek that I hadn't yet fished.  It was a mostly clear morning, some clouds, but a good enough day to fish (aren't they all?).  The temp was in the low 70s F with a slight breeze signaling the incoming rain for the afternoon.  According to the USGS Water Data site for Suwanee Creek (see the links below for the USGS website), the water temp was about 70° F and flowing 45 cubic feet per minute.  I walked about a half mile northward along the Suwanee Creek Greenway carrying my fishing pole, smoking my pipe and wearing my pack full of gear (and getting funny looks from all the joggers and bicyclists!), before I turned to follow the city's sewer outfall along the creek.  From that point on it was a fight with privet and underbrush.  The telltale signs of the recent flooding were everywhere and numerous, like basketballs stuck in the trees over my head.  I only take my ultralight gear to Suwanee Creek because the banks are so overgrown and the creek depth changes too much to wade.  I found a spot where I could make some decent casts, tied on a Worden's Rooster Tail in the rainbow finish and got down to business.  The privet in this stretch of the creek seemed unusually thick compared to other areas I've fished, so finding a suitable spot to make a cast ended up being quite difficult and time consuming.  In the three and a half hours I spent fishing, I was only able to walk about 500 yards downstream, and it seemed I spent more time walking than fishing.
  Over the course of the morning, I think I fared pretty well.  I was only able to land 3 small fish (one bluegill and two redbreasted sunfish, I think, my ID is still rusty), but I got a lot of strikes.  Using an ultralight rig, even the small fish are fun to land!
One of the two redbreasted sunfish (I think).  First fish of the day, caught on a Joe's Flies Short Striker.

Fish number two the little bluegill.  Caught on a Worden's Rooster Tail.

The last fish landed, the other sunfish.  Caught on a Beetle Bou Maribou Jig.

  It's amazing to me how wild an area can be even though I'm in a suburban area.  Whenever I change lures (or tie on a new one after a snag) I tend to take a short break, step back from the stream, light my pipe and just look around.  It's just a small patch of woods on either side of the creek, but I've seen lots of birds, fat squirrels getting ready for the next weather change and chipmunks scurrying around.  Today I even saw two baby racoons and walked up on a gorgeous horse pasture that I didn't know existed.  Even though I was within sight of the city's sewer outfall and within a few hundred yards of a big industrial park I still feel like I got the calming and restorative effects of spending time with nature.  I recommend you try it.  Look for a small stream in your area and get out there and fight the privet!  Let me know how you do.
         Tight lines and happy fishing.
                              -Nick

Today's Equipment:

Rod: Shakespear Ugly Stik SPL1100 4'8" ultralight rod
Reel: Shimano Sahara 750FB - a hand-me-down from my grandfather
Line: Berkely Trilene XL Smooth Casting 6lb clear
Lures:
Johnson Beetle Bou Marabou Jig 1/32oz ; white & chartreuse
Joe's Flies Short Striker Glo Trout #231 in size 8
Worden's Rooster Tail 1/24oz assorted finishes

Knife:
Kershaw Ken Onion Scallion

Pipe & Tobacco:
Missouri Meerschaum Washington Bent corn cob
MacClelland's Frog Morton's Cellar

Links:
USGS Water Data Site
Worden's Rooster Tail
Joe's Flies
 Johnson's Beetle Bou
Corn Cob Pipes
Frog Morton's Cellar Review