Monday, July 11, 2011

Stealing Jonathan's job

So Jonathan(Bluegillonthefly) went to Alaska and returned last week. oh, and...What? No pictures yet? No current sunfish picture greatness either. hmm...

I kind of consider his blog to be the source of cool pics of the beloved sunfish species. So here I kind of stole Jono's job. I'll get on with the post.

So...I headed out to Lady Bird Lake, Austin Texas today(I was in Austin for the most amazing carp session ever. period, but that's another story that can't be released just yet) I set up the carp gear and broke out the 4wt.  I wanted a Rio Grande Cichlid, which is, if you didn't know, one of the coolest fish species ever. The only cichlid species native to the US.
Mission accomplished. Rios are just epic.

Then I got a redbreast sunfish. 

Then a redear sunfish. These get huge but this one was a bit lacking in size.

Then a fish that very few people see on a regular basis(unless you are Jonathan, who seems to catch more of these in a week than I have caught ever)
The Redspotted Sunfish everyone, Lepomis Miniatus

Just when I thought "wow, pretty cool day!" my middle rod screamed off. Yess! My first LBL common! It would not stop, it tore off to the other side of the lake. it was so far out I could see it splashing in the margins on the other side of the lake. Dangit!

I finally gained my line back and after a few attempts and almost busting my ass on the rocks I had him in the net. Very nice common at 13lbs even. First LBL common but definitely not my last.
Absolutely spotless common. Came on 2 kernels of fake maize, 1 red and 1 yellow.

Awesome day, especially for the short 2 hours I was out there. I caught a bunch of other sunfish and left with a smile on my face. That's how it's done.



4 comments:

  1. sweet cichlid austin, and a nice carp. on a fly or real corn?

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  2. Anonymous9:01 AM

    Great post!

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  3. Corn(well, artificial corn) on euro tackle. Its just a ridiculous way of carp fishing which involved bite alarms, 12ft rods, and a whole lot more.


    Thanks guys!

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  4. Great story, Austin, and I have to say, you are right. Rio Grande Perch are absolutely some of the best fish to catch! I love them, too.

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