Story + Pictures

[jbird]

Another afternoon at the pond and another learning experience.

The weather was quite warm and humid with not much wind (at first) I thought I'd just step right up to the plate and "hit it out of the park" I started with the crease fly. I had a few great takes immediately then they just quit. I could see fish totally ignoring it. I switched to some other topwater stuff with same results. I then switched to a maroon wooly bugger and got a smallish bass. I then threw a cast out toward the end of the dock. Strip, strip, strip, Wham! Are you guys ready for this??!! This picture was NOT photo shopped. I was afraid to put my thumb in this guys mouth to hoist it out of the water. I did it anyway and the result was a bloody thumb. yes, it had nasty teeth!

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I went to the truck and rifled thru my flyboxes and came up with the floating dragonfly nymph ( posted some time ago in the flytying section)

I started getting some good results with violent topwater takes. I was waking the fly in the surface film with twitches and pauses. It started getting windy, so I went to the lee side of the pond and noticed some movement close to the bank. There is a bad moss bloom in the pond with mats of it around the whole perimeter of the pond. There are areas where there is no moss between the shore and the moss rafts. it is a thin 2' - 3' sliver of open water. This is where the fish were, and none were small. They were hunting insects I presume, right on the shoreline. I had to stand like 20' back from the water and cast my line, landing my entire line and 1/2 my leader on dry land with the bug plopping 1' -2' into the water. It was soooo cool! A huge wake would come racing from each direction in the shallow water to get the fly. sometimes I would have to tease them with it tho, twitch, pause, twitch, long pause. I would see the great beast slowly sneaking up behing, I would leave the fly still, the fish would come slowly up and just sip it in pretty as you please. One fish, while setting the hook, my rod came apart at the butt section. DOH! fish got away. Hope you dont get bored with all these photos. I just kept clicking away.

Jay

PS These are all different fish :)

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[Hairstacker]

Wow, GREAT report Jay!! I NEVER get tired of looking at fish photos. :lol: Nice bass but that is an especially NICE . . . uh, green sunfish? Great job, sounds like you had a blast. I love it when you can see the wake of a fish racing towards your bug. Pure excitement! 8) 8) 8)

[David Lee]

Great report Jay !!

Your Sunfish .......

That's a VERY curious hybrid - Part Green Sunfish (you can tell by the Orange/Cream fin edges , classic Green Sunfish markings that the other Sunnies don't have ....) and I think Redear Sunfish AKA Shellcracker ( I'm thinking that the overall 'brassy' cast of the scales must be Redear , no other Sunnies have that hue) . The mouth is a bit strange - Redears have an almost 'tube' like mouth that extends out a ways w/ a paper-thin membrane . Your fish doesn't show that membrane ..... Greens typically have a fairly large , Bass-like mouth . They all have teeth to some degree .

I've chased Sunnies of all species for a long time ..... and yours is the first of it's kind I've yet seen . Very cool !! If you per chance catch the same critter again (it could happen ...) , please , take a scale sample - I'd be willing to bet a 12 pack of your choice that it is a Redear/Green hybrid .

You gotta love a Dragon Nymph !! Fish death , I tell ya ....

Thanks again for the report , and the fantastic pictures !!

David =D>

[Hairstacker]

David, yeah, it was the orange/cream fin edges that made me think it was a green sunfish. However, knowing your expertise in identifying fish, I most definitely won't be betting a 12-pack against your conclusion. :D

[David Lee]

Mike -

Take a very close look at photos #1 and #3 - see how the sort of brassy scales are sprinkled like freckles below and in front of the pectoral fins ?? That's a classic I.D. marker for Shellcrackers . Sort of neat , how you can have 6 or so species that have almost the same body morph but minor differences in colors/fins/mouths ......

Pretty cool animal !!!

David :D

[Hairstacker]

David, thanks!! I really appreciate you showing me what to look for. I agree, that IS a cool animal! Very nice overall size and thickness too. :D

[jbird]

just for perspective on size of that "freak of nature" that is 2X6 decking. which puts that fish at just over 11" And probably 1 1/2" thick.

J

[Paul B.]

Thank you for the pictures, Beautiful chunky hybrid. PB

[Adam Grace]

That is one big hybrid, just those in Chico, where I used to live. You have a great little fishing spot.

[Jgoding]

I agree with David, definitely a hybrid. All the green sunfish I've had in my aquarium over the years always look like bass in shape. That fish definitely has the coloration of a greeny, but is shaped more like a typical sunfish. I believe my brother caught one a few years ago around Davis and we figured it was odd because the coloration was not typical of the usual gills in the area, it's mouth was larger and it had big teeth too...

Jeff