Redbreast sunfish are so cute. A picture just doesn’t do justice to how colorful they really are–in particular, the fluorescent green markings on their face. You have to go catch some to find out.
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Back when I lived in Colorado, I started flyfishing for pike. I got bored throwing specs of dust at discerning trout that nosed up and ignored what I offered because it had 8 legs instead of 6. I started playing with the lunatic fringes who were flyfishing for pike on Spinney and Elevenmile reservoirs.
If flyfishing for trout is like formula-1 racing, and flyfishing for smallmouth is like NASCAR, then flyfishing for pike is like funny-car drag racing. The rods are heavy, the fly is a combination of bunny fur that soaks up water like a sponge and casts like heaving a 6-inch chunk of rainbow as bait. This is definitely not your grandfathers small and dry flyfishing.
Usually you’re sight-fishing, wading, and the pike are huge and close. When they nail the fly, you see a huge boil and your line shoots out of the guides. The fish are only good for a couple of runs, though, and wear out fairly easily for their size. That’s OK, though, they can really pull hard during those first runs.
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Back in 1998, I took a trip to Chambersburg, PA to fish the Falling Springs Branch.
It’s a small stream, what we would call a creek back home. It is, however, a limestone creek, so it has a very healthy population of scuds, sowbugs, insects, and trout.
I was fishing western-style with a 9-foot 4-weight, and I was massively overpowered for the delicate presentations and tight areas on the Falling Spring. Now I have 7.5-foot 1-weight, so I’m looking to going back this spring and summer.
Falling Springs Branch Article at Flyfisherman Magazine.
The weirdest thing about fishing the Falling Spring is fishing in somebody’s back yard. I never got used to it. Here I was out in a 1-acre horse pasture complete with white rail fences, and I’m casting for trout.
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Most of the streams in the NoVA region have healthy populations of Redbreasted Sunfish. This particular fish was taken from a small urban stream within walking distance (OK, my walking distance) of Tyson’s Corner.
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This is an article I wrote last year for The Global Flyfisher. It’s amazing to fish the Potomac because you are 10 miles away from downtown DC, but you never would know it.
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Cute little largemouth bassie I caught on Holmes Run. It’s a “delayed harvest” trout stream (like put-and-take but they make you wait 3 months before the “take” part) with a nice population of the ubiquitous redbreasted sunfish and the occasional bass.
This particular fish surprised me. It was in late December and I was getting hits from the occasional stocked trout (hey, it’s close to home and I needed the fix) and the bass hit hard and pulled me around the pool for a little while.
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