I was flyfishing a local public pond. Had a pretty good day, caught 5 species…Hybrid Sunfish, Crappies, Bluegills, Pumpkinseed Sunfish, and Largemouth Bass.
Trophy of the day was this 21.75" bass that ate a bluegill that I’d just hooked. I guess technically I was unwillingly fishing live bait on the fly rod! All the same, it was exciting, and she’s back in the water to hopefully spawn yet this Spring.
Nice fish!!!
VERY nice bass! I’m amazed that you were able to land it. I’ve had bass grab other fish I was fighting and every time I get “them” near the bank/boat, the larger fish spits out the prey and slowly swims off. That is indeed a nice fish.
Jim Smith
Nice fish. Bet that goose put up quite a fight too!
o man, o man, o man. Live bait on a fly rod…what wt did you use…15wt…LOL. Nice fish and I am glad to see that you landed it. I wonder what the record for a bass is on a small wt rod? Still all and all nice fish.
WayneC
Nice work Dave! Those Red Ear Sunfish we call Shellcrackers here in Tennessee.
Ha! Looks like it was an excellent day of chuckin bait!
Nightcrawlers are waaaay easier to cast than a bluegill, by the way.
Great report!
@ James - I’ve had this happen before, too. You win some and you lose some. When the bass grabbed the bluegill, I checked the time on my phone, and told my buddy I would let the bass have it for 5 minutes. The thought was that if the bass would swallow the bluegill far enough, then the spines on the bluegills back should prevent the bass from spitting it back out. I had no idea if that would be enough time or not…but you gotta draw the line somewhere. I fed it line for those 5 minutes, then started reeling back in. Initially, the bass crossed to the opposite side of the pond, then turned 90 degrees and followed that shoreline I was well into my backing by that point. But when the 5 minutes were up and I started reeling in, there was no tension on the line until I had reeled almost all the line back on the reel. The bass had circled back and was about 20’ right out in front of me when I finally caught up with it. It helped make the battle shorter, for sure. Only the bluegill’s tail was visible sticking out of the bass’s throat. At the end, the bass got to keep her meal. There was a #10 hook in the bluegill, but the bass’s stomach acid will make short work of that. I’m not worried.
@newbee - I was using a 6wt, fortunately 
…I did toss some big bass poppers and a baitfish fly for a bit. I switched back to fishing for panfish about 3 casts before this all happened. I wonder if the baitfish imitation drew the bass to me, then it hit the bluegill after I switched?
@appalachian angler - That is a Pumpkinseed Sunfish. Similar…but I have to give the beauty pageant trophy to the Pumkinseed. They are primarily in the northern 1/3 of the U.S. I’m not sure they have those in Tennessee? We do have Redears in Iowa too, but not in any of my local ponds. I’ve only caught a few Redears on flies…boy do they fight!!
For a side-by-side comparison, here’s some pictures of each that I’ve taken:
Pumpkinseed Sunfish:
Redear Sunfish:
I have read that the range for pumpkinseed reaches down to Georgia.
Ed
By golly…you’re right, Ed! I’m still learning!
There’s a distribution map at this link:
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=382
That’s a great day for sure! Ive caught many Pumpkinseed here in Ky.
Nice day fishing for sure! Plenty of Pumpkinseed here in Ky.
Dave, it doesn’t show on the chart but there are plenty of them around Nashville.
Ed
That’s great to hear, Pumpkinseeds are such beautiful fish!
Great bass! I’ve only been out once so far and got skunked; makes me want to get after it!
Looks like an awesome day, and a great way to kick off the season.
Dave, I’m wondering if that bass wasn’t thinking “How the hell could that bluegill that I just swallowed pull that hard?”
Well…as an example that we win some and we lose some…
I fished the same pond on Wednesday evening. Once again, a bass charged and grabbed a bluegill I was bringing in. This doesn’t happen very often, and having it happen twice in the same week is CRAZY! Anyway, I did the same thing I did before…fed it line for 5-6 minutes. When I reeled in, I had nothing…not even the bluegill.
Bass 1- Me 0.
About 15 minutes later, a big bass grabs my microjig and starts immediately peeling line off the reel. It was a fun fight until it jumped and threw the fly. BIG fish!
Bass 2 - Me 0.
So, I was on the losing end this day, but I had a big smile on my face and enjoyed every moment of it!
And, I still caught plenty of fish.
Nice picture of a gorgeous fish! I also get some pretty nice bass on small flies this time of year. Later in the summer, I switch to large streamers made from Polar Fiber or Icelandic Sheep Hair. Tounds like you have a nice fishery to enjoy.
Jim Smith
I tried a Firetiger-colored Craft Fur baitfish pattern. I only had 2 with me…I caught bass on both, plus a crappie on one…but lost both flies when BIG bass broke my 8lb tippet!
