Personal Best Red Ear (1/20)

[Latimeria]

I met Squatch at 5:45am at Jennings and prepared to slay some trout.  Dave was there the day before and got his limit in no time, so i only expected the same results.

Steve and I got down to the secret shoreline and soon as our headlights hit the water's edge, we saw trout swimming.  We actually saw trout swimming the entire morning right in front of us.

Rooster Tails, Mini Jigs, Night Crawlers, Power Bait, kastmasters, power worms, power mice, grubs... we tried about everything, but couldn't get a trout to take a hook.  Things were looking grim so we made a move.  We drove around the lake trying to see if anything called out to us.  We decided to try a shoreline spot neither one of us ever tried before.  Things looked great, but we never got a sniff!



We decided to move to one last spot before packing it in.  The wind was HOWLING and COLD!  We stopped off at a boat spot we like and the wind was right in our face.
I set out a double nightcrawler rig, well two big nightcrawlers on a 2/0 looking for catfish and placed the bait in what I thought was a catfish honey hole.  I saw the rod bounce a few times that didn't look wind related and then the long rod doubled over!!!

I yelled to Squatch and he only replied "Bull sh!t".  I wasn't sure what I hooked since it was peeling line off the rod and I was just trying to keep it from getting hung up in all the overhung branches.  Steve grabbed the net and I was like HOLY CRAP!  That's the biggest Sunny I've ever caught or seen!

Steve netted it and voila!  a 14.9" Red Ear Sunfish!  A personal best!



The funny thing was we were just getting ready to pack it in and I said next fish gets most and biggest.  I really had no hope in catching that big panfish, but I was more than grateful to have the chance!

Well, we packed it in right after that and I went home a happy camper.  Not the target species, but I'll take a personal best over a skunk any day!  hahahaha

[LandlockedinUT]

Wow!  Looks like it hybridized with a crappie!

[sasquatch]

Hit wohlford today for more of the same. Skunk that is. Not panfish.

[BenCantrell]

I would like to see that fish sitting in a large frying pan. 

Nice catch, that thing is a beast!