Fly fishing for Longear Sunfish.

 

I like fishing with fiberglass spinning and fly rods.  Like this old Fenwick.

I also like to catch those pretty sunfish.  Especially, those Longears.  I did target them. Few times this year.  I was able to land a few.  My step-mother filled a stringer with a black wooly bugger.  Me on the creeks and her on a lake in her canoe.  

Over twenty years ago and after moving to the states, I encountered my first Longears on headwaters of the Ozark mountains.  On lakes and ponds, I’d caught panfish and not paid too much attention to the species.  However, I did notice these Longears.  I’ve seen hybrids and all sorts of neat panfish and I surely enjoy catching them but it’s maybe the tropical colors that get me.  Not to mention these Buggers (and other panfish) can be so darn challenging to catch.  

For some reason, I immediately fell in love with fishing for panfish on creeks.  A number of panfish and warmwater books help fill the outdoor selections on my shelf. I try add and subtract a fish flies all the time.  Some hang out in the fly boxes for a while longer than others but I’m always changing the patterns.  It’s fun that way.  Just like rods.  I like to try different rods too.

Targeting:

I do fish Longears when on their beds.  That is so hard but so fun.  Also, I drift flies where fish will take cover.  Aquatic grasses, rocks, builders, fallen trees and brambles.  Even ledges.  One year, I found a bunch that would come out and pop my fly when I would drift it or strip it.  I caught so many fat ones from under the limestone ledge on the headwaters of a tributary stream of a much larger watershed.  I guess it’s just been luck.  I do find them in the usual spots.  Recon will give them up and they tend to hang out in the same places year after year.  A good spot for me is an area not within the current and where there is shade . Mostly shallow.  I’ll see them creep out and look at my flies.  Or, pounce.  I don’t catch many in lakes but I don’t fish them much.  My step-mother caught quite a few from a canoe.  She casted her black wooly bugger along the bank and filled some stringers.  I do think they were rocky bank ledges and sandy shallows with pebbles.  I do think a weighted fly helps.  Something that will sink and can be twitched.  Sometimes, you have to catch a few of the other species which are intermingled with Longears.  Such as warmouth.  Patience is needed.  Sometimes, not.  

PATTERNS:

As my fly boxes change, so do my blog posts.  Here is what I’ve most recently been using to target those Longears.

Rio Getter

Brasshawk

Bugger

Panfish Charlie 

Carp-it Bomb

MY RETIRED PATTERNS:

Jeremiah Nymph Two

California Coachman

Cajun Coachman

Black and Yellow

Custom yellow nymph/streamer 

Scuds

Midges 

RODS:

Light action rods are good.  Anything 1-3 weight but 4 is good too.  Even a 5 is okay but you don’t want fast action or you won’t enjoy the fight.

Hope you enjoy the post.  I’m gonna make an entry sometime about an Ozarks Fly Box.