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Post 28 Mar 2018, 15:31 • #26 
Sport
Joined: 11/08/13
Posts: 32
Location: US-CT
beautiful fish


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Post 28 Mar 2018, 16:51 • #27 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
ARReflections wrote:
They are purty.


I like the Weber Kalahatch, with replacement screw.. have one that looks just like that ;-)

here's one from a local Denver pond, it was mixed in with the bluegills. Not entirely sure what this is but 'longear sunfish' about covers it I think..

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Post 28 Mar 2018, 17:47 • #28 
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Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
The Weber Klatahatch is the same reel as Duncan-Briggs (maker). A surprising number of those reels are out there, considering they were only made 1954-5, and with their weight, a good choice for a long glass or cane rod.
I think your fish may actually be a green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus, male in spawning color, but a fine fish - awesome color rarely seen here, and thanks for posting.
https://mountainstomarsh.com/2012/02/15 ... cies-list/


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Post 28 Mar 2018, 17:52 • #29 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
I catch some greens and some bluegills but for what ever reason I like the red ears best, well next to goggle eye.
My supply of long ears don't get nearly as large as they do in Texas.


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Post 28 Mar 2018, 18:30 • #30 
Master Guide
Joined: 06/28/16
Posts: 930
Location: Northern WI
bmbailes, that shot looks like a painting.


Last edited by Char Hunter on 29 Mar 2018, 18:19, edited 1 time in total.

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Post 28 Mar 2018, 19:09 • #31 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
thanks, green sunfish makes sense - fairly unusual for CO I think ?

my Kalahatch goes well with cane, sorry not a sunfish..

Image


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Post 28 Mar 2018, 19:15 • #32 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
Nice pics everyone.Such a variety,every year i catch northern strain bluegill,red ears.longears,seeds,green sunfish my favorite last season,warmouth and rock bass.,And of course their cousins ,crappies and large and smallmouth bass and a spotted or two if i get a little south.Then there is the cross breeding and natural and stocked hybrids.Always have a rod rigged for sunfish with me.Many bass or carp excursions that don't pan out often turn into great panfish days.I have tons of pics but my computer will not load the PB alternatives correctly.


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Post 28 Mar 2018, 19:33 • #33 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/19/14
Posts: 3924
Location: USA - Illinois
Ron, thanks for that link on species distribution - great info. The Shadow Bass is a gorgeous fish!


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Post 29 Mar 2018, 07:34 • #34 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Trev wrote:
I catch some greens and some bluegills but for what ever reason I like the red ears best, well next to goggle eye.
My supply of long ears don't get nearly as large as they do in Texas.

don't take any of this the wrong way, but most everybody is going to prefer catching the larger species like redbreast (yellow bellies) and red-ear (shellcrackers). They just plain get big, can also have nice colors, and female shellcrackers are as territorial as the little male long-ears.
The redbreast sunfish in the top of cold Lake Austin have astounding coloration - the deepest royal blue and ruby red.

Here's a pretty red-ear male from the Pedernales headwaters - only males have the red ears.
Saw him eat the fly in fast water.
Image
and from an oxbow a few country blocks away, a lifetime yellow-belly hen, looking like a caricature of a sunfish.
Saw this, too, when she snatched the fly away from the 5-lb bass I was sight-fishing.
Image

For 5 or 6 years, we caught this same shellcracker hen at the same spot (literally a yards-wide window down from Wagon Wheel crossing) once/year. When you released her, she would hang at your feet to keep an eye on you and escort you out of her territory.
Image

how about a freakishly large shellcracker hen - I'm hoping to find her again later this spring - I know exactly where to look.
Image

The thing is, neither of those species are native to Texas - both wild fish are native to Atlantic drainages, and were introduced to Texas, and probably much of North America (both are standard fare for stocking ponds).

The thing that is so special about the diminutive native long-ears is that their individual strain markings show how special each strain is to your home water - and theirs - each strain is endemic - they won't be marked quite the same in the next river over.
If catching one of these doesn't satisfy your day, I think you're missing it.
Image

btw Doug, your beauty green sunfish is probably native - if you check my sunfish ID link, CO is right on the edge of their range.
Most of Texas was once a coral reef. When you think about it, it's kind of cool for their coral reef ancestors to have migrated to a mile-high.


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Post 29 Mar 2018, 08:16 • #35 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/21/06
Posts: 3080
Location: Orygun
those are some beautiful fish.

Our pumpkinseeds haven't quite woken up yet...or maybe it's just that I haven't started looking for them. Hmmm, I've gotta remedy that.


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Post 29 Mar 2018, 09:08 • #36 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/06/15
Posts: 1249
Location: Central Oregon
clarkman23 wrote:
Our pumpkinseeds haven't quite woken up yet...


They may well be awake. In my "waking 'em up" thread, I thought my bluegill pond was a waste of time because the ice had just melted, there is no good way to cast to the middle and nothing was disturbing the water anywhere. I used a small beadhead and let it sink, and did very well. Some of them would take it on the way down. They were really pale looking after the long winter on the bottom. Looking forward to colorful fish on the surface, but it was reassuring to get a few.


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Post 29 Mar 2018, 10:16 • #37 
Sport
Joined: 12/14/12
Posts: 25
Location: US-MO
Add me to the group that loves these long-ear sunfish. Ozark creek fishing for long-ear and Goggle eyes makes for one fun day of fishing. Some of these long-ears are so brilliantly colored that they look like tropical fish. Wade fishing for these fish is a great way to introduce kids to the fun of fly fishing.


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Post 29 Mar 2018, 19:35 • #38 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/27/16
Posts: 2327
Location: US-IL
I used to catch the same warmouth a few times every year.It lived in an old stove in about 15 feet of clear water.You had to have a whole nightcrawler for this fat old fish.And you had to get it to drop almost in the oven door of the stove.Every time you released him he swam down right back inside the oven.


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Post 30 Mar 2018, 23:53 • #39 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/22/11
Posts: 1720
Location: US-TX
Ron, that fish was caught in the tail water of Eastfork Lake in the Cincinnati OH area. A great smallmouth fishery too.

Doug, I completely forgot I had to replace the screw to that Weber reel until you mentioned. It was the heaviest reel I had at the time to go with my Fenwick ff857.



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Post 01 Apr 2018, 13:07 • #40 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/11/06
Posts: 2516
Location: Nature Coast Florida
doug in co,

You guys must have some big gills in Co to need a Landex with antireverse. Love those reels, always made me wish I could make the transition to rhw.

Barry


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Post 02 Apr 2018, 11:49 • #41 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
GRASSNGLASS wrote:
doug in co,

You guys must have some big gills in Co to need a Landex with antireverse.


ha if only.. I was actually fishing for bass but when you find bluegill, you fish with what you have.. it was impressive how those gills could put and hold a good bend into a Heddon 2 1/2F (7wt) cane rod..

I'm currently building a 4wt glass rod, hopefully, for this years' bluegills..


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Post 03 Apr 2018, 05:22 • #42 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
alas, people don't get it. Can't get Eric to add his examples to this thread - whole idea is to make a running catalog of long-ear sunfish markings


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Post 03 Apr 2018, 09:35 • #43 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/05/14
Posts: 689
Location: North Alabama
I found a few more.....first little guy couldn't resist a Minnie mouse skating by and the other pics are some of my favorite redbreast catches last summer.
Imagemousing4 by brandon bailes, on Flickr
Imageredbreast by brandon bailes, on Flickr
Imagerb3 by brandon bailes, on Flickr


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Post 03 Apr 2018, 20:32 • #44 
Sport
Joined: 02/25/12
Posts: 29
Location: US-CA
Wow, up until this thread, I thought the most gorgeous game fish was either a brook trout in spawning colors or a golden trout. Have to rethink that but the variety of the long-ears is impressive!

-Dwight


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Post 04 Apr 2018, 11:02 • #45 
Guide
Joined: 03/16/17
Posts: 169
Location: US-TX
Terrific longear photos. I, too, think they're just gorgeous -- living gems, and I'm amazed at the variability within the species

Here are some from the San Gabriel River(s):

Image
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Brushy Creek:

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Salado Creek:

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Onion Creek:

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Lampasas River (where, amazingly, there appear to be no redbreast sunfish):

Image
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FWIW, it does appear from the literature that both largemouth (M. salmoides) and Nueces largemouth (M. nuecensis) are native to drainages west of the Medina River. M. nuecensis (think largemouth with a tooth patch) can (probably) still be found in the Devil's River and Dolan Creek.


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Post 04 Apr 2018, 12:15 • #46 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
purdy fishes - thanks for playing


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Post 04 Apr 2018, 13:34 • #47 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/06/17
Posts: 2498
Location: South of Joplin
Funny-curious that most of my life I heard longears called pumpkinseeds and only a few years ago determined that I probably have never seen a pumpkin seed. I have no pictures and don't know how to add them if I had, but do like seeing the ones you all post, thanks.
The wife came up behind me a moment ago (as I was looking at the pictures) and asked why the fish was "that color" and argued that it didn't look like the ones in 'our' creek.

So what causes this different marking? Particularly noticeable to me is the shade of brightness. Or drabness?


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Post 04 Apr 2018, 13:40 • #48 
Master Guide
Joined: 01/05/14
Posts: 689
Location: North Alabama
Could be several things...spawning time, water temps, water depth, and varying genetics


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Post 04 Apr 2018, 14:29 • #49 
Piscator
Joined: 08/10/05
Posts: 19077
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
some could be females - the males are going to be brightest, because they build and defend the redds.
But the differences are strain markings - genetics. They stay put - they don't migrate very far.


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Post 04 Apr 2018, 19:10 • #50 
Guide
Joined: 01/16/08
Posts: 102
Location: Holland, Michigan
This is my favorite thread. Great to see as the snow falls.


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