This fish is the reason I started this group..I'm really regretting not getting this fish mounted......The metallic green down by the anal fin adds such brilliance to this fish......

Pretty Fliers mixed in with some gills caught on the old telescopic....

Mixed back from early Spring with some nice Fliers!

Big flier next to an awesome Coppernose....

Douglas McCall with the North Carolina State Record Flier Sunfish from 1990

Big Flier!

Nice pair of Fliers from Buckskin Creek.....I'm only ounces from a North Carolina and World record....

exactly how big is the record flier jeffrey? how big is a "trophy"? there are a ton of em here.

Two 1 pound 4 ounce fish are tied for the World Record...One from the Little River in North Carolina and the other was caught in Lowndes County, Georgia but the body of water is not listed.....As for trophy size, I get excited every time I catch one a pound......I have caught several pounders the last couple years in North Carolina and Virginia......The profile fish for this group was right at a pound but more than that it was a beautiful fish and I decided to release it after an official weigh in....I've read several articles depicting the good fliers in Georgia's blackwater rivers Tomas....In my opinion, we are fishing the water that holds the new world record Flier......They are prolific and handle low Oxygen water better than other sunfish as well......

Did you catch your Fliers at Richmond Mill Bruce? I was just curious how they're doing in there with the management efforts.. 

Glad to have you in the group Tomas....Good to have someone fishing Georgia waters in the Flier group! Look forward to your input....

We dont have fliers here, but I have got to get somewhere to catch one

Thanks for the interest in the group Dwayne...What fliers lack in fight they make up for in beauty....They have some colors on them that I have never seen on another fish.....They are very tasty but I have been releasing the bigger fish lately since I'm only three ounces from a World Record.....Like all other species, I have a couple locations that are full of Fliers and other rivers that you don't see them.....Cool little member of the Sunfish family!

Another Solid Flier from Tulls Bay....N.C.

Big Flier pictured with a nice Warmouth...

Nice Flier with a nice Crappie.

I'm happy with Big Fliers or Big Bluegill.....

Good solid Fliers 8 to 9 inches long.......

A couple big early season Fliers mixed in. In my opinion the record will be challenged April through June when the big females are full of eggs. The flier lower right was 9 inches long and right at 17 ounces....

A couple more early season Fliers.....

Great summertime fliers back in 2009 in the Pasquotank River.....

Big flier mixed in with some nice largemouth and some other gills........

Fellow Bigbluegill.com member from Elizabeth City, Roy T. Gray, caught this big flier this past August on the Pasquotank River....Great fish Roy!

Bigbluegill.com member Greg Grimes with an awesome Georgia Flier........Anglers from Georgia and North Carolina are currently tied for the World Record..........

I just saw these for the first time and am not familiar with a flyer? What in the world are these? Appear to have much larger mouths than a gill or redear.

THANKS   TOOTY

Thanks for showing interest in the Friends of the Fliers group Tooty! Fliers are a relatively unknown in the Sunfish family.... They look more like a small Crappie to me rather than a bluegill but they are very adaptive to high acidic levels found in the southern swamps and marshes. They are fun to catch and also tasty.....There is quite a bit of information throughout the comments page for this group....They have a much smaller range than the other sunfish as well.....Just let me know if you have any other questions.....

Welcome to "Friends of the Fliers" Bobby, I look forward to your input and photos added to this group....I have a great time when I get into a mess of Fliers.....Can't wait for the Spring bite but we do start catching Fliers while the water temp is still down a bit....

This is a 10 inch Flier caught after the spawn because the weight was just at a pound......This fish was caught in an area with alot of diversity as you can see from the other species caught on this trip.........

A great mid summer bag with some big fliers in the mix.......This day you didn't know what was going to hit next!

Down in South Carolina for a business trip but I got in a little fishing this afternoon and had a Flier frenzy in one of the small lakes I fished.....Lots of vegetation so I believe the oxygen level is somewhat low thus the fliers are thriving and I didn't catch a single bluegill in this lake......Had one 8 inch Flier which was the biggest of the 31 I landed.....It was in the mid 70s and very breezy here in Coastal South Carolina but I was kind of protected by big timber and had a blast....Fished two feet deep near vegetation and the Fliers were smashing the live crickets......A great way to end the work week!

Having only a few hours after work today in South Carolina...I decided to go back to a lake full of Fliers and man I'm thankful that I did.......This place is slam full of Fliers and they are traditionally active first ahead of the other Sunfish and today they were dominant.....I ended up with 37 total Fliers up to 8.5 inches........They were hammering Crickets in and around the stumps and Lily Pads. This five acre holds the best Fliers I've ever caught in South Carolina...I have been releasing all fish hoping to grow the wall hanger........I wouls love to have a pair of 9 inch Fliers all flexed out on a pedestal mount....I'll have a few more chances in this lake before I return home next month......Has me excited to hit my Flier honey holes back in North Carolina and Virginia as well......

Flier fishing has provided me some mental hygiene during a busy time on the road......with weather patterns difficult this year and fish behavior still unpredictable, it has been nice to stab at these seldom fished Sunfish species for some great fun after work...The Little lake pictured can only be accessed from the bank on one shoreline but it's ample to catch fish you just look at those other spots and wander "What If"? But like the Apple Dumpling Gang....you can only put 20 pounds of stuff in a 10 pound bag so I'm having a good time fishing from the bank right now......If you guys catch any Fliers, share some photos and how you caught them with us....

Caught another ten Fliers today and this time they hit little live minnows......Still nothing replica worthy but I won't give up......Gators and Bowfins complicated my fishing this afternoon.......Got up into the 80s but very blustery with gusts to 25....

Got out to my Flier lake in South Carolina....Had a good time and caught good numbers but no wall hangers....Several fish of the 37 total were eight inches long.....93 degrees here in coastal S.C. today on Cinco De' Mayo!

South Carolina is one of the few states that has decent Flier fishing.....The state record of 1 pound 4 ounces has stood since 1977.....I have caught a 1 pound Flier in the Low Country of South Carolina but fish bigger than that are very rare.....Here's a few pictures from 5/9/2012 on the Marrington Plantation.....These fish were caught on very small minnows.....The big one I was looking for didn't hit this afternoon but a good thunderstorm did and my fishing was prematurely over because I don't do lightning!

Picked up a few nice Fliers this afternoon on the Back River down in South Carolina.....Exciting fish to catch and I'll look for some in the Tarheel State starting next week......Biggest one today was 9 inches long and 1Pound 1Ounce.......These fish were crushing Live Crickets.......

After a near sleepless night with anxiety to wet a line I got out on the Pasquotank River today with pending rain and thunderstorms but they still haven't hit....LOL..... Yesterday I noticed a mockingbird working my front yard vigorously and I determined he was catching black field crickets..Of no significance this is the same bird that helps his self to my brown crickets if I forget to cover the trap or one or two get loose on the boat....When I went to the yard a few minutes before dark the field crickets were everywhere and I managed to snag about a dozen to add to the brown crickets I had already purchased.....Get to one of my Bluegill holes and immediately caught some nice Coppernose and the next throw yielded my personal best Flier at 9.5 inches and 18 ounces......I love catching these fish........Welcome Home!

We don't have these up in the north country, but I wish we did. They look like a cross between a crappie and sunfish, 2 of my favorite fish.

A couple Fliers didn't want to be left out this morning. These guys were mixed in with some big bluegill so they had to be aggressive to take this big bait....Pink grub with the curly tail on a 1/32 ounce jig head with no other weight and a very light float.....Many of these fish would strike on the fall, just remove the slack and start reeling! The Flier with the bait hanging out of his mouth was a beautiful specimen......

Got out on my favorite river yesterday with my friend Doc and his son Matt....We were cruising along with scattered showers in the area catching a few gills when I told them we were approaching a feeder creek to the surrounding swamp....I explained that the water is normally moving in this area and it has become a fish magnet.....I had just explained that I recently caught my personal best Flier Sunfish in this very location when the bobber supporting my pink and white curly tail could not be detected in the mouth of the creek. The jig had been swallowed up and tension now found my Zebco....I had just caught some nice Coppernose and this fish wasn't fighting like they did....What could it be, maybe a Crappie or a little bass but when the shiny sides flashed next to the boat I just yelled out giant Flier......As the fish began to surrender, I reached down and lipped what would turn out to be my personal best, a mark that had only stood for 11 days.....Turns out the fish was 10 inches long and weighed 19 ounces.....What made my day is all three of us fishing yesterday caught our biggest Flier ever.....

Caught several nice Fliers on the Yeopim River today.....the one pictured was the best...Fish were caught on a 1/32 ounce pink jig head with a pink/white curly tail tipped with a live cricket....

Still fishing the pink jigs tipped with live crickets....Caught three Fliers today and this guy was the best of the bunch.....Water temperatures have dropped 8 degrees since I last fished the Pasquotank River.....

Some great Fliers from warm water conditions this July...Most have been caught on tipped Gronaw Grass Shrimp in Pink and Olive......

A nice batch of June Fliers....North Carolina Style

Big Bluegill.com member Tim Cotton shares a photo of a great 10.38 inch Flier that he caught.....Thanks Tim.....Friends of the Fliers appreciate it.....

A few Fliers from last week....good to see the little ones.....got a healthy chain of fish in this region....Going back to the Low Country of S.C. soon to give those Fliers another try......