Hybrids in the Heat

[Jim Gronaw]

Made plans to fish my favorite hybrid sunfish pond this morning. Got there about 8:45 AM and it was already starting to heat, with highs predicted in the 100's. Started off with a grey grass shrimp 1/64 th oz hairjig and picked up a few scrawny bass, then dropped it over near the dock and let it free-fall to the bottom. Before I reached a 4 count had a bump and set the hook to this, my firat of 15 hybrid sunfish today...GSF X BG cross...

This fish was a little over 10 inches long, and a great fight on the 2 pound and microlight. I caught another fish at the end of the dock that was just shy of 10, then things went quiet for a while. Tried the shallow end of the 1.5 acre pond that had spawning beds in shallow, but I didn't see any fish on them. Drag. Went back to the edge of the dock and made a few more cast and got this one...

...an absolutely gorgeous 10.5 incher on the grass shrimp with a slow fall through the water column. It should be pointed out that the shallow water efforts included trying live nightcrawler , jig and tail-gunner applications with but one small hybrid. Going back to the edge of the dock was an easy choice.

I know it doesn't look all that deep, but at the end of the dock there was nearly 6 feet of water. It was out in front of the dock and to the left of it ( out of picture) where I caught all of the bigger fish today. Two methods worked well...1) cast the grass shrimp jig and just let it fall on a tight line, utilizing slow, deliberate 'lifts' of the rod tip, and 2) attach a small float 3 feet above the jig and tip it with a piece of nightcrawler, working it back in with slight twitches in between pauses. The bobber would go completely out of sight...something I love to see! As the morning wore on, it got hotter and I eventually lengthened the 'drop' of the jig to the bobber to 5 feet and continued to pick up fish. Here are a couple more of the larger fish...

This one went 10.25 inches

Here's another one at 10.5 inches. I'll post a few more on the photos board. I was surprised that the shrimp pattern worked so well, as I usually do the live worm gig at this pond to get the bigger fish. Also picked up 21 bass, mostly stunted dinks, yet the hybrids were so healthy. Had nine hybs today over the ten inch mark for some great drag-screamin fun! Knocked off at about noon and hit the AC!

[Ronnie M.]

Jim you have some beautiful bream in the pond. Looks like the fishing there would keep you coming back over and over. Enjoyed your report and pics.

[Tony Livingston]

Yeah that slow drop works best if you can find some deeper water to utilize it in. I like to fish off our floating dock where it's 10' or so.

[Mark Stine]

Those are some great looking fish.  The pond is beautiful, so hot here I think I'd be in there with the fish!

[dick tabbert]

Jim you got some nice hybrids all good looking solid fish, great job and fun to.

[Bill "Musky" Modica]

Nice hybies.....so hot today.

[Jim Gronaw]

Hey Tony...the deeper water at the end of you two posts in your pond is very similar to the dropoff at the end of this pier in my blog. Hotspot!

[Jim Gronaw]

It was a blast, Tony, and a method that I seldom employ in this pond during the summer. I've done well on spoons, live worms and small cranks but today I just wanted to 'test drive' a few new shrimp patterns and it proved deadly.

[Tony Livingston]

Gotta' love small jigs on the slow fall, one of my favorite ways to fish for big Bluegills. Nice job Jim, looks like a blast!