Which species of Sunfish do you pursue most often and why?

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

 I'm an avid member of BBG and really enjoy everything about it including all the information on the different sunfish species available throughout this great land. I've picked up so many tips and learned so very much here from the other members. I added this discussion to learn your favorite sunfish species and why......Many fish multiple species but I'm sure one really trips your trigger given the chance...Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts about this subject.......

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

For me.....hands down.....it's the legendary Coppernose Bluegill!.....ever since I made that cast in Lake Moultrie South Carolina back in the early 80s......I've been fighting the fever....Big bluegill fever....it has no cure and can be the most addictive past time out there......You now know someone that has it.....These fast growing and tenacious fish settle in the coastal regions of the Carolinas in lakes and rivers and provide excitement for 8 to 9 months of the year in this region.....I've put in the time to learn and track the patterns of this species so I'm rewarded early spring during staging, bedding throughout the Summer around the full moon and scattered throughout the Fall until it's time to Trick or Treat....A true warrior of the brackish waters and my favorite Sunfish.......

[Tony Livingston]

No big surprise here.... I love the feel of a big Hybrid Bluegill on the other end of my line. Naturally, I don't turn my nose up at native BG, or Redear sunfish either. Candidly speaking, I simply don't pursue any other species.....no Crappie or Largemouths, Walleye, Perch, Trout, Pike or Muskie. I catch other species my accident, and I will take the boys Catfishing or fishing for Hybrid Striped Bass when they want to battle a bigger fish, but I stick with my Bluegills. I just don't want to fish for anything else these days.

[Vince Fusco]

Give me a big round bright male bluegill on the end of my line any day. Their shades of color are endless, and their fight is incredible. A bluegill was the second fish I ever caught as a kid with a cane pole, and I feel the excitement I felt back then to this day. As far as eating goes, none can compare. Jeffrey, you are right, there is no cure for big gill fever. That is why this site has been such a pleasure to be a part of, we all have that incurable fever, and a person has to have it in order to understand it. I still have trouble sleeping the night before a trip for gills, especially if it is to some new waters. For me, pre spawn gills are a ball. I also like Fall fishing for them after a long hot summer. Each time my float tips, or that familiar tap on my line happens, I wonder if it is gonna be my biggest one yet. I still fish for other species on occasion, but not with the same passion I have for big blue gills. 

[David Dillman]

I like to catch big redears.  They get  prety good size and they fight hard.  I have caught some descent one's in a farm pond, but we have moved away.  I have found a pond with some redears in it, but am unsure of the the size they will get.  The problem is I am catching about 10 bass to every one bluegill or redear.  I also like to catch crappie.  They are a challenge because of their lite bite.

I just got some of that berkley nanofil in 4 lbs.  It will definately break at 4 pounds, but it does cast well.  I also have had no tangles.  Next time I will buy the six pound test.  I am going to retry some of these sand pits that I have fished.  I am hoping the heat was the reason the bite was so bad.

Dilly

[John Sheehan]

Red Breasted Sunfish in local (NENJ) rivers and in the lakes Bluegill and Pseeds . Green Sunfish when I can find them are always a treat but only found them in one water I fish. Crappie in the colder months in certain spots of the lake become my focus as they are abundant .

To answer your question though ,what do I pursue and catch the most ?THE BLUEGILL! They can be caught 12 months of the year in my neighborhood lake that's why!

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

   Bluegill fishing is like Forrest Gump said" it's like a box of Chocolates, you never know what you are going to catch" I have caught several different species out of the same hole one after another.I like the warmouth because they are usually thicker in the shoulders ,orange bellies because they are pretty,the black cabovers because they like to circle in the water when they fight back ,redears because they get a little bigger, and pumkinseeds fill in the gaps when I'm not catching the others, but they all taste the same after their grease bath.          LOFR

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

The sunfish I most eagerly anticipate is the red ear, or 'shell cracker'. They grow the largest and they are the most interesting. Some call them the bullies of the Lepomii clan, and I tend to agree.

The main method used to catch them on my home water, Lake Murray, SC, is the slip sinker rig. I make mine from small weights and beads. I think of them as "mini Carolina Rigs." For bait, a large earthworm or wiggler is preferred.

Second is a large bluegill, caught on an artificial. My most productive lure for these had been a spinner jig, like the Beetle Spin and the smallest Johnson Silver Minnow trailing a micro twister tail.

[Jeffrey D. Abney]

I was 50/50 back when Santee Cooper was at my back door.....the big pound class redears would draw me in but I would get wind of the Coppernose biting and I was a possesed man....Amen to the Big Shellcrackers in South Carolina....Amos Gray made everybody want to fish them that fateful day on the Diversion Canal....... You can't go wrong either way David and thanks for your input....

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

:-)