Switchin' Gears

[linwood]

Barry. Good to hear from you. Keep an eye peeled as I'm probably gonna invite y'all back again later in the summer.

I'm into that.

 

[Silent Ocelot]

I second Jifigz and his choice of rod selection for the intended application. The way that creek looks in the photos I'd be reaching for my 9ft 6" 6wt. This is mainly because it can cast far and carry a lot of line. So it I wanna fish fast and cover a lot of water with say a streamer I can. A higher line wt will be beneficial with fishing larger flies (something I rarely do) and would assist in casting intermediate and/or sink tip lines, an impossibility with a light line wt rod, should I choose to start pursuing bass with subsurface offerings other than nymphs. Larger line wt rods also help with wind too. Not a lot of wind out in SE PA now but it will pick up with the advent of a storm, of which I would love to see some rain right about now (don't we all?). It would certainly be more fun to catch these redbreasts on a lighter wt rod though. The good old compromise of performance vs having fun. I also try to choose the best tool for the job and will factor in expected scenarios and curtail the rod to that.

I suspect Jifigz was using his 4wt 7'6" Superfine glass when combatting that 18 inch smallie, which had to be a chore! I wouldn't be comfortable battling a fish like that with that rod, heck, the 14 inch stocked trout I fought on my own glass rod of similar dimensions were sketchy. I'd venture to say my 4wt 9ft could probably put the stick to an 18 inch smallie, but that is a powerful fish so I'd have to catch one to see how that would go down, and I know how powerful smallmouth get!

Only reason I have my 2wt with me today is because I did want to have fun at a local pond and take the compromise of not having my dry fly cannon 9ft 4wt, a rod that can probably out-distance the 2wt 4 fold. Also grew tired of just fishing that same 9ft 4wt and 9'6" 6wt. I have too many rods to just fish those two, even if they are just so ideal for how I am fishing these days, heck, I could fish anywhere in PA comfortably with those two rods.

 

[Kyle]

Good question. First off, these aren't bluegill but redbreasts.

The reason for the 6 weight is that it doesn't limit me if I want to just move locations and change flies for smallmouth. With a 2-3 weight that's not really an option. Also, the type of fishing I was doing hooking on to a decent smallmouth is a real possibility. I have used a 4 weight to do this before and was in a real dilemma when I hooked into an 18" smallie. I landed the fish, but I wasn't using the right equipment and it was pushing that 4 weight to the max. I will still fish a 4 at times for this though. Last night I was gonna but my 6 was already rigged with a 0x leader and ready to roll.

Redbreasts are plenty good fun on a 6 though. Very sporting on one, actually. And the 6 bucks wind better if it gets breezy.

ohh ok. that makes sense now.

 

[barrybarry]

Here's the flathead from Washington Borough, Lancaster.

https://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/pending-record-flathead-catfish-caught-in-pa/473879

 

[tomgamber]

Dem are sunnies!

 

[Mike]

One comment on the flathead size…when the large adults are not cropped off they tend to keep the overall abundance of flatheads in a body of water at a lower density because they cannibalize the “smaller” fish. An extreme example of this was demonstrated through a number of years of electrofishing to intentionally reduce the number of large flatheads. The response was even more flatheads. Additionally, prior to that study there must have been another. I think it related to heavy angler harvest of larger specimens and a similar result was either modeled or seen.

 

[Fish Sticks]

God can’t believe I miss this got published. PSU Susky Flathead diet study. Here is a snippet.

“The most frequently detected species included Margined Madtoms (Noturus insignis), Mimic Shiners (Notropis volucellus), Tessellated Darters (Etheostoma olmstedi), Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), Lepomis sp., Rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris), and Rusty Crayfish (Faxonius rusticus). I used a Bayesian hierarchical multivariate probit model to identify variables that influenced prey species occurrence probabilities in diets.”

Ecological Impacts and Social Perceptions of the Invasive Flathead Catfish in Pennsylvania - Blacklight

etda.libraries.psu.edu

Red breasts are on there (Lepomis species)

 

[jifigz]

God can’t believe I miss this got published. PSU Susky Flathead diet study. Here is a snippet.

“The most frequently detected species included Margined Madtoms (Noturus insignis), Mimic Shiners (Notropis volucellus), Tessellated Darters (Etheostoma olmstedi), Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), Lepomis sp., Rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris), and Rusty Crayfish (Faxonius rusticus). I used a Bayesian hierarchical multivariate probit model to identify variables that influenced prey species occurrence probabilities in diets.”

Ecological Impacts and Social Perceptions of the Invasive Flathead Catfish in Pennsylvania - Blacklight

etda.libraries.psu.edu

Red breasts are on there (Lepomis species)

I see the Lepomis listed. Why do you think they didn't specifically list redbreasts like they did the other fish? Redbreasts are really the only Lepomis species in the Juniata, does the Susky have another Lepomis species with a strong population?

 

[jifigz]

I really need to focus on catching one this year.

 

[wgmiller]

What's not to love

When they inhale your offering 😥

 

[Fish Sticks]

I see the Lepomis listed. Why do you think they didn't specifically list redbreasts like they did the other fish? Redbreasts are really the only Lepomis species in the Juniata, does the Susky have another Lepomis species with a strong population?

Yea I was wondering that too they could be also referencing non-native blue gill. Some sampling was done no doubt in the slower lake like areas of the susky between lancaster and york and i suspect there are blue gills down in there