Although today's/future's mantra is to practice safe distancing, I seemed to have an unfair advantage on yesterday's Withlacoochee River quarry.:Rofl The stiff 15/20 knt. Easterly winds did prove adversarial, but my sidestep to more protected but unfamiliar waters yielded significant success. The fish bite was on with my artificial-only ultralight skinny passion, however the "Wilbur-bite"(horseflies) was also ON!!:yikes Two techniques proved successful yesterday on 2 lb. hi-vis mono= 1/32 beetle-spins and the sleeper...cinnamon or white colored 3" Senkos. fished weightless, rigged wacky, w/snug fitting o-ring slipped mid-body(can also use a small zip tie snugged up/trimmed), slip a #4 short shank hook under tie(saves tearing worm). I learned of this technique, believe it or not from my older brother, while he and friend were enjoying a Western Maryland clearwater lake(Deep Creek) FORTY years ago:yikes They were targeting Small/Largemouth bass when they discovered that skipping shaded piers with Senkos yielded humongous bluegills!! Always finding the need to work outside the box, yes, even when finding techniques that are working, I reached for Mr. Senko. I caught bluegill, shellcracker, red-bellies, stumpknocker(spotted sunfish) and many feisty 8 - 14" lm. It was a blast that ended up with way too many for yours truly to filet, although the stumpies are now my favorite panfish to eat. Did lose a big largemouth w/attitudenonono but no big loss, I had my invitees already in the ice bath:biggrin After doing research on Florida Wildlife Commission website, I found that they have a Florida Trophy/Big catch program that includes over 30 species. It also includes the stumpknockers(spotted sunfish)! They minimum size that qualifies is 7" or .5 lb. The past month I have caught 12 to include 7 from yesterday with two biggest taping an honest 7 1/2". Yesterday's top seven weighed- 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.7, 5.9, 5.9, 6.2 :cheers2 I would just like to say, even though the 7 fish(2.5 lbs) may seem small to some, but matching tackle to species is where the MAGIC is! Like Arnold says "I'll be bock!" Enjoy the pics-
u2s
