drumking, Riverpark, Red breast sunfish, bass, 5/01/2011, Dr Phillip Gawthrop

[FishNews]

Dr Phillip Gawthrop and I made it out this morning to fish for the red breast sunfish and we had a great morning. We landed 81 target species plus 19 bass. Mostly spots, 2 largemouth bass and 1 smallie. The fish are running smaller this year than the previous 2 years, but we still landed several over 9" long. I kept about 10 to eat and we released all the rest. Most of the RB were around 8" long and were very sporty on light tackle. All bass released. Sorry MadBomber. I still have a few spots in the freezer from last year and I'm not keeping any until I am out of fish in the freezer.<br /><br />We fished rip-rap banks and just let the current drift us down stream. We fished all the way to the bluff downtown, just past the veteran's bridge. We were using 1/32 oz jigs and 1" squirming squirt curly tail grubs. I also caught a few on plastic crickets. First time that I have ever caught any fish on plastic crickets. Used them before, but couldn't get any fish to bite, but they did today. Not a bad morning of fishing. 100 fish from 7:45 until 11:00 AM.<br /><br />We saw Labman out this morning and he was fishing for smallies. He motored down to fish for the sunfish just as we were leaving. We are getting together this coming week and give the fish another try. emoBig emoGeezer