Spinners for HUGE Sunfish

[Catch-n]

Day before yesterday I took a client, "The WALLDOCTOR", to Secret Lake.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b45aa2210000001610

Nope... it was starting to be a not a "fish-in-the-barrel" day.
In fact fishing was VERY slow!

The Sunfish were not on beds yet ans the Bass were deeper and slow to hit anything.
Last of a cold front fishing at its worst!
I was thinking we were in fo a BAD TRIP.

I had throw fairly every thing I could think of... and that I had on hand at these fish.... and caught only a few smaller sunnies the first hour!
Not a good sign on Secret Lake to go that long with only a couple of fish.

I opened a package of E----- Spinners TROUT SPINNERS in "Purple Pride" color, which had given me as prototypes to test.
These were large sized spinners that could easy pass for Bass spinners with a hammered gold blade and purple "balls" for a body.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b47ea2050000001610

I began to take ONLY huge sunfish!

Man... am I glad I tried these spinners.
A bit of LEECH flavored B-- - B--- or a bit of crawler on the back did the trick for us.
We smeared the big brutes!!! Hardly any small fish hit these spinners and I had fish every or every other cast... too many times to count!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b424a25f0000001610

Here is my thoughts as to why these fish were hitting the big spinners and not the traditional tiny tubes, and smaller grub tails I had thrown.... they only wanted to visually "inspect" these baits and were too negitave.
I figure they were attracted to the intense FLASH and vibration of the spinner. Once they behind it THEY COULD NOT SEE IT... and they got a good "whif" of the live bait smell of bait. They could see the bait, but not the spinning blade! And, I think they knew that bit of bait would fit in their mouth. I have experienced that Sunfish will eat only things that'll fit in their mouths.

These fish liked the spinner to stop.... and fall... and start up spinning again too. That was the REEL trick that triggered most strikes. Most of the time we fisahed in 10 feet or deeper near weeds, but not up on the weed-tops.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b41b23500000001610

We were two very happy campers! What a SUNNIE day :).
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b43f23740000001610
My client took home a dozen of these for a stringer-mount.

I returned the next day with my pro staff director Rich Smith, and another client. We did exactly the same with the E----- Spinners. Rich tried a R------ Tail Spinner with much less results. Less fish would hit that spinner. I think it was the additional FLASH that triggered the strikes.

So... guys, next time you are into the sunnies, do try a big spinner! I have learned that spinner are deadly on Sunfish.

I thought you fellow WC'ers would enjoy seeing these great fish and the tip on spinners.
Catch'n
Dave Hoggard

[Catch-n]

Day before yesterday I took a client, "The WALLDOCTOR", to Secret Lake.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b45aa2210000001610

Nope... it was starting to be a not a "fish-in-the-barrel" day.
In fact fishing was VERY slow!

The Sunfish were not on beds yet ans the Bass were deeper and slow to hit anything.
Last of a cold front fishing at its worst!
I was thinking we were in fo a BAD TRIP.

I had throw fairly every thing I could think of... and that I had on hand at these fish.... and caught only a few smaller sunnies the first hour!
Not a good sign on Secret Lake to go that long with only a couple of fish.

I opened a package of E----- Spinners TROUT SPINNERS in "Purple Pride" color, which had given me as prototypes to test.
These were large sized spinners that could easy pass for Bass spinners with a hammered gold blade and purple "balls" for a body.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b47ea2050000001610

I began to take ONLY huge sunfish!

Man... am I glad I tried these spinners.
A bit of LEECH flavored B-- - B--- or a bit of crawler on the back did the trick for us.
We smeared the big brutes!!! Hardly any small fish hit these spinners and I had fish every or every other cast... too many times to count!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b424a25f0000001610

Here is my thoughts as to why these fish were hitting the big spinners and not the traditional tiny tubes, and smaller grub tails I had thrown.... they only wanted to visually "inspect" these baits and were too negitave.
I figure they were attracted to the intense FLASH and vibration of the spinner. Once they behind it THEY COULD NOT SEE IT... and they got a good "whif" of the live bait smell of bait. They could see the bait, but not the spinning blade! And, I think they knew that bit of bait would fit in their mouth. I have experienced that Sunfish will eat only things that'll fit in their mouths.

These fish liked the spinner to stop.... and fall... and start up spinning again too. That was the REEL trick that triggered most strikes. Most of the time we fisahed in 10 feet or deeper near weeds, but not up on the weed-tops.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b41b23500000001610

We were two very happy campers! What a SUNNIE day :).
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db06b3127ccebf78b43f23740000001610
My client took home a dozen of these for a stringer-mount.

I returned the next day with my pro staff director Rich Smith, and another client. We did exactly the same with the E----- Spinners. Rich tried a R------ Tail Spinner with much less results. Less fish would hit that spinner. I think it was the additional FLASH that triggered the strikes.

So... guys, next time you are into the sunnies, do try a big spinner! I have learned that spinner are deadly on Sunfish.

I thought you fellow WC'ers would enjoy seeing these great fish and the tip on spinners.
Catch'n
Dave Hoggard

[Fsihboy]

Nice sunnies! I can't tell from your pictures what the proto type E-----Spinners are like except that they have a big single spinner. So do they have a single hook on the back instread of a treble? Any kind of a skirt or hair on them? Actually I haven't used a spinner with a trebel hook for years because of the problem of unhooking the fish and injuring them.

Could you possibly post a picture of the E-----Spinners?

Fishboy

[Miss Adventure Guest]

Nice fish but look like Bluegills to me. Nice bluegills.

Miss Adventure II

[Schmuel]

Boy - talk about seeing the world through different 'eyes. I'm usually trying to figure out how to keep the large blue gills off my spinners ;-)

[Fishboy]

Man, there is no better fish to eat that a 'gill(or sunnie). If I caught the size of the ones catch-n caught I'n throw some of them back. You can't keep all big ones and expect thlake to produce more big ones year after year.

[Catch-n]

Yep, I agree with you FishBoy.
Once the "word" is out the population can be devistated.
Hence... the "Sectet Lake" name for the lake.
As to the location, well.... lets say it is just West of "Mystery Lake" in Hiden Valley!
:)
Secret Lake is a private lake with no public access.
I try to thin these panfish some as there is an absolute TON of them in the lake.
We do take a few... and leave plenty for the future population.
That is important!

The lake has HUGE Norhtern and Walleye Pike, Bass, and Crappie.
We keep NONE of he gamefish.
Secret Lake is not one of those fish-in-a-barrel lakes. I have been skunked there more than once!

I did want you guys & gals to see these nice "sunnies" / Blue Gills as they are much sought after here in Southern Minnesota. And share the fact that after 10 years of fishing the lake... I just found the way to catch the BULLS, using spinners!

We do catch a lot of "hy-bred" sunnies in the lake too.

Do you know how to tell the difference between a true "gill" and a
"hy-bred" sunfish?

Once on a plate... the hy-bred says, "hi bread, hi butter, hi potatoes"!
:)
You are also right, they are great table fare.
Catch-n
Dave "Hoggie" Hoggard