Jan 16- Pumpkinseeds and Bass

Here is an old picture of Little Sid when we were still roommates... Those were good times!

Before the NFL Games kicked off, I found myself all alone (me and Emma) and all my chores were done.... Jennifer was off doing "woman things" so I said, what the hell, I'm going to do some "man things".... To me that means Fishing. Here lately, that means tossing a popping bug or perhaps a San Juan Worm to our Beaufort City Limits stunted Bluegill populations...... So that's what I did. As usual, the goal was a Beaufort Freshwater Grand Slam. As y'all know by now, this consists of the very common Bluegill, the always sporty but sometimes hard to find Largemouth Bass, and the very shy but beautiful Pumpkinseed..... Most of the year, the Pumpkinseed is the key to "The SLAM". They can be very hard to find sometimes..... NO, that's not right... The Ponds are very small, therefore the Pumpkinseed are not hard to find, in reality, I guess it can just be a little more difficult to get a Pumpkinseed to bite sometimes.... In Fishing and Fish Literature, the Pumpkinseed is usually described as Shy or a very Non-Aggressive Species. A few years ago, I made my very own Scientific Assessment of the Tenacity and Aggression of the Pumpkinseed Species. In my self-created Environment, I studied Pumpkinseed, Bluegill, and White Perch extensively for over three years.... In my experience, my observations were somewhat surprising and would change the way Fish Science views the Pumpkinseed Species.... (As if ANYONE really cared what went down in my 38 gallon Aquarium) Ha Ha Ha Ha...... I sounded imporatnt for a minute there!  Truthfully though, I can not speak for the entirety of the Pumpkinseed Species Worldwide..... But in my controlled environment , my Pumpkinseed proved to be very very nocturnal.. Shy during the daylight hours, he would go absolutely berserk at night and was far and away the most aggressive fish in my Aquarium. He did all his damage at night..... All this would be good to know if the Pumkinseed grew to 5 to 8 pounds and was a great eating fish and a very valuable "market species"..... As it is, who cares if the once thought shy Pumpkinseed is actually a bad ass tail-nipper of the Pond.... with his 6oz size, a pack of Pumpkinseed  could surely reek havoc all the other stunted Bluegills and Bass of the Beaufort Ponds.... Back to the Fishing... The water was high in all locations after yesterdays rainfall.... The normally shy Pumpkinseed were pretty active. I got several to eat my fly. I also found a few small Largemouth Bass to bite.... Strangely absent today was the normally common Bluegill. I suspect that a few of my missed bites today was very small Bluegill. I do not encounter very many little tiny Pumpkinseed in my Beaufort Freshwater Fly Fishing.... All the Pumpkinseed I catch are small, but none of them are tiny. By comparison, I catch many many Bluegill that are no bigger than a Silver Doll. My old pet Bluegill, Little Sid was one of these "tiny Bluegills". By the way, Little Sid was well over a pound when I released him. I figured that I would've caught him by now. But I haven't. It's been a couple of years. I'm starting to lose hope.... Every cast in that I make in that Pond, Little sid is my thoughts.... I bet he is a damn Stud if he's still alive. Maybe one day I will find him! Total Catch for the Day: 8 Pumpkinseed and 2 Largemouth Bass