This past Saturday, I took a short break after lunch. I grabbed some Texas Jumping Worms (Dave Davidson's offspring). My ultralight rig that was rigged with 4 lb. mono and with just a #2 long shank gold hook. I went to where I have lots of cover/structure. The first cast gave me a 12-inch black crappie as the worm settled in. I quickly re-baited, and tossed it back to the same area. The worm hit bottom, and I left it there for a few seconds. All of a sudden something started stripping line off my reel. I figured it was one of my larger catfish. It turned out to be a huge red ear sunfish. I didn't have a camera, or any measuring/weighing equipment -- so I know it didn't really happen. But, in my hallucination, I'm guessing it was at least 12-inches, and at least 2 lbs. I got it back in the water as quickly as possible.
As I mentioned in a post above, I tried adding red ear sunfish a few years ago, and I catch one every now and then.
After what I caught on Saturday, I really want to get more growing in the pond.
I'm planning on trying them in an aquaculture/aquaponics project sometime this summer to see if I can grow them to a size where they won't immediately be eaten.
These are such great fish, it sure would be great if we could find a way to reasonably grow them to big sizes.
