Fished a local pond the other day and the Redear bite was AWESOME! Fished from 10am till about 1pm and caught a bunch. Fish were all in the 7 to 9 inch range and full of fight. Fish were holding next to a heavy grass bed by a slight drop off. A bottom technique with a very small shot and a float technique were both used.Live worms and the Gulp Alive Worms were the baits used. The pond is in great shape and the water was clear. All fish were released to fight again. Catching a bunch of nice Redear! It just don't get any better!

Nice looking fish, Chuck!

Thanks K.G and Will for the replies. Love those Redear.

Nice fish Chuck. That water in that pond looks great. What type of year do you think we will have for Redear?

Thrashed em

Thanks Curtis and Clayton for the replies. Curtis: Hard to say on what type of year this will be for the Redear. Water conditions are great. What concerns me is that for the last two years trophy Redear have been hard to come by. I can remember a couple of years ago that you could go out and catch 10 trophy size Redear easily each trip. There were times when you could catch 15 or 20 ten plus inch Redear every trip. The last two years I have been lucky to catch ten trophy size Redear for the whole year! Could be that all of the flooding we have been having over the past couple of years has washed a lot of the fish down river to new locations or that the fish have simply changed their everyday patterns. I have talked with other anglers all over the State who have also stated that BIG Redear have been hard to find in their water bodies. On the bright side,I have been catching a lot of very nice Redear in the 8 to 9 inch range and have already caught a few trophy size Redear this year. I look forward to having a good Redear year!

I totally agree. Trophy size Redear have been hard to find the last couple of years. I also think all of the flooding we have had during that time washed a lot of fish down river. I usually caught several nice Redear 10 plus inches long just about every time out while fishing for Crappie. This last winter I caught plenty of Crappie but not one Redear! Hopefully they make a comeback! They are truly a great fighting fish.

I still have nightmares about the big one I lost with you and J-Moe last year!

Thanks Alan and Curtis for the replies. Curtis: Was talking to another angler who lives on the river lakes and he told me that a employee of the GBRA told him that all of the past flooding had destroyed a lot of underwater structures such as brush piles,rock beds,and sunken trees. He also stated that a lot of fish got washed down river. The person stated this changed a lot of patterns on certain fish and that it would take a couple of years for certain fish to make a good comeback.

Nice fish Chuck. Always enjoy those Redear post! Hope you catch a bunch of trophy size fish this year.




Side Note: Do you catch many 10 plus inch Sunfish in the ponds you fish?

Thanks Gitter for the reply! I fish a couple of ponds that have produced trophy Redear. I usually get three or four a year from one of them. The rest are healthy,fat,8 to 9 inch fish.



Side Note: Pond's are in excellent condition due to the rainfall we have been having this year.

Thanks Chuck. Let's hope that the river lakes turn on this year for the Redear!

Like I always say Gitter. "Keep fishing and good things will happen".