The back bay of a local lake was FULL of them. Dozens, milling around and oh so willing to crush the little popper on the end of my 4 wt.
As a kid, I was annoyed when I caught these fish.
I wanted bass. I wanted trout. I wanted salmon and steelhead. Big kid fish, fish that moms and dads, uncles and adults were proficient in catching. Not these stupid bluegills and sunfish.
Conversations with the other kids on the dock usually went something like this
"got one!"
"what is it?"
"shoot, a bluegill"
"ugh....again?"
To us, they were a bycatch that we had little interest in.
Today, I take solace in their simplicity. See food, eat, fight far greater than their size should allow.
With kids and work and all the other normal adult mind benders, it's a beautiful thing to sit on my pontoon boat in the post dawn hours of a saturday morning and take joy in panfish. Watching one slide up under the popper, inspect it and lightly sip it down as if it was a Missouri River trout taking a trico is as fun as it gets...
Having a rough week at work? Go remind yourself that the kid's fish works wonders for you as an adult.
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