Jetty Cunners

 Bergalls or cunners are a very common wrasse along the New England coastline. I've heard them called a number of inaccurate names. They are sometimes misidentified as baby tautog. On Cape Cod I once heard them called rock bass, by a tourist using crickets in the Cape Cod Canal... I kid you not. So, as wide spread as bergalls are they aren't the most well known fish in the world. They're generally small and uninteresting to most anglers.

I, of course, am not most anglers. Bergalls don't obsess me or anything like that, but I definitely enjoy catching wrasse and bergalls are often the most available wrasse species in the Northeast. It also seems that the further north you go the bigger they get, with Main and Massachusetts producing some of the largest I've seen. Somehow that's usually not what I encounter, but I still find some big enough to eat a fly. 

On our way back towards home on the Maine trip, Cheyenne and I briefly stopped in Rockland. My hope was to perhaps catch a handful of mackerel there, but the water seemed a bit too warm and the tide too low. There were, of course, plenty of bergalls around. 

Sometimes bergalls are pretty unwilling to eat an artificial fly. Their moods aren't predictable either, there's no sure fire way I've found to know if you'll be able convince them to take. You just have to find some, put flies in front of them, and hope they're interested. Small nymphs are my primary fl for these little guys and the 1wt glass rod is the perfect delivery system. This was the first time I'd gotten to use the one weight on bergalls and it was pretty darn fun!

This was a situation where sight fishing was necessary. I couldn't feel the takes at all, so being able to pick out my fly six or more feet down through a background of irregularly colored aquatic plants and rocks was imperative. It was not easy at all, but I managed to make it work. Of course the result was just tiny little wrasse, but if your tackle is well chosen there's no reason fish like this can't be fun. And some days you just have to accept that you are probably catching jetty cunners or nothing at all. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, Streamer Swinger, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

Vibrant Sunfish & Bass on a 1 Weight Fly Rod

 Geoff Klane of Brackish Flies had been trying to get a rod built for me for a long while now. I was looking for something very specific and very uncommon: a 1 wt fiberglass rod. Eventually the right blank came along and Geoff was able to build me a very special rod that I could still afford. What resulted is unquestionably the most beautiful stick in my arsenal. He did a phenomenal job on it. I went out to the Cape to pick it up from him and got to spend a little bit of time casting for sea run brook trout with it. I moved a couple but didn’t connect. It wasn’t until a few days later that I’d really get to put the new rod to use. I visited a small park pond with some particularly pretty pumpkinseeds. 

Bluegill x pumpkinseed hybrid.

Pumpkinseeds are the predominant stillwater native sunfish in the Northeast, and a very underappreciated species. Everyone waxes poetic about the beauty of brook trout, but in my opinion pumpkinseeds give them a run for their money for looks. With a white and red edged dark “ear”, shades of aquamarine, orange, red, and green across their face and flanks, and fabulously ornate fins, pumpkinseeds are a spectacular animal to look at. They are often very aggressive, and I had no problem finding them in this little pond between the bluegills. More than a dozen strikingly colorful fish put a bend in the new rod. 

I also found a non-native species, largemouth bass, in the early stages of spawning. The small males were especially willing and put up an exceptional fight on the light fiberglass rod. A couple actually peeled drag. Some of them were quite lovely too- there's definitely something appealing about the shades of green and live on their sides. There are certainly some large ones in this pond, but pressured as it is they are very difficult to fool. Maybe I’ll return soon to try catching one of those old fish. For the time being the colorful and willing pumpkinseeds were very satisfying. They were exactly the sort of thing I wanted a glass 1 wt fly rod for. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.