Virginia: Redear Sunfish

I had never even seen a redear sunfish in real life before heading down to Western Branch Reservoir to fish with my friend Billy Nicar. Billy held a number of IGFA line-class records and is so good he makes fishing look easy. The water was about three feet higher than normal, but Billy and I found some good habitat and willing fish. I went from never having seen a redear to having three redear citations, with the biggest being 12 inches and 1.27 pounds. I caught a bonus 12-inch citation yellow perch, one of my favorite species to catch. Billy landed some citation redear as well and a near-citation bluegill. We each landed over 20 fish and had a big time. The citation redear put me at 22 species with at least one Virginia citation.