Bullheaded

Written by Andy Whitcomb

A tiny, relatively new, never-stocked pond on the back of our farm continues to surprise. A couple of years ago the green sunfish showed up. Last fall, we discovered bass up to a pound. Now, the bullheads have joined the party.

If never stocked, how did they get there? Best bet is that during an insanely heavy rainy period 3 or 4 years ago, the pond was running over at a good clip for several weeks. This was enough of a steady flow for fish to push upstream from the creek, through a drainage ditch, and up the hill, almost ½ mile away.

Notorious for stunting and over-populating, bullheads are rarely desired… at least in Oklahoma.

Further north, it seems a different story. When I read “great for bullheads” in a fishing report for a lake in North Dakota, the media bias almost discouraged me from discovering a terrific pike lake.

One friend e-mailed, “Wow, we don’t get yellow bullheads that big in MN…what a treat eh?”

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission even gets enough calls from people wanting to know where they can go and catch a bunch of bullheads that they actually stock them in certain waters. Their 9-10 inch long bullheads create many smiles on kids in smaller, heavily pressured “put & take” fisheries.

I have fond memories fishing with my grandfather in creeks in southeastern Kansas, catching buckets of bullheads. As an 8-year-old, catching a feisty bullhead was fun, but the real excitement started when trying to unhook these pint-sized, punk, palm-puncturers.

The Oklahoma state record bullhead is over 6 pounds, but I have yet to hook one over two. I think the bass in the pond are large enough to keep the bullheads from stunting. If not, well, then I’ll just have to see if I can employ the services of my pond management crew.

After all, the bullhead bite is on… Is it ever really off?