"snakefiddler" wrote in message
...

thanks for the clarification- it's good to know the best way to handle
that
kind of a situation.
hopefully it won't happen again, but i have a feelin that if i fish long
enough......

It WILL happen again.....and it won't take long. If you sit and listen in a
place where sunfish and their allies are feeding, you will hear smacking or
snapping sounds as they suck in bugs off the surface. They don't simply
grab them with their lips. Small and/or relatively sleek flies frequently
get sucked deep into the mouth or even the throat before you can set the
hook.

Incidentally, are you sure that the catch and release requirement applied to
sunfish? In Wisconsin and Michigan panfish are exempt from many of the
restrictions applied to other species. I don't know of any place in either
state where they must be released......though I wouldn't be a bit surprised
if someone comes back with examples.

Wolfgang