April 14, 2024

Temps in the 80's, rather windy much of the time (like 15mph).  Went to two fishing spots, racked up well over 10,000 steps on the day, and caught a couple species to add to the 2024 Flyfishing Fish List.  Now at 33 species for the year on fly.

First spot, I managed to catch a Grass Carp.  I missed at least one other, and also missed a 3rd really good strike from something.  Tried a bit for some topminnows and mosquitofish with micro flies, but did not hook any that were biting the flies.

Next spot, I missed and lost a number of Bowfin and Shortnose Gar... but managed to catch 4 of the Bowfin and 3 Gar.  Also caught 2 Green Sunfish while trying unsuccessfully for Warmouth.

The gar above was the largest landed of the day, at 25" long.

April 6, 2024

 A flyfishing buddy and his flyfishing wife, from Iowa, both of whom I've fished with before, came down to the Saint Louis area for a weekend of fishing before staying to glimpse the Eclipse in that path of totality a bit further south.

Like me, they are adding species to their flyfishing lists.  Both have more than I do.  They are just getting into micro flyfishing as well, so we visited a creek I've hit a time or two this year.  It was pretty fun introducing them to this creek!

As for what I personally caught... I did manage 10 species on the afternoon, including one new-to-me species.  The new species was an Emerald Shiner:  (This is one fish...I usually take multiple pics of a suspected new fish, because each pic may offer a different clue that helps identify these small critters.)

I also caught...

Bleeding Shiners:

Blackspotted Topminnows:

Northern Studfish:

Creek Chubs:

Striped Shiners:

Longear Sunfish:

Green Sunfish:

Bluegill:

Hybrid Sunfish:

March 30, 2024

 Nice warm day in the mid-70's.... kinda windy.  Had a good outing, lots of walking.... I need better shoes.

I caught 7 Bowfin, and lost a number of others.  I got to sight-fish some of them, which the water clarity doesn't usually permit.  It was interesting to learn that when the fish would hit and not get hooked, even if I tugged on them for a bit, they didn't go far once the fly escaped them.  The just pretty much settled back to the bottom, and I was able to get repeated strikes from several, and eventually caught a couple of those fish.

 The male Eyetail Bowfin (Amia ocellicauda) are already sporting good spawning colors, and a couple of the females had very interesting markings!

The gents:

The ladies:

I had tied a fly with a Cohen's CGH Swim Tail, size Small.  It didn't have the swim action I was looking for, nor vibration... (I'm sure it was because it was poorly tied by me...first time using these!), but the bowfin seem to really like it all the same.

I caught 3 Common Carp:

There were some large schools of Mosquitofish / Gambusia, so I switched to micro flies to try for them.  They'd hit, but couldn't even get hooked on the tiny Tanago fly!

I caught some Green Sunfish, tiny Bluegills, and a couple other fish, which I think are probably both Golden Shiners, which I've caught before..so they weren't something new.  I like new. :)

Some other things seen while out.... a Bald Eagle carrying a fish:

I rescued a Red-eared Slider turtle that got high-centered on a stick:

I saw a number of different kinds of ducks and geese...Wood Ducks, Canadian Geese, a Greater White-fronted Goose, Mallards, some other kind of duck...possibly Common Goldeneye(?).

Also saw a number of different kinds of snakes...pretty cool.  Turned over 2 rotted logs next to the creek, one had nothing under it, the other had a snake tucked up in it, which I coaxed out for a photo op.

March 29, 2024

 Left work early on Friday, had my time in.  Beautiful day.  Went fishing for a couple hours nearby.  No big aspirations on what I would catch.  Caught some Bluegills, Green Sunfish, a Longear Sunfish, and a couple White Crappies.

As I was walking towards my car to head home, I saw a raccoon under my car, crawl up somewhere into the undercarriage.  I tried to scare it out, but never saw/heard it again.  I eventually drove home.  I suspect it hitchhiked to my house.  I haven't seen it in the neighborhood yet.

March 16, 2024

 With my Bowfin spot finally open for the year, I was excited to give it a shot, and check out the water levels, and what the recent rains may have affected.

I'd tied up a few Bass Master flies... and then realized I forgot the rubber legs on all of them!

At the first spot I fished, I caught a small female Eyetail Bowfin, and lost a slightly larger one.  Success!

I moved to the 2nd and 3rd and 4th spots... Caught a Bluegill and a half-dozen or so Green Sunfish.

At one spot, I spotted a fish in the opening of a shallow weedy area.  Decided to try for it.  I put a microjig in front of it several times, it appeared interested and looked, but did not eat.  It moved to another spot in the small cleared area.  I put the fly in front of it repeatedly, and got it to eat the fly at least 3 times.  It spit the fly out so fast, I wasn't able to set the hook quickly enough.  Frustrated at wasting time on this Silver Carp, I finally just foul-hooked it.  DON'T JUDGE ME! 😜😅

At the next couple areas, there were lots of (mostly pretty small) Common Carp feeding in very shallow water, their backs often out of the water.  Tough to fish for them, it was VERY windy, and strike detection was nearly impossible for me.  I managed to hook 4 of them, but I think all may have been foul-hooked.  After WAY TOO LONG, I gave up.

I did get to meet another fly angler on my way out, and as luck would have it, we follow each other on Instagram, but had never met.  Jack is super-nice, and a much better angler than me!  Very glad to have met up!

March 10, 2024 Micro-Flyfishing

 Tried a different section of the same creek yesterday, with the micro stuff again.  Caught 29 fish.  13 Striped Shiners, 4 Creek Chubs, 3 Bluntnose Minnows, 3 Bleeding Shiners, 1 Northern Studfish, 2 Longear Sunfish, 2 Bluegills, and 1 Green Sunfish.  Finally had a couple Darters hooked, and several Topminnows hooked, but all fell back into the water instead of into my hand. Rats... would have loved to have gotten pics of them!

This looks like it would be really easy to catch these little fish.  Sometimes it is (for the Striped Shiners and Creek Chubs), but its also a lot of work and time, and patience when trying to get the smaller-mouthed fish to strike something that isn't real.  Many times I see fish come up and look and decide my offering is NOT FOOD.  Frustrating.  Equally frustrating is when a fish finally DOES hit, and somehow manages to not get hooked on the tiny hook.  You only get so many shots!

Friends were consulted again to help me I.D. some of  the fish.  

The Bluntnose Minnow was a new species on fly for me.

Bleeding Shiners:

Bluntnose Minnows:

Creek Chubs:

Northern Studfish:

Striped Shiners: