My buddy needed some species to help him reach his goal of 100 species on fly in a single year. He exceeded that goal last year, and is getting close to that number this year as well. In addition to Musky (from the previous post), we got him Koi and Goldfish.
I caught 8 Koi and 1 Goldfish as well. Here were mine:
Koi:
At the beginning of the year, I made a list of 7 species I had not caught on flies yet that I wanted to catch this year. They were:
1. Striped Bass
2. Blue Catfish
3. Alligator Gar
4. Muskellunge
5. Northern Snakehead
6. Rio Grande Cichlid
7. Northern Sunfish
A rather bold list, is it not? Well.... I did it! I caught them all! My buddy helped me with many of them. About a year ago, I made arrangements for a guided musky trip for the two of us this October 25. Pressure was on, because it was the final species I needed for this year's list to be complete.
Musky fishing being what it is (extremely difficult, few fish and far between bites) in the best of circumstances... we set our expectations that if EITHER of us caught a single musky on fly, we would be really happy!
It worked out better than that. I caught 3! And my buddy caught 4, including a giant 45-incher! Plus we each lost some, and had a fair number of follows that never committed to striking the flies.
What an epic day! We REALLY enjoyed it! The guide had all the right gear and flies, and knew where fish were likely to be.
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| Musky on fly! We measured this one at 34.5" long. |
I visited a spot where I've caught Orangespotted Sunfish in the past (but not every visit). Not much was going on, fish activity-wise. I fished the upstream and downstream side of of a rock dam, dapping small tungsten jig-flies between and around rocks. I caught a handful of small Green Sunfish, then finally landed an Orangespotted Sunfish. Its colors were very washed out, but I was happy to get another of these neat little fish.
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| Green Sunfish |
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| Orangespotted Sunfish Then I set the hook on something heavy, that took off and started peeling line of my fly reel. It turned out to be a nice healthy, beautiful Freshwater Drum! |
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| Freshwater Drum |
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| It was a nice Fall day, with an occasional flock of geese migrating overhead. |
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| Turtles are still out and about. I visited another fishing spot. I'd fished it the previous weekend, but didn't catch any of the Grass Carp I was hoping for... so I thought they were "done" for the year. They probably are, but I did manage to catch one on this visit! It hit a silver microjig I was swimming in. Did not see it before it struck! It measured 32", but wasn't laying flat, so it may have been a bit longer than that. Probably 13 lb-14 lb range. Nice one! Fought well, did NOT want to get in my net! :) |
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| 32"+ Grass Carp on fly. |
Made 2 flyfishing outings during the first half of October. Neither was particularly good. I didn't catch any of the species I was really after. I didn't get skunked, though. Weather was pretty nice, although the 2nd trip was pretty windy.
I think I caught 7 fish during each of the 2 trips. The first trip I hoped for Bowfin, Warmouth and Spotted Gar. I did lose 2 Bowfin and a couple Spotted Gar... I guess its ok if the fish win sometimes. Instead, I caught a small Shortnose Gar, a couple Largemouth Bass, a couple Green Sunfish, a Warmouth x Green Sunfish Hybrid, and a Crappie.
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| Achemon Sphinx Moth caterpillar |
I first drove just over an hour to a new-to-me spot for Orangespotted Sunfish. It was really shallow along the shorelines....not quite as deep as I had hoped, and not easy to fish. I did manage a small Largemouth Bass and lost some sort of sunfish.... but overall I was disappointed.
Drove another hour to a Bowfin spot. Saw plenty of various sizes... lost one and finally landed one. Also caught a very dark Spotted Gar, and lost a nice fat spotted-up one that I fought for pretty long. May have lost another one, too. Did land a couple Shortnose Gar, Bluegill, Green Sunfish, a Warmouth, and saw several small Crappies hit that didn't get hooked. Caught 4 short but fat Largemouth Bass as well, and a very small Silver Carp that was likely foul-hooked.
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| A very dark-pigmented Spotted Gar (pics above and below). |
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| A couple Longnose Gar (above 2 pics). |
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| Eyetail Bowfin |
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| Warmouth |
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| Largemouth Bass (2 pics above and 2 pics below, all separate individual fish). |
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| Silver Carp |
Some things seen while fishing:
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| Black Horsefly |
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| Southern Leopard Frog |
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| Blanchard's Cricket Frog |
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| Muskrat |
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| Milkweed Leaf Beetle |
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| Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly (top), and 2 Viceroy Butterflies. |
Went micro-flyfishing on a new section of a creek I had fished a few times earlier this year.
As I reached the water and began to get my gear ready to fish, I looked downstream and saw something swimming awkwardly in the water. It was a Box Turtle (Three-toed). It reached the bank, but the bank was nearly vertical, so I waded downstream to help the turtle get up on shore. He was a handsome fella!
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| Male Three-toed Box Turtle |
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| Three-toed Box Turtle |
