Here we go.
We sold our house in Iowa, bought one in Missouri, spent 2 months in temporary housing, and moved. That took quite a bit of my time and energy during what are typically some of the best months of fishing. And then after the move to a new place, its all about discovery as far as fishing goes. Not knowing where the good places to fish are, and where the bad spots to fish are... Its fun to find and try new places. It isn't the most efficient way to fish, by nature. So, certainly there have been hurdles to my fishing this year. Discovering will continue into 2021 and beyond, I'm sure.
As best I can tell, I fished at least 78 days this year. I fished 10 days or more in just one month....June.
I fished at least 5 days in all months except January, February, and December.
As I posted back in November, I caught 33 species of fish while flyfishing this year. That is by far my best in any year. In Missouri, I caught 27 species, with the remainder coming from Iowa before I moved. Of course there was overlap of species caught in both states.
I didn't catch any new species in Iowa before I left, but I did add two to my Fly Rod life list: Orangespotted Sunfish, and Comet Goldfish. And I did record some new Fly Rod Personal Bests in Iowa: Orangespotted Sunfish (~5"+/-), Goldfish (13.25"), Comet Goldfish (13.5"), White Crappie (15").
We "landed" in Missouri around the middle of July. Here I added 8 species to my Fly Rod life list: Kentucky Spotted Bass, Longear Sunfish, Golden Shiner, Striped Shiner, Northern Studfish, Silver Carp, Goldeye, and Sauger. Those all became Fly Rod Personal Bests, along with 16" Rainbow Trout, and 11" Creek Chub, and a Freshwater Drum, whose length I don't recall at the moment.
So, that's 10 new Fly Rod Life List fish, and 15 new Fly Rod Personal Bests. That's crazy, now that I think about it!
I caught at least 2 Iowa Master Angler fish before we moved...a 21.5" Largemouth Bass (~6.2 lbs), and a 15" White Crappie (~1.5 lbs). As far as I know, I didn't catch any Missouri Master Angler fish. I didn't measure any gar....its hard to guess if any were long enough. I'll measure some next year.
I fished one pond stocked with trout....400 were stocked, I've caught 63 of them over the past nearly 2 months.... 15.75%.
Oh...and maybe the "statistic" I'm most excited about....Catching Grass Carp on flies has been my White Whale since about 2010. Well, probably before that, but that is when I finally caught my first one. From 2010 and thru the end of 2019, I fair-hooked a number of them, but landed just 5. In 2020, I caught 16 Grass Carp on flies!!!
Ok..that's a wrap. I hope we all have an excellent fishing year in 2021!
