Late July Flyfishing in St. Louis, MO

We are here in St. Louis, MO!  Just in time for their annual 4 week ultra heatwave (or so we were told).

There's still unpacking, organizing, decorating....and getting "situated" to do.  I made a big dent in it, but the rest may get metered out over a longer period of time.  And those fish aren't going to catch themselves, so....I've gotta go introduce myself to some of the local finned residents.

Its all new to me.  I got some tips, and did some research.  I decided I want to try to catch a Longear Sunfish soon.  They seem to be abundant south of the Missouri River, and I've NEVER caught one, as far as I know.  They don't get very big, but can be really colorful when the males are spawning. Gotta start somewhere....gotta have a goal.  I've been doing some research on the Missouri Department of Conservation website too.  Lots of good info there.

In the meantime, I'm just trying to catch some fish here.  I visited a conservation area that has some ponds listed as "Catch & Release Only" and "Artificial lures only...no live bait or scented plastics".  Cool!

I didn't catch anything very big, but I caught some fish.  My first Missouri fish since moving here...a Redear Sunfish!  I think those are pretty cool fish, so I was VERY pleased to start my fish-catching here with one of them.

I caught at least one more Redear later, along with a few Largemouth Bass, some Bluegills, Green Sunfish, and Hybrid Sunfish (specifically Redear/Bluegill hybrids). 

I'd never seen a Redear with an orange eye:

These were some of the Redear/Bluegill hybrids:

This bass was very dark-colored:

I actually saw some Bluegills that are spawning...this is really late, so I assume this is their 2nd or 3rd spawn of the season?

Some of the Green Sunfish have been very colorful, and some have been pretty good-sized....some in the 8"-8.75" range!

I've fished at least 3 other bodies of water so far, and have caught Green Sunfish everywhere.  Most places also have bluegills and bass.  I've seen some Redears that I just couldn't get to strike (and missed the hookset when they did), and I've seen some decent catfish swim by.

I noticed the first couple Redears were really light-colored with no discernible cheek markings.  At another lake, I did catch a darker one:

Moving can be stressful.  Its nice that my wife lets me get away and enjoy being closer to water and nature.