Late June 2021

In the span of a week or two, a favorite fishing spot went from perfect....to muddy and fast... to 12' above normal!  Makes me appreciate the "good times", I suppose.

Check out this beautiful Longear Sunfish!

Caught my first Hybrid Striped Bass from this creek.

...And my 4th Sauger in less than a year.

Some bass from various lakes.

Green Sunfish, including this large specimen.

Redear Sunfish...can't decide..this first one may be a hybrid?

Creek Chub:

Gar liked a spot that had clearer water.

Some were caught out in the main flow.

First Common Carp of the year!

It decided to hit a fairly large fly.

Grass Carp were getting pretty active finally.  Bummed that the creek flooded out just after this.  It may be quite a while before it drops back to normal levels.

All in all...a decent couple weeks.

Mid-June 2021

 Its been a weird year, weather-wise....so I don't know how well this will translate to other years...but it seems like the Grass Carp in a nearby stream finally showed up in numbers and sizes around Father's Day.

Mostly more of the same, fish species-wise.  All caught flyfishing, as pretty much always.

The Shortnose Gar have been keeping me entertained.

I caught another Longnose Gar:

Kentucky Spotted Bass:

Skipjack Herring:

On June 19, I caught 5 small Grass Carp while flyfishing.

...And one nice "medium-sized" Grass Carp.

I quit fishing around 1:30-ish...a couple hours after I got home, a storm went through the area.

Early June 2021

 Got out flyfishing Saturday morning.  Good mix of species, not a lot of fish....mostly shortnose gar.  They are fun!  I did catch 3 more species for the year, and 2 new species to add to my flyrod list.

24" Channel Catfish:

Freshwater Drum.  This one followed a microjig up from the depths.  I slowed the fly and let it drop a bit, the Drum lunged in and gulped it like a Redfish.  So fun!

First White Bass of the year:

Bluegill

First time on a flyrod for me.... Skipjack Herring! (caught just one)

Shortnose Gar.  I caught probably around 8 of these:

A first for me, Longnose Gar.  I've been wanting to catch one of these on a fly for quite awhile, it finally happened!

A mix of shortnose and longnose....

So...In approximately 15 years of flyfishing in Iowa, I caught 38 species of fish there on flies.  I thought that was pretty good!

In less than 11 months in Missouri, I've already caught 39 species of fish on flies.  I think that's pretty cool!

And in just a little over 5 full months, I've caught 30 species of fish on flies in 2021.  I think I had 33 species in 2020, which was my best year ever for species.

Late May 2021

End of May.... water and weather still cool.  Gar starting to be visible cruising near the surface, a few more grass carp starting to show up, but none seem to be interested in feeding yet.

Shortnose Gar:

Black Bullhead:

Goldfish:

Freshwater Drum

Grass Carp:

20.5" Channel Catfish:

Another Shortnose Gar:

Redear Sunfish:

White Crappie and Green Sunfish:

Redear x Bluegill Hybrid Sunfish (?):

"Other Stuff"

Deer running through the woods across the creek:

Northern Watersnake:

Bagworms:

Thistle:

Lantan Verbena (?):