Barely squeaked in a fishing trip before the end of January! A buddy introduced me to a new-to-me location and a new-to-me species....Ozark Sculpins! Caught at least 10 sculpins...not sure if they are all Ozarks or not. The location we fished has Banded and Mottled Sculpins as well.
Also caught some Rainbow Trout, 3 Smallmouth Bass, 1 Striped Shiner, 1 bluegill, and one green sunfish.
I didn't fish as much as in previous years. Generally just once/week. Once again, I used flyfishing gear ONLY.
I fished in MO, IA, and AR. I fished a few times with a couple new fishing friends.
A creek I like to fish flooded and was pretty much unfishable for a month during prime-time early summer.
I had my best year for number of species. I caught 36 species in Missouri this year, plus 8 additional species in Iowa, and 2 in Arkansas... for a total of 46 species on flies in 2021.
I caught 12 species that were firsts on fly gear for me: Koi, Saugeye, Meanmouth Bass (Kentucky Spotted Bass Hybrid), Redspotted Sunfish, Warmouth, Dollar Sunfish, Bantam Sunfish, Longnose Gar, Skipjack Herring, Bleeding Shiner, Carmine Shiner, and Grass Pickerel.
My all-time flyfishing species list is now up to 70. 4 are Saltwater fish, 66 are Freshwater fish.
In 16 years of flyfishing in Iowa, I'd caught 39 species. In 1.5 years of flyfishing in Missouri, I've caught 41 species so far.
I don't know my overall fish numbers, but I did keep track of 3 species. This year I caught:
- 167 Grass Carp on flies
- 100 Koi on flies
- 87 Goldfish on flies
I caught 3 Iowa Master Angler Bluegills (10" minimum length) this year, and 1 Missouri Master Angler Bluegill (10" Min.).
Koi and Goldfish are SO colorful and interesting...I have a lot of "favorite fish" this year. Below is a very trimmed down list of favorite fish from 2021:
One last flyfishing outing in 2021. 68 degrees F in Saint Louis, MO.
Lots of folks fishing. Nobody catching. Managed a White Crappie and 2 Rainbow Trout. A muskrat also kept swimming back and forth in front of me at one spot.
