August 28, 2022 - BOWFIN!

 Bowfin!

Bowfin were on my "bucket list" for many years.  I finally caught a baby one (@ 4") on my fly rod earlier this year with the help of my buddy Hamilton.

A week ago, I visited a new spot, and saw many bowfin surfacing.  Water was really muddy.  I didn't catch any.  When water is muddy, bowfin rely on their sense of smell.  So, I bought some lure scent to add to my flies if that became necessary.

I fished the same place this weekend.  Water was again still really muddy.  I caught the first bowfin on an unscented fly, a white Conehead Zuddler streamer fly.  After that, I added scent to see if it helped.  It certainly didn't hurt.  I ended up catching 2 more bowfin on an Erny's Full Metal Jacket streamer fly, and lost at least 5 others that shook free.  Pretty awesome!  Biggest one measured 24.5".

I also caught a Shortnose Gar:

More info...I was using a fast action 9wt fly rod, 20 lb fluorocarbon tippet.  The first bowfin of the day (the pictures are not in sequence) was caught by casting out towards deeper water away from shore and slowly stripping the fly in near the bottom.  I moved to another smaller, shallower pool, and so the rest of the fish/strikes, I usually only had a few inches of fly line out of the end of the fly rod, and was just pendulum-swinging the heavy fly out to work the area.

August 23, 2022

Took the latter part of the afternoon off work, and went to a new-to-me fishing spot I was just made aware of.  Saw Common Carp, Grass Carp, Bowfin, Shornose Gar, and a couple other fish that may have been catfish or bullheads.  Also saw several snakes, turtles, frogs, and wading birds.

The water in the area I fished was really muddy, and had a rust-colored scum floating on the surface.  The fish could be seen only right at the surface.

Was really excited to find Bowfin, so I spent pretty much the entire time trying for them.   I tried a lot of different flies, from topwater to the bottom, some with rattles, different colors from white to black... and could not buy a bite from the Bowfin.  I had a nice gar on for a bit, but it eventually shook free.

I caught a decent Freshwater Drum, and a huge clam/mussel ("Giant Floater"?).

August 17, 2022

 Fished the creek again.  Water was clearer, few fish were spotted however, and they were very spooky!

August 16,2022

 Flyfished after work for a couple hours.  Creek was a bit higher, faster, and muddier following the morning's rain.

I caught 5 fish...a Largemouth Bass (not pictured), Kentucky Spotted Bass, Channel Catfish, Grass Carp, and Common Carp.

August 13, 2022

 Flyfished an urban creek on Saturday.  Caught 8 species, only 14 fish.

 Caught 4 Grass Carp, 2 Common Carp, 1 Shortnose Gar, 1 Largemouth Bass, 2 Bluegills, 2 Green Sunfish, 1 White Bass, 1 Hybrid Sunfish.

August 8, 2022

 Looked like rain, went fishing after work for 2 hours.  Caught 10 Koi and 8 Goldfish.

Koi:

Goldfish:

August 6, 2022

 Attempted to guide a couple pals to their first Grass Carp and Shortnose Gar.  I was unsuccessful at this guiding attempt.  I did manage to catch a gar, and then caught a Grass Carp after my friends were done for the day.  It was a very hot outing, we tried our best to drink enough fluids, but we were all still affected by the heat.

The Grass Carp measured 28.5":

August 1, 2022

 A quick outing after working resulted in some bullheads and some monster Goldfish being caught while flyfishing. 96F degrees!

July 30, 2022

We had record rainfall early in the week, followed 2 days later by another very substantial rainfall.  Flash flooding, etc.  The creek rose fast and dropped fast.  By the time Saturday rolled around, the creek was nearly normal water level, but faster current and a bit muddied up...but not terribly so.

 I didn't catch many...about 14 fish in 7 hours of fishing.  7 species, though.

2 Grass Carp, 2 Shortnose Gar, 4 Largemouth Bass, 2 Green Sunfish, 2 Kentucky Spotted Bass, 1 Channel Catfish, 1 White Bass.

One of the Shortnose Gar turned out to be a new Personal Best for me.... 26":