October 29, 2022

 Went after sunfish.  Some areas were very slow, but found decent numbers of active fish in a few areas.  I caught Largemouth Bass, Bluegills, Redear Sunfish, Hybrid Sunfish, and Green Sunfish.

Also caught this big Crayfish.  I was trying to put the fly in front of it to get it to grab it, but the fly caught on the bottom, and when I freed it from the bottom, the crayfish had walked past the fly, but the fly ended up catching the crayfish in the tail.

And I saw this Woolly Bear caterpillar:

October 23, 2022

 I needed one more goldfish on the fly rod to get to a lifetime of 200.  I ended up catching 15, which also put me at 103 for the year.  Imagine that!  Over 100 Goldfish in a single calendar year, caught from 3 different bodies of water, no live bait or prepared baits (artificials only...most of which I tied up myself).  Pretty cool.

I also caught 13 Koi, which put me at 131 on fly for the year, and I'm already beyond 200 lifetime Koi on fly.  Many of these I recognize as recaptures.

October 16, 2022

 Got out for some (mostly) more "typical" warmwater fish.  I caught Largemouth Bass, Bluegills, Green Sunfish, Hybrid Sunfish, Redear Sunfish, Black Crappie, and some BIG Golden Shiners.

October 9, 2022

 Sitting at 44 Bowfin on fly for the year, I thought 50 was a good number to shoot for.  I just needed 6 more, after the past 2 trips yielded 8 and 15 bowfin landed.  Well... Perhaps I burned the spots out from all the fish the past few weeks.  I didn't get it done.  I only landed two, for a year-total of 46.  I had enough strikes and hook-ups to get to 50, but lost too many.  So...disappointed for not reaching that landmark of 50.  But in reality, it has been a GREAT year for Bowfin.  I went from ZERO, ever....to 46!  And 45 of those were in the span of 6 weeks / 8 trips.  Incredible!  Very happy with this!  I learned a lot...and still more to learn.

I also caught Largemouth Bass, a Bluegill.... 2 Common Carp:

A Black Crappie

A fish that is likely either a Prussian Carp, or a feral Goldfish:

Green Sunfish (this was the smallest one):

And 2 Shellfish were caught.. (Giant Floater mussels)...one just the shells, and one live one.

Watersnake swimming by...

Leopard Frog:

I also heard and saw a big Pileated Woodpecker.  And saw a Bald Eagle and White Herons (?).

October 2, 2022

 After my previous trip for Bowfin, I was one short of 30 lifetime bowfin, so I went back hoping for at least one more.  Also, last trip I caught 8, but lost 19! 

This trip was better.  I caught 15 Bowfin, and lost @ 3.  Much better landing rate, although I can't say I did anything different, so the difference is something of a mystery.  

I also caught some small Warmouth, Largemouth Bass, and Green Sunfish, and had a few gar shake loose before I could land them.  And I saw a big Raccoon, my first (live) one since moving to MO.