March 30, 2024

 Nice warm day in the mid-70's.... kinda windy.  Had a good outing, lots of walking.... I need better shoes.

I caught 7 Bowfin, and lost a number of others.  I got to sight-fish some of them, which the water clarity doesn't usually permit.  It was interesting to learn that when the fish would hit and not get hooked, even if I tugged on them for a bit, they didn't go far once the fly escaped them.  The just pretty much settled back to the bottom, and I was able to get repeated strikes from several, and eventually caught a couple of those fish.

 The male Eyetail Bowfin (Amia ocellicauda) are already sporting good spawning colors, and a couple of the females had very interesting markings!

The gents:

The ladies:

I had tied a fly with a Cohen's CGH Swim Tail, size Small.  It didn't have the swim action I was looking for, nor vibration... (I'm sure it was because it was poorly tied by me...first time using these!), but the bowfin seem to really like it all the same.

I caught 3 Common Carp:

There were some large schools of Mosquitofish / Gambusia, so I switched to micro flies to try for them.  They'd hit, but couldn't even get hooked on the tiny Tanago fly!

I caught some Green Sunfish, tiny Bluegills, and a couple other fish, which I think are probably both Golden Shiners, which I've caught before..so they weren't something new.  I like new. :)

Some other things seen while out.... a Bald Eagle carrying a fish:

I rescued a Red-eared Slider turtle that got high-centered on a stick:

I saw a number of different kinds of ducks and geese...Wood Ducks, Canadian Geese, a Greater White-fronted Goose, Mallards, some other kind of duck...possibly Common Goldeneye(?).

Also saw a number of different kinds of snakes...pretty cool.  Turned over 2 rotted logs next to the creek, one had nothing under it, the other had a snake tucked up in it, which I coaxed out for a photo op.