June 9, 2024

 Went after micros on flies again.  It had been several weeks, and I hoped some of these little fish would be sporting their spawning coloration (usually more red).  The minnow species I caught had, if anything, less coloration than the previous trip, so the spawn must be over for those.  The Longear Sunfish continue to get more vibrant colors.  The male Northern Studfish also had good colors.  Studfish are a colorful fish, and I've been wanting to get better pictures of them, and I like how some turned out.

Anyway, I ended up catching 14 species, which is probably my personal record for species in one day.

I caught Blackspotted Topminnows, Blackstripe Topminnows, Northern Studfish, Longear Sunfish, Green Sunfish, Bluegill, Hybrid Sunfish, a Northern Rock Bass, Kentucky Spotted Bass, Largemouth Bass, Bleeding Shiners, Striped Shiners, Creek Chubs, and a Yellow Bullhead. Pretty amazing for such a small creek.  There were other types of minnows visible, but I didn't manage to catch anything else, obviously.

Male Northern Studfish

Blackspotted Topminnows

Blackspotted Topminnows

Blackstripe Topminnows

Bleeding Shiners

Striped Shiners

Yellow Bullhead

Kentucky Spotted Bass

Green Sunfish

Rock Bass

Longear Sunfish

Creek Chub

I did also catch 2 Crayfish on fly.  The first one was a total surprise, I didn't even see it first.  The second one was intentional.

I saw a number of butterflies.  Turns out the black ones are Pipevine Swallowtails.  I saw a bizarre caterpillar, which turned out to be the caterpillar of those butterflies!

I also saw Tiger Swallowtail and Zebra Swallowtail.

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly

Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillar