Fished in the afternoon. Hoped for Red Shiners and Orangespotted Sunfish. I did not catch either. I did catch some Green Sunfish, Bluegills, a Hybrid Sunfish, and 3 Grass Carp. One Grass Carp measured 32", which should weigh around 12.75 lbs.
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| Green Heron |
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| This watersnake swam over and hung out near my shoe. |
Visited an urban creek. Its a tributary of the Missouri River.
The Missouri River remains high, but had dropped about 7' over the previous 4 days. Clearly it had backed up into this creek. Where there is typically dirt and riprap/rock along the steep banks (and usually tall weeds as well), even the rocks were now mostly covered with still-wet (and slick!) mud.
Navigating along the shoreline was treacherous. There were times I managed to slide my way down to the edge of the water to cast or net a fish....and then had to struggle my way back up the steep slick mud slope to move to the next spot. I managed to only fall once on the slick mud slope, and I also slid off a muddy rock into the water at one point (didn't fall, just got wet). Ah....if fishing were easy, everybody might be doing it, right? HA! Lets not get started on the hot weather!
Anyway... I've observed the fishing get tougher in this creek over the past couple years, as we'd had dry weather, and fish were unable to migrate up into the creek from the river. I think some new fish have arrived, which is a good thing.
I lost a Kentucky Spotted Bass that threw the fly... but managed to catch 2 Grass Carp, a Shortnose Gar, an Emerald Shiner, 2 Hybrid Sunfish, a Bluegill, a White Bass, a Goldeye, and 3 Freshwater Drum. 8 Species...not bad for this spot. Not big numbers... only about a dozen fish landed in total... but that's also typical for this spot.
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| 16.25" Goldeye |
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| Goldeye |
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| a couple of Grass Carp |
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| Freshwater Drum |
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| Emerald Shiner (?) |
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| White Bass |
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| Shortnose Gar |
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| Hybrid Sunfish |
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| Hybrid Sunfish |
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| Bluegill |
Visited 2 different bodies of water.
At the first, I caught 4 Grass Carp, 1 Largemouth Bass, 1 Hybrid Sunfish, 1 Freshwater Drum, 2 Channel Catfish, and 4 Shortnose Gar.
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| Grass Carp on fly |
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| Channel Catfish on fly |
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| Hybrid Sunfish on fly |
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| Freshwater Drum on fly |
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| Darker than normal Shortnose Gar on fly |
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| Shortnose Gar on Cicada fly |
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| Melanistic Shortnose Gar on fly |
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| Spotted Gar on fly |
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| Eyetail Bowfin on fly |
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| Tiny Redeared Slider turtle |
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| Plain-Bellied Water Snake |
I don't often fish during the work-week anymore, but my wife is out-of-town for her work. So.....
Monday evening, I went to an urban creek above a lake to try for Orangespotted Sunfish. I did not see nor catch any. I did catch a bunch of Green Sunfish (including some rather tiny ones! Very cute.), a few Bluegills and Hybrid Sunfish, a Black Crappie, and a Grass Carp. I lost a Shortnose Gar and another Grass Carp broke my line.
Wednesday after work, I visited an urban creek, it was still a bit stained from Tuesday's rain, but otherwise was nearly normal.
I caught 2 Hybrid Sunfish, 1 Shortnose Gar, and 2 Grass Carp. The larger Grass Carp measured 31".
Deer in the Creek:
Temps in the 80's, rather windy much of the time (like 15mph). Went to two fishing spots, racked up well over 10,000 steps on the day, and caught a couple species to add to the 2024 Flyfishing Fish List. Now at 33 species for the year on fly.
First spot, I managed to catch a Grass Carp. I missed at least one other, and also missed a 3rd really good strike from something. Tried a bit for some topminnows and mosquitofish with micro flies, but did not hook any that were biting the flies.
