December 28, 2024

 After realizing I was close to achieving 500 Koi on fly (lifetime), I decided to get after them one more time this year.

It was tough, fish weren't particularly willing to collaborate with my efforts.  Many more anglers were about than I've ever seen at this location.  Made for a long afternoon... but once the other anglers left, the fishing seemed to pick up.  I ended up catching 9 Koi (exactly what I needed to reach 500), and 6 Goldfish.

Here's some of my favorites of the day:

This beauty was #500!  And it was one I don't believe I've caught before.

Koi above.... Goldfish below:

December 25, 2024

 Christmas Day.  We'd had our family get-togethers a little early, so not much else going on for me on a drizzly late December day.  Could have sought out some stocker trout somewhere in the St Louis metro area.  I've learned that Koi are also often willing to bite in the colder months, as long as there's no ice on the water... so I chose to try for some.  They fight well and can be very colorful, with sometimes interesting fin and scale patterns as well.

It started out very slow, with the water more stained than during my previous visit, and no fish visible at the start.  It picked up as the afternoon progressed.  I ended up landing 16 Koi and 3 Goldfish.  Below are some of them.

December 8, 2024

 Got out mid-afternoon for a couple hours before dark.  Flyfished for Koi.  Caught 12 Koi and 8 Goldfish.

October 26, 2024

 My buddy needed some species to help him reach his goal of 100 species on fly in a single year.  He exceeded that goal last year, and is getting close to that number this year as well.  In addition to Musky (from the previous post), we got him Koi and Goldfish.

I caught 8 Koi and 1 Goldfish as well.  Here were mine:

Koi:

Goldfish:

August 26, 2024

Hot day. "Feels Like 110" at 5:15pm.

I went fishing after work and a very small, quick dinner.  Went for Koi.  It was tough.  They didn't want to go for my flies very well at all....and when they did, they spit so fast I often never even had time to try to set the hook!

I did end up catching some Koi, as well as some Goldfish.  Below are a few of them.  There were others.

Koi:

Koi on fly.

Goldfish:

Goldfish on fly.

I've been seeing a lot of deer lately, and I nearly walked by these before noticing them.