Showing posts with label northern studfish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label northern studfish. Show all posts

Monday, June 10, 2024

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








Monday, March 11, 2024

March 10, 2024 Micro-Flyfishing

 Tried a different section of the same creek yesterday, with the micro stuff again.  Caught 29 fish.  13 Striped Shiners, 4 Creek Chubs, 3 Bluntnose Minnows, 3 Bleeding Shiners, 1 Northern Studfish, 2 Longear Sunfish, 2 Bluegills, and 1 Green Sunfish.  Finally had a couple Darters hooked, and several Topminnows hooked, but all fell back into the water instead of into my hand. Rats... would have loved to have gotten pics of them!

This looks like it would be really easy to catch these little fish.  Sometimes it is (for the Striped Shiners and Creek Chubs), but its also a lot of work and time, and patience when trying to get the smaller-mouthed fish to strike something that isn't real.  Many times I see fish come up and look and decide my offering is NOT FOOD.  Frustrating.  Equally frustrating is when a fish finally DOES hit, and somehow manages to not get hooked on the tiny hook.  You only get so many shots!

Friends were consulted again to help me I.D. some of  the fish.  

The Bluntnose Minnow was a new species on fly for me.

Bleeding Shiners:
SU78D.jpg

Bluntnose Minnows:

SU78V.jpg

SU78Z.jpg

Creek Chubs:
SU78t.jpg

Northern Studfish:
SU781.jpg

Striped Shiners:

SU7RK.jpg

SU7RH.jpg