First Week of March 2021

 Late February 2021 was the coldest week or two of the entire winter.  Not just here in St. Louis, MO, but almost everywhere in the US.  Texas got hit unexpectedly hard by snow and freezing temps.  Even the big lakes in central and southern MO froze over.  Most people living near them couldn't remember that happening before. 

With that weather system finally moved on... it started to warm up rather quickly.  The ice melted off all the local urban ponds within a week or two.

Started catching fish, although the action was certainly slow.

The first trip out was a struggle.

The 2nd trip out saw things start to pick up pretty good in some spots, still slow in others.

Caught 15+ big Golden Shiners up to 11" long one day.  This size, they actually fight pretty well, they were a lot of fun!

Freshwater Species Caught on Topwater Lures/Flies

 I was on a fishing-related forum, and the conversation turned to topwaters.  Fish smashing your offering on the surface is always so exciting!  I decided to start a list of freshwater fish I've got on topwater lures or flies.  Some are species you'd expect, some you might not.

Here's my list:

1. Largemouth Bass

2. Smallmouth Bass

3. Kentucky Spotted Bass

4. White Bass

5. Hybrid Striped Bass

6. Northern Pike

7. Muskellunge

8. Walleye (!!)

(No picture, it was caught on a Pop-R at night while wading near shore at Big Creek Lake, Iowa.)

9. Channel Catfish

10. Bluegill

11. Pumpkinseed Sunfish

12. Longear Sunfish

13. Rock Bass

14. Green Sunfish

15. Hybrid Sunfish

16. Black Crappie

17. Grass Carp

18. Creek Chub

19. Hornyhead Chub

(No picture, it flipped out of my hand as I was getting ready to snap the picture with the other hand.  It hit a yellow Blockhead Popper on the Volga River, Iowa.)

20. Rainbow Trout

(This one hit that same blockhead popper!  Not your typical "dry fly" for trout!)

21. Brook Trout

.... that's all I can remember at the moment.  White Crappie might be on the list as well...I just can't verify that at the moment.

February 2021

 Well, February was the coldest month of the 2020-2021 winter for most of the U.S. Local ponds were all iced over.  I don't enjoy fishing much when the line guides keep freezing shut on the fly rod, so I didn't fish...or got skunked when I did go.  I just barely slid in under the wire by catching my first fish of the month on Saturday, February 27!  It was a nice day, but the fish didn't seem active.  I managed 2 Creek Chubs and one small Largemouth Bass.  I did see a couple frogs as well.  The forecast from here on looks good, so the fishing should only get better.

 Although perhaps subtle, Creek Chubs do have some neat colors:

January 2021

 The first 1/2 of January saw open water on the local ponds, but the second 1/2 had them freezing over.  I experienced couple days of getting SKUNKED.  I guess this time of year, any fish is a bonus!

Mostly caught stocker trout up to 15"-16".  And a crappie.

2020 Fishing Summary

2020.  Its time to tally the results of the past 12 months of fishing.  I don't have all the numbers, since I ended my 10 consecutive years of keeping an electronic fishing log.  Some information I've tried to go back and glean as best I could from pictures and social media posts, etc.

Here we go.

We sold our house in Iowa, bought one in Missouri, spent 2 months in temporary housing, and moved.  That took quite a bit of my time and energy during what are typically some of the best months of fishing.  And then after the move to a new place, its all about discovery as far as fishing goes.  Not knowing where the good places to fish are, and where the bad spots to fish are... Its fun to find and try new places.  It isn't the most efficient way to fish, by nature.  So, certainly there have been hurdles to my fishing this year.  Discovering will continue into 2021 and beyond, I'm sure.

As best I can tell, I fished at least 78 days this year.  I fished 10 days or more in just one month....June.

I fished at least 5 days in all months except January, February, and December.

As I posted back in November, I caught 33 species of fish while flyfishing this year.  That is by far my best in any year.  In Missouri, I caught 27 species, with the remainder coming from Iowa before I moved.  Of course there was overlap of species caught in both states.

I didn't catch any new species in Iowa before I left, but I did add two to my Fly Rod life list: Orangespotted Sunfish, and Comet Goldfish.  And I did record some new Fly Rod Personal Bests in Iowa: Orangespotted Sunfish (~5"+/-), Goldfish (13.25"), Comet Goldfish (13.5"), White Crappie (15").

We "landed" in Missouri around the middle of July.  Here I added 8 species to my Fly Rod life list: Kentucky Spotted Bass, Longear Sunfish, Golden Shiner, Striped Shiner, Northern Studfish, Silver Carp, Goldeye, and Sauger.  Those all became Fly Rod Personal Bests, along with 16" Rainbow Trout, and 11" Creek Chub, and a Freshwater Drum, whose length I don't recall at the moment.  

So, that's 10 new Fly Rod Life List fish, and 15 new Fly Rod Personal Bests.  That's crazy, now that I think about it!

I caught at least 2 Iowa Master Angler fish before we moved...a 21.5" Largemouth Bass (~6.2 lbs), and a 15" White Crappie (~1.5 lbs).  As far as I know, I didn't catch any Missouri Master Angler fish.  I didn't measure any gar....its hard to guess if any were long enough.  I'll measure some next year.

I fished one pond stocked with trout....400 were stocked, I've caught 63 of them over the past nearly 2 months.... 15.75%.

Oh...and maybe the "statistic" I'm most excited about....Catching Grass Carp on flies has been my White Whale since about 2010.  Well, probably before that, but that is when I finally caught my first one.  From 2010 and thru the end of 2019, I fair-hooked a number of them, but landed just 5.  In 2020, I caught 16 Grass Carp on flies!!!  

Ok..that's a wrap.  I hope we all have an excellent fishing year in 2021! 

December 27, 2020

Pretty sure Sunday was the last fishing trip of 2020 for me.  Went to a nearby park with a trout-stocked pond.  The pond was about 65% covered with a thin layer of ice. 
 The open areas were mostly near submerged aerators.  Managed to land 5 trout. Mostly pretty chunky, I wonder what they are eating?

Decided to go look at the creek that was high and muddy  last time I fished it.  This time it was low and more clear.  Caught a nice creek chub.

Mid-December 2020

 The first weekend of December, I tried for stocker trout...and got skunked.

2nd weekend, I tried a new-to-me lake...for whatever would be willing to play.  Turned out it was bass and bluegills.

Then I visited a creek, which was high, muddy, and fast from a lot of rain we got the previous evening.

I expected to get skunked, but was saved by a couple nice Creek Chubs.  The bigger one measured 11"!

And then the next weekend I visited a new-to-me small lake that has stocker trout.  Got skunked.  So I went back to another pond that has the stocker trout that skunked me the last time I tried it a couple weekends back.  I didn't get skunked this time.  2 Rainbow Trout and 4 White Crappie.