May 22, 2022 - Greens, Reds, Blues...

 We had a lot of rain this week.  Creeks, rivers....even ponds and lakes are high and muddier than usual.

Flyfished a couple C&R ponds.  Caught Largemouth Bass, Green Sunfish (nice 8"-9" fish!), Redear Sunfish, Bluegills, a White Crappie, and quite a few Redear x Bluegill hybrids (?).

Also saw a few small Northern Watersnakes, a Three-toed Box Turtle, and I had a Red-eared Slider on my line that got off as soon as it touched the shore.

Saw some big Grass Carp that ignored my flies.

May 17, 2022 Gar, etc

 

After missing so many gar the previous evening, I switched it up to a Woolly Bugger fly to try for gar again.  Caught some!  Likely all Shortnose Gar.  One measured 25", and Missouri Master Angler size is 23".  Cool!   

2 or 3 gar had a 2nd row of teeth in the roof of their mouth.  This is supposed to be a feature that only Alligator Gar have.  So....I'd be surprised if any of these were Alligator Gar, but some DID have that 2nd row of teeth.  If not Alligator Gar, they could also be hybrids or mutant Shortnose Gar.

Also, I caught 2 small White Bass and 2 Grass Carp.

May 16, 2022 Flyfishing a Creek

Had a bunch of gar strikes while flyfishing today.  Several were hooked, but none were landed.

I did land a Grass Carp, White Bass, and Channel Catfish.

 

May 15, 2022 Bullhead and Goldfish

Flyfishing for Bullheads and Goldfish.  Biggest Black Bullhead was 13".

The indicator went down, I set the hook into the front of the shell of a large snapping turtle!  oops!

 

May 13, 2022 Koi and Goldfish

 Koi and Goldfish were caught while flyfishing today.

May 4, 2022

 

April 30, 2022

 Flyfished in Kirksville, MO. Caught bass, bluegills, and hybrid sunfish on Saturday morning.

April 27, 2022

Worked a couple hours, then took the rest of the day off to go fishing. Really nice day.

Hit the creek for drum/grass carp. Did not catch any drum. A grass carp shook free as I was guiding it towards the net. Had a gar eat the fly, but somehow missed on the hookset.
I did catch a small Largemouth Bass and a Channel Catfish.


Nearly stepped on this little fella. I think its a Great Plains Ratsnake. Pretty!

The creek didn't produce like I'd hoped, so I decided to fish elsewhere. Caught 6 Goldfish and 15 Koi.
Goldfish:

Here's some of the Koi: