Bonne Femme Creek, Boone Co.

I was feeling a bit sick Wednesday afternoon, so, naturally, I tried to see if the great outdoors could make me feel any better when I took off early from work. It didn't, really, but it was worth the try!

I ended up at Three Creeks Conservation Area, and I fished Bonne Femme Creek for about an hour. I only landed one fish (on a size 28 fly hook), but I lost several, including what would have been my first darter. It fell off the hook over dry land, then flipped back into the water before I could grab it. I suppose I could technically count it as a catch, but I'm not 100% sure on the species (although I'd bet you $20 it was an Orangethroat).

With some help from NANFA, I was able to identify the one fish I caught as a Redfin Shiner, lifer #40. I can definitely say I doubt I would have come to the proper ID of this fist anytime soon without the help of NANFA.

Redfin Shiner

In the morning, before trying to work, I fished for about 30 minutes in Hinkson Creek at Hinkson Woods Conservation Area. I managed to lose a tanago hook to a Green Sunfish before catching anything. Once I switched to a size 28 dry fly hook I nabbed a Green Sunfish, a Blackstripe Topminnow, and several Sand Shiners.

Hinkson Creek, Boone County

I finished all of my Owen-related chores early last night, so Diana let me go microfishing for a couple hours when she put him to bed!

I didn't have too much time, and I wasn't sure which creeks had running water (Grindstone Creek behind our house...a tributary of Hinkson Creek....is bone dry), so I headed to Capen Park. I've been driving over Hinkson Creek there all week on my way to the corn field so I at least knew it had standing water, if not running.

Luckily, the water was running at Capen Park!

I saw a group of small sunfish almost straight away. I started with a scented rubber band on a tanago hook, but in the dim light it was impossible to see and I wasn't catching anything. I quickly switched to bright pink PowerBait worms on a tanago.

Almost immediately upon switching, a small sunfish took the bait.

Unfortunately, that was the only fish I caught in my first hour. I had ~5-6 fish out of the water, only to have them fall off before I could get them over dry land. I think they were mostly minnows, but one was almost certainly a darter! I still haven't caught a darter on hook-and-line, so that one was particularly frustrating.

I worked my way over to some deeper water beneath Capen's cliffs and pulled out a ~5" Green Sunfish. Normally, I pull my bait away when I see a Green Sunfish/Bluegill heading for it, but I just wanted the monkey off my back last night!

Green Sunfish

Hinkson Creek

The deepest pool I encountered last night. Probably ~2-3 feet deep in the middle. This was a crayfish/Green Sunfish hotspot.

Once I caught the Green Sunfish I started having better luck. I tried to catch some small Largemouth Bass, but a Creek Chub darted out and stole my bait.

Creek Chub

There were large schools of minnows flashing in some shallow riffles, so I spent a lot of time trying to catch them. I had three or four fall off the hook (it's very hard for me to get a hookset with the tanago hooks) before I caught two back-to-back. I have no idea what they are yet, and have started a thread at NANFA hoping to find an answer.

Edit: Looks like it's a Sand Shiner, lifer #39!

As it crept closer to sunset, I started getting more bites, but still not many more caught fish. Another sunfish came in and just barely got the tip of the hook:

I spent a few minutes trying to catch a topminnow to finish the night:

Blackstripe Topminnow

After de-hooking the topminnow I just tossed the bait into the water so I wouldn't get it tangled. Naturally, a Green Sunfish darted out to grab it.

This stupid fish got himself hooked deep. Luckily, the forceps I carry for dealing with the tanago  hooks allowed me to safely extract it and release the fish.

Species encountered:

1. Longear Sunfish
2. Green Sunfish
3. Bluegill
4. Largemouth Bass
5. Creek Chub
6. Shiner sp.
7. Orangethroat Darter
8. Blackstripe Topminnow

Also, while not a fish, I lucked into my 70th life herp species yesterday!

Prairie Kingsnake

Ranacker Conservation Area, Pike Co., Missouri

A few days ago, I spent ~20 mintues at Ranacker Conservation Area in Pike Co., Missouri. This conservation area includes almost 1.5 miles of Peno Creek, one of the most natural streams remaining in northeast Missouri.

The creek was wider than I expected, and a bit deeper. I didn't feel like wading, so my fishing opportunities with my 13.5' crappie pole were a bit limited. I saw a lot of shiners out in the middle, as well as some ~12-15" Largemouth Bass.

I only managed two species: a Green Sunfish and a Blackstripe Topminnow.

The creek is adjacent to a well-used shooting range; the gunfire can be a bit unnerving at times.

Looking back at the bridge. The shooting range was on the right side of the creek, just past the bridge.

Looking downstream from the previous photo.

This Blackstripe Topminnow was easily caught on a tanago hook tipped with a pink PowerBait worm.

Green Sunfish

Grindstone Creek, Boone Co.

Last night, I ventured down the hill to Grindstone Creek behind our house here in Boone Co. I was hoping to target some Orangethroat Darters, but it was not to be. We've only had ~1/4" of rain in the past month, so I was expecting low water. Unfortunately, the creek was much lower than I expected.

This rocky path is actually Grindstone Creek.

I walked downstream a few hundred feet to my favorite deep hole, and was stunned to find that even it was nearly empty.

That puddle is all that's left of a hole that's typically 20 feet wide, 70 feet long, and up to 10 feet deep. It was full of hungry little fish.

I took my 13.5' crappie pole and rigged it with an Owner Smallest Tanago hook a few inches below some split shot. I threw a magenta Unibobber above it all, just so I could see where my line (8x tippet) was.

I've been experimenting with bait for microfishing lately. I started out with earthworms, but I don't like the smell, they're tough to corral, and they can be tough to get onto a hook. I've tried Minnow Bait, but it doesn't stick well to the tiny hooks. I switched to PowerBait scented, tiny pink worms, and they work pretty well, but they're still tough to get on the hook. Last night, I tried a rubber band dipped in crawfish FishSticks attractant. This was, by far, the easiest bait to get onto those tiny hooks that I've tried.

Maybe it was just the hungry fish in the tiny puddle, but the rubber band got slammed immediately.

A ~70mm Green Sunfish was the first fish I caught on a rubber band. I like the FishSticks attractant because it's like a glue stick and I can just dip the rubber band right into it.

I caught a couple sunfish, then I noticed that there were some topminnows on the far side of the puddle. Topminnows had evaded me up until then, so I focused on them.

A couple of the topminnows struck the rubber band, and I even hooked one, but I was failing to get one all the way in. I stalked the minnows to the other side of the puddle (which was still ~20 feet x 15 feet) and finally connected with one!

Lifer #35: Blackstripe Topminnow!

I forgot my little acrylic box for photography at home.

I walked down the creek another ~200 feet and found another puddle I didn't expect to find. It was only ~8 feet across, but it was at least 40 feet long. Based on the Common Snapping Turtle that disappeared, I'd guess it was still at least 3-4 feet deep.

I was getting tons of strikes on the rubber band, but the fish seemed too big for the hook. I switched to a size 18 fly hook tipped with a PowerBait worm and I landed a couple more fish before calling it a night.

This Common Shiner was the largest fish I caught yesterday.

Fish Caught:

1. Green Sunfish, 73mm
2. Green Sunfish, 80mm
3. Bluegill, 70mm
4. Blackstripe Topminnow, 63mm
5. Common Shiner, 117mm
6. Bluegill, 68mm
7. Green Sunfish, 94mm
8. Green Sunfish, 84mm

Little Dixie Lake CA, Callaway County

On Friday, I went to Little Dixie Lake Conservation Area in Callaway County, which is about 10 miles east of Columbia. Little Dixie Lake has a surface area of 205 acres and is my favorite fishing spot around our home.

It was raining Friday, but Diana was out of town so I headed to the north side of lake to try fishing in the rain for the first time. My goal was to catch a catfish, so I threw a nightcrawler on a hook, tossed it in and waited. I'm not a big fan of just sitting and waiting, so I also put a buzzbait on another rod and quickly pulled in a small (9 1/4") Largemouth Bass. After going 20 minutes without a nibble I moved to the disabled access jetty on the east side.

I started out the same way as on the north side and caught another little (9 1/4" again) Largemouth Bass right away. As I was putting it back in the water I thought, "Where did my bobber go?" Right then it popped back up! I reeled it in and my worm was gone.

I put another worm on, watched the bobber and tried for the next 20 minutes to set the hook in whatever was eating my worm without luck. Since I was running out of worms I switched to shrimp and crossed my fingers that the fish would take the shrimp. Sure enough, the bobber started bobbing and the next thing I knew there was no shrimp on the hook. I was positive I had a catfish down there messing with my hook, so I added more shrimp and waited.

After another 40 minutes of playing with me, I finally hooked the fish and got it to shore. To my bewilderment it was a 6" long Green Sunfish! Still no catfish for me.

This morning I was at Little Dixie Lake around 6:15am, armed with my favorite rod and reel combo. In about 2 1/2 hours I managed to catch seven Largemouth Bass, two Bluegill and a Green Sunfish. I lost several bass when they shook my lures loose on some fairly decent jumps. I had never seen Largemouth Bass jump clear of the water until this week.

Toward the end of my trip I caught my largest Largemouth Bass yet at Little Dixie Lake:  13 1/2" long, 1 lb. 5 oz. On the very next cast, with the exact same lure (a chartreuse 1/4 oz. rooster tail) I caught one of my smallest Largemouth Bass: 5 1/16" I couldn't believe such a little fish would try to eat something so large!