Grindstone Creek, Boone Co.

I wanted to get down to Grindstone Creek behind our house at least one more time before we move. I tend to not visit the creek during the summer months due to the chiggers/ticks/poison ivy/thorns, but I had to make an exception this time!

Looking down towards the creek from our deck. It's way down there in all the trees, about 150-200 feet away. Very easy to hear it when it's flooding.

Due to all the rain the creek was higher than normal, and the deep holes/runs had really shifted compared to 2013.

About 100-200 feet downstream of our home in 2013. 

Same section of creek as above, but in June 2015.

One of the new holes that didn't exist prior to this year. This used to be a riffle.

I spent most of my time marveling at the changes in the creek, which required me to find a lot of new paths to bypass the deep water. There were hundreds of ~1/2" long crayfish shooting around the gravel bottom, but I didn't see a single fish. Luckily, I knew I could count on Creek Chubs if I plopped my bait into the water. A little noise and the buggers appear out of nowhere to annoy me. I remember when I was frustrated (in 2010) that I couldn't catch a single Creek Chub! Those were the days!

The last fish I'll ever catch out of the creek behind our house!

I wasn't always fishing back there, and I probably only went down there ~15-20 times over the years, but here's a list of fish I either saw or caught in Grindstone Creek behind our house from April 2010-June 2015:

1. Orangethroat Darter
2. Largemouth Bass
3. Creek Chub
4. Green Sunfish
5. Bluegill
6. Central Stoneroller
7. Bluntnose Minnow
8. Blackstripe Topminnow
9. Common Shiner
10. Red Shiner
11. Northern Hogsucker

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

Microfishing

With the arrival of my son last December, my fishing has been severely curtailed this year. I've manged only one proper fishing trip (to Saline Creek, Miller Co., MO), but I've scrounged the time for several quick trips to nearby creeks.

Since most of the nearby streams don't harbor many large fish, it's either fish for the little guys or don't go fishing. Targeting the little guys also ties into birding...the desire to catch as many species of fish on hook-and-line as possible. To date, I've managed to catch 35 species of fish on hook-and-line (34 freshwater, 1 saltwater), with 4 of those coming within the past month.

An early June trip to Gans Creek, Boone Co., Rock Bridge State Park yielded a Common Shiner and Creek Chub. There were several Blackstripe Topminnows that were interested in the bait (worm on size 22 hooks), but wouldn't bite.

Common Shiner

Creek Chub

On 08 June, my friend Nick and I ventured down to Saline Creek, Miller Co., Saline Valley CA for a few hours. We wanted to microfish and seine. I only managed one species on hook-and-line (Bleeding Shiner), but the seining was fantastic!

Lifer #32: Bleeding Shiner! These guys started hitting the hook (worm on size 22 hook) almost instantly. I think I ended up catching 8-10 of these guys before I gave up. Later, I took the hook out of the water several times when I saw them headed for it. 

One of the prettier Orangethroat Darters we seined.

A pair of Rainbow Darters we seined. They both came home to one of my aquariums.

Another seined Rainbow Darter.

This Northern Studfish was a surprise in the seine net. We tried to catch them on a hook for 15 minutes, but they weren't interested.

Seined Fantail Darter.

Seined Slender Madtom. I was thrilled to seine my first madtoms on this trip. We found ~20-30 of these guys.

We seined this Green Frog (?) tadpole.

Typical seine haul.

A seined Central/Largescale Stoneroller. We were out of time when we seined this fish, so it wasn't properly identified.

Grindstone Creek, Boone Co. runs behind our home, so I try to sneak down there now and then. It was completely dry for most of 2012 (thanks to the drought), so most of the fish there this year are pretty small. Still, it yielded a lifer Bluntnose Minnow and a few other species!

A 47mm Largemouth Bass on a tanago hook tipped with power worm.

Lifer #33: Bluntnose Minnow!

Green Sunfish

Lastly, on 25 June I took 20 minutes to fish Hinkson Creek, Boone Co., MO at Hinkson Woods CA. I lucked into two species, including a lifer!

Longeared Sunfish

Lifer #34: Red Shiner!

Grindstone Creek, Boone County

The South Fork of Grindstone Creek flows just behind our home in Boone County. It's not very big, but it has a few decent-sized pools. My favorite pool is about 250 meters away from the house. I'd guess it's about 20m long, maybe 10m wide and probably about 3m deep at best.

I took my 7' 6" 4 wt. fly rod with a self-tied chartreuse and white Clouser minnow (size 10) to see what might be around this Spring. In the past I've found ~12" Largemouth Bass, a smattering of panfish and some medium-sized Creek Chubs in the pool.

The Creek Chubs were there tonight. I only brought one all the way in, but I could see about a dozen or so swimming around the murky water. I also caught two of the smallest bass I've ever brought in on a hook. The first is estimated to have weighed only 0.8 ounces!

Weather

62°F

7 mph NE wind

Clear

Time Fishing: 5:40pm-6:00pm