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.

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!