Iced Out

Last weekend, the creek behind our house had a bit of flow to it. Much more than I was expecting for mid-January. Today, I headed down there with a dipnet hoping to find my first fish of 2014.

No luck! The shallow parts of the creek were iced all the way to the creek bed! The deeper holes looked to have some pretty thick ice, too. Eventually, I came to a spot with some fractured surface ice, so I threw a few rocks at the cracks to see how thick the ice was:

The ice was a few inches thick, then there was a several inch gap of air, then a little more ice on the creek bed. Not conducive to finding fish!

I aborted my search after about ten minutes....maybe the deep holes will open up in a few weeks!

New River, Virginia (2012)

I'm a bit behind...

In June 2012, Diana and I went to visit her uncle in the western tip of Virginia. Uncle Jim is the owner/operator of AOA Fishing, a guide service for Smallmouth Bass on the New River.

We were lucky enough to go out with Jim for three days (we could have gone for a fourth day, but we wanted to see some other local sites as well). I believe I caught just shy of 100 fish evenly split between a spinning rod and a fly rod. I was pretty excited about the total, but Jim said 100 fish days were not uncommon ~10 years ago.

Jim is a Smallmouth guy, so that's what we targeted. All but two of the fish I caught were Smallmouth or Rock Bass! The other two fish were Redbreast Sunfish, which was a lifer (#26 at the time). After a few hours, it was very easy to correctly predict what kind of fish was on the end of the line. If it hit and quit, it was a Rock Bass. If it hit and fought, it was a Smallmouth Bass. I grew tired of all the Rock Bass after a day or so.

The first fish of the trip for me was my lifer Redbreast Sunfish! On a fly!

Diana totally kicked my butt the first day. She caught a lot more fish than I did, and her spin casting was far more accurate. I spent the day getting schooled in how to properly cast a fly rod. The problem with being self-taught is that I've picked up some pretty bad habits that are hard for me to kick at this point. Still, it was very informative, if a bit frustrating.

It also took me about three hours to finally catch a Smallmouth!

Bask in her glory!

Uncle Jim's custom raft was fantastic. He was seated at the oars in the center of the boat. The bow and stern were raised, and Diana and I took turns on one end of the boat or the other.

It took a lot of convincing, but we eventually got Diana to hold one of her fish!

After I switched to a spinning rod I threw a plastic worm on the far side of a small rapid. When I started to reel it in I said something along the lines of, "Crap, I'm stuck." Uncle Jim did not like it when we got snagged....he did not want to lose any flies/hooks/leaders/etc.

I was starting to feel shame when my line popped free! I was relieved I wasn't hung up...but then I said, "Nope, I'm snagged again."

I'm not sure why it took me so long to realize I had a decent sized fish on the end of my line! After a brief fight I ended up bringing in my personal best (at the time) Smallmouth Bass!

This beauty was an even 18" long and weighed just over 3 lbs.

The next day, just Uncle Jim and I headed out while Diana went out with her aunt (Diana was a couple months pregnant on this trip, so she wasn't too thrilled about being on a boat in the hot sun all day).

The second day went much like the first.....except I was catching a lot more fish on the fly than the first day! The river was generally empty of other fishermen, but near the end of our second float we passed by a bustling campground. The campground had a pretty large weedbed along it, so I started casting along its edge....and I brought in my personal best Rock Bass!

At 9 9/16", this was my largest Rock Bass of the trip by about 1/2".

In the above picture, you can start to see some rapids as a white line beneath my left elbow. It was there that I managed to catch my new best Smallmouth Bass! The rocks were thick with plants and algae just upstream of the rapids (which were too big to go over....Uncle Jim had to take us on the aquatic equivalent of a switchback to get through them). I was a bit nervous to let my worm get too deep, lest I get hung up when Uncle Jim couldn't get us back to the hook.

Still, I felt like the area might have some decent fish in it, so I threw the worm into a couple sheltered areas. I missed the bass on the first cast. She came out as I was pulling the worm out of the water. We were quickly moving away from her, so I threw a desperation cast....and got a hookup! There were some tense moments (for me), while I tried to keep her from the vegetation while we stair-stepped some rapids, but Uncle Jim eventually got us through the rapid and I was able to bring her to the net. She topped my previous best by 1/8" and ~1/2 lb.!

I had never been more nervous about losing a fish until I had this one on my line in a rapid.

The final fishing day of the trip brought my most exciting moment. I was tossing the worm out, not really paying much attention when I saw a fish following it. Uncle Jim had said, "Drop the worm if you see a bass following it, and she'll hit it on the drop."

I'd been following his advice the first two days with quite a bit of success.

Except this time, it wasn't a bass. The fish was headed straight toward me, and in the dingy water I thought it was a bass. I stopped reeling in, and the fish immediately turned to its left and shot off. Muskie! It wasn't a big Muskie, maybe 12"-15", but the snout was unmistakable as it cruised past. My first (and still only) Muskie follow! I spent the rest of the day 'playing' every Rock Bass I had on the hook just in case a Muskie was around and hungry (we'd find a ~36" Muskie rotting on some rocks later that day).

Uncle Jim sends me an email every time they catch a Muskie in that stretch of river (4 or 5 times since we were there).

Diana came out with us again on the last day. She caught her biggest Smallmouth ever!

Debating whether or not she should hold it.

She held it! 13 1/4"

Diana was hooking tons of fish....way more than I was....but she was slow on the hook set, so she didn't catch nearly as many as she should have.

I had caught the largest two Smallmouths of my life the previous two days, but they were both on the spinning rod. For whatever reason, I really prefer to catch my fish on the fly rod if at all possible. I spent our final day really trying for Smallmouths on the fly.

After a couple hours, I was getting pretty good at counting to two before setting the hook after watching the popper fly disappear below the surface. I'd brought in several 9"-12" Smallies, but nothing too exciting.

Then she hit.

At first, I thought it was just another Rock Bass. The water was shallow and rocky, and she was right up against the shore. Perfect Rock Bass habitat. The popper sank, I counted to two....and then she darn near ripped the rod out of my hands!

Thus began the toughest fight I've ever had with a fish on a fly rod. A couple of jumps scared me half to death. At one point I had the fly line in my teeth because I really needed a third hand! After what seemed like an hour, but was probably about 90 seconds, she was in the boat and I was able to breathe again. A new personal best!

Still my best Smallie....19 1/8", just over 4 lbs. And on my beloved fly rod!

And that about wrapped up our trip. We're hoping to be able to get back in the next year or two. I'm not sure Uncle Jim will take too kindly to me wanting to dapple with micro-fishing equipment next time though!

Some shots of the New River:

Late season herping

On Oct 30, my friends Nick and Jenna texted me to see if I'd be interested in a run over to Callaway County to look for some salamanders in the balmy (~62F), wet evening. Was I ever! Luckily, it was my night to wash bottles rather than put my son to bed, so I was able to meet them.

We started out by watching a Gray Treefrog hop across the trail near the parking lot, then a bit later we encountered an American Toad (at least one other toad was singing) on the trail.

There were a lot of logs to flip, but they were scattered and generally devoid of anything interesting. Most of them had earthworms and cockroaches, a few had a couple moths, and almost none of them hid herps.

After awhile, I separated from Nick and Jenna, but I was pulled back when they announced they had a Smooth Earth Snake! I had never seen a Smooth Earth Snake before! I took a lot of photos of its head to make sure I could cement the ID for myself back home with some books (it checked out!).

Western Smooth Earth Snake
Virginia valeriae elegans

Western Smooth Earth Snake
Virginia valeriae elegans

A little later, Nick turned up a second Smooth Earth Snake! It was a bit larger than the first one (photographed above), but I didn't feel like taking my camera out in the rain again.

By this point, I had just about reached my turnaround time, so I headed back to the car. When I reached the main trail I thought, "Just a few more logs won't make me late." Well, they made me late. Under the third log I checked was a Spotted Salamander! This was only the second time I'd seen this species...the first was at the same location in the snow back in early March.

Spotted Salamander
Ambystoma maculatum

Herp Species Encountered:

1. Pickerel Frog (Nick and Jenna only)
2. Gray Tree Frog
3. American Toad
4. Northern Cricket Frog (Jenna only)
5. Redbelly Snake (Nick and Jenna only)
6. Northern Water Snake
7. Western Smooth Earth Snake ***Lifer***
8. Spotted Salamander

Northern Water Snake
Nerodia sipedon sipedon

Mint Spring Access, Bourbeuse River

A couple weekends ago I made my last outing of 2013 in the kayak. Matt and I visited Mint Spring Access on the Bourbeuse River in Gasconade/Crawford Cos.

Water levels were very low, so we knew that this would be a lake-like situation on the river. This part of the river was known to hold Grass Pickerel (our target) in the early 2000s, but we were unable to locate any on this trip.

This part of the river had no perceptible flow.

I really wanted to fly fish (I'd been tying flies for a couple months with no chance to use them), so I threw out a jug and then started tossing the flies around. I didn't have much luck on the downstream side of the bridge, so I eventually meandered upstream.

Matt flew out of sight, looking for pickerel, and I didn't see him for a couple hours. I never made it more than 100m past the bridge while I methodically probed for fish with my fly rod. Unfortunately, I wasn't having much luck.

I  pulled my fly away from a few sunfish (they're a pain to deal with, especially in the kayak), but I also accidentally pulled a wooly bugger away from a 12-15" Smallmouth Bass! I was able to get the fly to him again, and he charged it, but pulled away at the last second. Other than that, the fish weren't into my flies.

My jug (upper right) had a few tugs, but all I ever pulled up was an empty hook.

After losing a couple flies, and a couple regular lures on my spinning rod, I opted to head downstream from the launch point and see what I could find.

I should have spent all my time downstream! The river really narrowed (to the point we had to get out of the kayaks after about 100m), and it started to get some current. One nice stretch was about 30-40m long, 1m wide, and probably only 0.5m deep. What I would have given to have had a seine!

That stretch eventually gave way to a much wider, very shallow run (with limited current) that went on for as far as we could see. It was time to set up shop for microfishing!

We only had ~1 hour left at this point, and I spent most of my time trying to catch my first member of Family Percidae.

I saw several Meramec Saddled Darters, but they were not interested in the pieces of worm I was offering. I was really struck by how large they were...a couple were as large or larger than the sculpin in my aquarium!

I was able to bring in several minnows (I could have had many, many more, but I got tired of catching them), and I succeeded in avoided all sunfish. Darters were, by far, my main target. We saw many Orangethroated, and a few Gilt, that were interested in the worm, but I wasn't having a lot of luck hooking them.

Lifer #42: Bigeye Shiner!

Striped Shiner. This was the most abundant minnow in the stream, and they got to be rather large. 

Unidentified minnow

Another minnow I'll never identify.

It didn't take long for me to learn that I need not jerk the hook as hard as possible when I had a bite. Once I got my worm piece small enough (using Owner New Half Moon tanago hooks), I started to get regular hook-ups.

At first, I was getting them just out of the water. Then I got one a bit farther out. Then, I had a Gilt Darter almost over land when....it fell off the hook only ~6" from dry land and disappeared into the rocks.

My time was almost up....actually, it was past my turn-around time...when I finally hooked a Rainbow Darter and managed to grab it in my hand before it could fall off. My first darter!

Finally!

Lifer #43: Rainbow Darter

I ended the day with a pair of lifers: Bigeye Shiner and Rainbow Darter. I can't say I'll ever go out of my way to revisit this spot, but I certainly wouldn't pass it up if I were in the neighborhood.

Species encountered (visual or caught):

1. Smallmouth Bass
2. Bluegill
3. Green Sunfish
4. Longear Sunfish
5. Striped Shiner
6. Orangethroat Darter
7. Rainbow Darter
8. Gilt Darter
9. Logperch
10. Meramec Saddled Darter
11. Banded Darter
12. Fantail Darter
13. Bigeye Shiner
14. Sand Shiner
15. Blackspotted Topminnow
16. Blackstripe Topminnow

I had to take a photo of the sign for my son, Owen.

Hinkson Creek, Boone County

Last night, I met my friends Nick and Jenna at Hinkson Creek for about 90 minutes of microfishing between when my son went to bed and sunset. Nick and Jenna were already there, and I believe they'd managed a few Sand Shiners and a Bluegill prior to my arrival.

Usually, I  microfish with a 13' crappie pole, but last night I decided to use a 6'6" spinning rod with 2 lb. test tied to the last eyelet of the pole. On the business end was a size 28 dry fly hook just below a small weight. I normally use pink PowerBait pieces, but last night I opted to try some real, live worm for a change to see what that might get me.

Nick tries to catch some shiners.

I wasted spent my first half hour chasing Orangethroat Darters. I still have never caught (on hook-and-line) a member of Family Percidae. Even Diana, who has gone fishing maybe 10 times in the past four years, has caught a Logperch (on a rooster tail)!

There must have been three dozen darters of all sizes moving around at my feet. I watched several dash beneath rocks, and I managed to get two or three to take my worm, but I never did get one to shore. The closest I came was having one fall off just as I brought it above the water's surface.

Having grown tired of not catching anything, I switched to my trusty pink rubber. There were lots of shiners schooling around, but they were not interested in my rather natural looking bait. A switch back to real worm resulted in my first fish within about two seconds of dropping the bait in the water.

Lots of Sand Shiners were willing to bite on nightcrawlers.

I was able to pull out many Sand Shiners, and three or four Red Shiners. I kept yanking my bait away from sunfish, topminnows, and what looked like a large Creek Chub. At one point I pursued a small Largemouth Bass (no luck, it spooked), and what looked to be a Logperch, but I mostly focused on trying to catch as many shiners as possible.

Part of the reasoning was just in case something new might be in there, but it was also because I want to familiarize myself with the common species. In birding, picking out the rarer birds is easier when you know the common species inside and out. I'm hoping that it's similar in fishing, so I'm trying to get a firm handle on what to generally expect in these local streams.

One fish that really surprised me was a very colorful Red Shiner. If he had been a bird I'd have said he was molting from breeding plumage to winter plumage (in layman's terms), but I have no idea (yet!) what the proper ichthyological term might be.

Red Shiner 

These photos don't do this fish justice. He had a marvelous purple cast to most of his body, with a particularly dark spot on, and right behind, the gill plate.

After heading upstream (habitat looked pretty good...starting to get some woody cover and emergent vegetation...can't wait to get back) too far, I looked at the time and realized I had to be out of there in eight minutes!

I ran back to Nick and Jenna, and then I sped past them to try my luck with the darters one last time before sunset (which was also in eight minutes). I tried and failed several times before I saw a dark catfish-shaped fish emerge from beneath a large rock. Madtom!

This was my first encounter with a free swimming madtom in the wild. Nick and I seined my first ever madtoms back in June, and I see them in my aquarium almost every day, but this was the first time I actually saw one swimming around on its own in a creek. I had to catch it.

Nick and Jenna laughed at me when I said I was going to catch a madtom, and they walked past and continued to their truck. I watched the madtom go after my worm, barrel roll, then miss it completely before scattering to a nearby rock.

I knew I had just a couple more minutes of useable light, and I had very little chance of hooking this guy. Still, I had to try, so I did what a baseball player does in an 0-2 count. I choked up.

At this point, I was practically kneeling in the creek. My rod was resting on my knee and pinched beneath my armpit. My right hand was holding the line itself, while my left hand was just a few inches above the water surface.

I jiggled the worm in front of the madtom, and he took the bait! I instantly pulled up with my right hand and grabbed the fish in my left hand just inches above the water surface. I was not letting this guy get away due to a poor hookset like the darter earlier in the evening!

I whistled down to Nick and Jenna to show off my lunker: a ~38mm Slender Madtom (lifer #41!).

Slender Madtom!

I thought about bringing it back to join the two Slender Madtoms in my aquarium, but I feared he'd just end up as food for something and released him back into Hinkson Creek to (hopefully) grow a few more millimeters.

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