FishnDave

Thank you. 😆

Redbreast Sunfish are pretty. I'll add those to my bucket list. You'd caught them before?

Thanks for sharing your experience, @Smalliebigs !

Glad you are OK! That's scary stuff! I haven't seen anything like that...the worst I've encountered was quicksand while wading a stream for smallmouth. Was walking on top of it, then immediately when both legs thigh deep into it. Figured nobody would find my body if I kept sinking. Fortunately I hit a hard bottom at that point.

I've certainly been catching plenty of Green Sunfish. 😬 @Ham and @Johnsfolly The advice I received to fish accesses along the Meramec or Big River is good. Both look like a lot of water and probably too deep to wade in most places, so it'd be tough to be very mobile when looking for these. I envision it would be easier to track these down in smaller, shallower, or clearer water. I don't usually get to fish a full day, so spending a few hours driving really cuts into the fishing time. Are there any smaller creeks with public access within an hour of STL? 90 minutes? I've been doing research, and will continue to do so... I see streams that really don't have much good access at all.

Go Cyclones! 😁

Has anyone ever fished the creek that runs along the north side of the Busch Conservation Area...north of Lake 33? Just wondering if there might be some Longear Sunfish there.... or anything else worth trying for.

Good looking fish! Sounds like you had a great day with a variety of fish!

I tried January-Wabash this morning. Talked to 2 other anglers. Both said there are Longears in the lake. I didnt catch any. I did catch a small bass, a Green Sunfish, a few bluegills, and a Redear Sunfish.

I did some looking on the MDC website. It lists January-Wabash Park Lake in Ferguson as a good place to catch Longears. Anybody know anything about the fish in that lake?

Nicely done! That’s a bunch of good-looking fish! And a happy girl!

We are in Creve Coeur, just a block or 2 north of Olive, and between 270 and Lindbergh/67.

Also...I didn't see one here but may have overlooked it...is there a sub-forum for St. Louis area fishing? Or is there another website that deals more with that? I really want to catch a Longear Sunfish soon, and don't know where to try that isn't very far away.

Although there's still a lot of unpacking and organizing to do, we've finally completed our move to St. Louis. Saturday morning I flyfished a lake that was posted "C&R Only / No Live Bait or Scented Lures/Bait". The water was fairly clear. I used a microjig under an indicator most of the time, but switched to a Howitzer Popper for a short while as well. Caught 2 bass on the popper. The microjig landed 1-2 bass, some bluegills, a fair number of Green Sunfish, a few Redear Sunfish, and what I suspect were several Redear/Bluegill hybrids. None of the fish were especially big, although a few Green Sunfish were in the 8" range and chunky. I enjoyed it all the same. I could see some Redears along one stretch of shoreline. None were spawning, just swimming around or staring at the bottom (looking for food?) I'd only ever seen them spawning in the past, so it was interesting to watch their more "normal" behaviors. They would look for food on the bottom, mid-depth, and even come to the surface to look at potential food items. They were pretty picky, and would look...but usually refuse my offerings & presentations. For the record, my first MO fly rod fish was a Redear Sunfish, and I am pleased about that: This one had an orange-ish eye. Ever seen one like this?? This wasn't the biggest bass, but it was really dark colored: The Green Sunfish were nicely colored...even the little ones: I didn't take any pictures of the bluegills, although some had good colors. And these are what I suspect are the Redear/Bluegill hybrids. I'd welcome other opinions....they definitely aren't pure bluegills, since bluegills never have the reddish edge to their opercular flap.:

Ha! We certainly think alike! I've been able to ID individual bass that I caught more than once. Yes, doing that should be pretty easy with these Goldfish. There are tow ponds right next to each other...one flows into the other when the water level gets high enough. Both have these big Goldfish, and I've caught them from both ponds. So far, I don't believe I've caught any of them twice, and based on ones I see porpoising (I've noticed these Goldfish don't usually jump UP like a Common Carp will, but they will porpoise quickly across the surface), there must be a LOT of them I haven't caught yet. I've only caught 18 of them from these ponds so far. This might be the last one, since we need to pack up again and get ready to make the drive/move to StL on Monday. Yes, these fish certainly are healthy!