Johnsfolly

I haven't caught a fish since the 15th of Nov. Bad water conditions, work, the holiday, etc. all played against me in being able to get out and catch some. I took a couple of hours to try and get a chance to catch some fish. I headed to Unicorn Lake spillway. At first glance the water was running high and fast due to the heavy rains that we had Christmas eve. The last time I was here, we had success dropping our baits into the slack pocket waters. It was going to be a challenge with the cold water and now the high fast water eliminating about 70 to 80% of the water that we caught them last trip wasn't going to make it easier to catch some fish. I fished a trout magnet mini-jig with an orange body. I had on a float. The current was tough to get a good drift. I found a small pocket and had the float go under and I hooked my first bluegill. Felt good to get the stink off after over 40 fishless days! I found a couple of other slack water pockets and caught a couple more bluegill. After catching a fat pumpkinseed, the bite shut down. I tried switching to a white jig body - nothing, then a couple of different spots still nothing. I ended the afternoon with a total of four sunfish. Still felt it was a good trip. I won't have any more opportunities to fish until Friday. So these are the last fish for me in 2020. I ended the year with 752 fish, 69 different species, and 18 new life list species. Even with the COVID crap, it was a decent year. Looking forward to a better 2021.

For a few years in Columbia we would get a cooper's hawk that would hunt the songbirds that would frequent our bird feeder on the deck. Every so often one of the birds would spook and hit the sliding glass door. Only a couple got killed when hitting the glass.

Did know that. We had a pair of broad wing hawks around. They don't stay too long. We also get flocks of tundra swans and we have seen quite a few in the last couple of weeks.

We've been watching different versions of A Christmas Carol. Yesterday watched the FX version from last year. Pretty dark in places which was not expected.

Good luck Pete.. It would tough getting through the second and third movie for me. Think that those and the last one were the worse ones in the series. I saw Rouge One and was done with the prequels and sidebar movies.

Rick have a Merry Christmas!

Most winters back in Columbia we would gets small flocks of robins come and eat the small fruits on our mock crabapple tree. Some years cedar waxwings would get into that action as well.

Hawks do that a lot. Most winter hawks in MO are likely down from Canada while the ones in summer travel down towards the gulf or into Mexico. You can see the size differences with the winter birds typically being a bit larger.

Did you have a tracker Pete to mark that migration?😁 Seems like a MDC study is needed.

Here they tend to make spawning runs up the local creeks mid to late Feb. Small ones are in the creeks year round but the big one stick to the deeper water or head into the bay after the spawn.

You can come out as well😁

@LittleRedFisherman that looked freaking awesome buddy! Congrats on making some great memories for you and your family!

Christmas eve dinner. Baked cod topped with S&P, prudhommes seafood magic seasoning, ranch dressing. Baked until flaky. Snap peas with bacon and onion. Handmade sweet potato gnocchi with a white wine, shallot thyme, rosemary brown butter sauce with a pinch (or a little more 🙄) of cayenne.

I have one snakehead caught so far. As for FL - only Oscars and red tilapia from your list and I have caught a FL gar and a walking catfish but no photos. That was close to 25 yrs ago. Wish that I was into micros back then since I knew where there were flag fish and bluefin killifish, but that was before a giant flood destroyed the clear water areas of the pond at the filed site where I had worked. A lot more exotics are out there. We are planning on taking Livie to snorkel in the Keys and I will insist upon a few side fishing trips. At least that is the plan. Who know what will actually happen.

Would the lake trout have to be on a fly? Thought that I have given you some info a bunch of those species, hope that it helps. When you are ready to travel, just PM me.

In 2021 I'll be working with her to get some other lifers on her list, like snakeheads, tautog, dogfish, skates, etc. Also some south Florida fishes as well. Also I need to find a local spot for redfin pickerel for both of us.

Or horseshoe crabs !

Well the title will likely take away any suspense. It has been a pretty bad few weeks. I haven't fished more than 25 mins since Nov 15th. Weather has been kicking my butt on the trips needed to achieve one or more of my 2020 goals. After another weather event stopped me from running out to try for pike, decided to change focus and try to get Livie on catching her first Esox species, a chain pickerel. We had tried in the past to get Livie a pickerel. She came close and had one on when we last fished the Pocomoke river. I've caught at least one the last three times that we fished that location, but a pulled hook didn't seal the deal for her. So Saturday we headed that afternoon to a local lake that has a few. She had on one of my favorite pickerel baits, a gold #1 Blue Fox vibrax spinner. Pickerel are not often shy about that baits will catch their attention. I've had success with jerk baits, jigs, gold spinners, white spinners, trout magnets, etc. In the winter, I go to the gold in-line spinner above all those other baits. Before we left, we had some discussion about the temperature. I felt that a medium weight coat would be fine. What I didn't count on was the wind. The temp had to have dropped by 8 to 10 deg from the temp at the house. Knowing that Livie was likely to get cold quickly, I had her target spots where I have caught pickerel. If there was one there before then it's likely another is there now. I was fishing a T-rigged ribbontail worm just in case maybe a larger pickerel or a bass was along the bank. First spot is wide open for casting with no brush or low overhanging branches. She made some good looking casts and ran that bait along the weed edges as well as the open water, but no takers. She mentioned that having a heavier jacket would make her a bit happier. We moved to the next spot, which has a downed tree along the bank, but you're standing between some willows and have to be sure to not get hung above or besides you when you cast. The water in front was still fairly wide open. Again she did make some nice casts, but also have to get the lure off some branches and out of the weeds. Again nothing. She was getting fairly cold at this point and I knew that we really only had one last chance before she got too cold to fish. We moved to the last spot which is some channelized open water with heavy vegetation along the channel edges and the bank. Also a fair amount of underwater brush and overhanging branches all around her. She had to make sidearm casts and in some spots pitch the spinner into the open water. On one cast she set the hook on some vegetation that the bait bumped on the retrieve. At this point my only job was to point out likely spots, encourage her that she could make a longer cast or two, and be the net man if she gets bit. The cold was getting to her and the sun was dropping fast. She had made a couple of short casts into an opening in the vegetation on her left side, but no bites. I suggested trying to see if she cast further past that opening and run the bait along the vegetation. She made the cast and as she got to that opening she felt a slight pull on the line, then a stronger one as she set the hook. The fish pulled a bit and jumped once that I could tell that had on a pickerel. I did my job admirably and landed the fish. We got the trophy shots of her first pickerel, tried to remove the hook, but needed help. Livie kept the fish in the net and in the water while I took the long walk back to the car for forceps or pliers to get the hook out . Fortunately I found a pair and we got the fish unhooked and released only a little worse for wear. It was only 10.75 inches, but she was ecstatic. So @FishnDave this was Livie's 50th species.. for 2020 . Actually her 93 life list species. Having an obsessive father helps with those numbers as long as she can tolerate the old man. Even though he forgot the pliers, he's one heck of a fishing guide.

Still ruminating so will have to post a little later. As always I will probably have way more than I can achieve, but I just can't help myself.

@FishnDave if you like those big creek chubs, come out this way and I will introduce you to fallfish their feistier and often bigger cousins!