FishnDave

Had a brief window to do a bit of flyfishing on Sunday afternoon. Went for Koi. Caught 11, plus one Goldfish.

Caught at least 5 species of little stuff at a new-to-me creek: Northern Studfish: Striped Shiners: Plus Bleeding Shiners, Bluegills, and a Longear Sunfish. Saw this turtle shell:

@Ham and I flyfished for Koi and Goldfish while he was in town a couple weeks ago. We both caught some of each. Here's my favorites that I caught:

Be careful, kids. First one's always "free", right? 😜

I have not read that one. I have read his book on Hawaii and on Mexico. Incredibly fascinating and informative/historical books!

Thanks for that link, @tjm Very variable rainfall amounts....Says I got 5.19" in the past 24 hours in my part of St Louis County. About 2.6 miles to my West, they got 6.16" in that time. Just east of Eureka, MO, (SW side of StL) got 8.06" in 24 hrs.

Was that lunch or dinner? Glad you enjoyed it! 👍 What's for dessert? Something with honey? 😉

Everybody's different. Nobody has to agree with me. I do like having the extra hour of daylight in the evening after work in the warmer months. Wouldn't hurt my feelings to have it year-round. Heck, make it 2 extra hours of daylight! This could be achieved in other ways, rather than changing clocks. Changing work hours is one way. Changing clocks is also ok by me. After 58 consecutive years, I think most American's are capable of managing their clocks, especially with the help of our ever-present cell phones that update automatically. So many options, certainly some would work. Just for a quick history... here's an AI-generated summary of DST: "The United States began observing daylight saving time (DST) in 1918 to save fuel and power during World War I. The idea was that by shifting time to make use of more daylight hours, the need for artificial light would be reduced. The US followed the lead of several European countries that had also adopted DST during the war. DST was repealed in 1919, but was reinstituted during World War II as "War Time". After the war, states were allowed to choose whether or not to observe DST, but in 1966, the Uniform Time Act standardized DST across the country. The current system of clocks falling back in November and moving ahead in March was established by the Uniform Time Act. "

If you work 8-5, I like having an extra hour of light after work. Might be able to squeeze in a quick fishing trip! An alternative would be to keep the clocks the same, and change summer working hours to 7-4. Why didn't they just do this in the first place?

It isn't everyone's cup-o-tea, and it doesn't need to be... but yeah, I sure enjoy it!

@Ham had asked Augie, our guide, what the biggest one he'd seen caught here. 41" was the answer. Should've known right then that there was about to be a "hold my beer" moment!

For a large fee.... maybe we could harvest Blues and Flatheads from MD and bring them back to MO .... ALIVE!

When Ham put me on my first Chain Pickerel...I struggled HARD that day. It was so painful for both of us, that he said, "I am NOT going to be on the hook for getting you a Musky on fly!" 😝 I deserved that. Earned it. This year I finally decided to put Musky on my flyfishing target list. Actually made the arrangements about a year ago, though. @Ham and I had a stellar day with a guided trip for Muskies on fly! Ham caught 4, I caught 3! Super happy, really enjoyed the day! If @ Ham wants to share his other pics here, I hope he does! I am going to add his giant one, at least! What a fish!!!

Completed all my goals for the year, with the Musky on fly.

That's a great list, Al! You've caught plenty that aren't on my list yet. 👍 I had an all-tackle lifelist somewhere. I haven't kept that updated for many years, so I really don't know what that would look like now, but it did include some pretty cool species from Hawaii, Florida, etc. I have kept good records on my Flyfishing Lifelist. Just for the 2024 year, I'm at 84 species.... But Fly Lifetime (Flyfetime), I'm at 143 species... 123 Freshwater, 20 Saltwater. I know a few guys that have more/way more than me... but I'm pretty happy with my list. Still have some species I'd like to catch on fly... such as Lake Trout and Sacramento Perch. (There's more, of course.)

Bummer to hear. Weren't the Blues intentionally stocked? Not native to the area...

Drag-peeling Freshwater Drum:

Orangespotted Sunfish: Green Sunfish:

That's a bunch of cool fish, @Johnsfolly !

Are you sure you were at the correct reunion? Based on the stories you share about your family, I didn't expect them to look so nice and normal. 😜 I bet you had a great time! 👍

Welcome, Will!

Flyfished Saturday. Hoped for one more Bowfin to make it a round number for the year... but lost both that I had hooked. Gotta let the fish win sometimes. Also lost a few gar. Ended up landing one very small gar, a couple bass, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, and a small crappie. Also saw a number of different kinds of caterpillars, many wandering along the trail. This was a big one (Achemon Sphinx Moth caterpillar): Common Buckeye Butterflies are so cool!

Interesting. Hard pass from me. I struggle to catch even the more common darter species. 😬 Maybe @Ham will get these added to his list before the end of the year?