FishnDave

Tell me more about this. Hook size? Colors may be slightly distorted...is that a pink rabbit strip? Or lavender? Purple zonker strips I have are a dark purple... like Welch's grape juice almost. The base of the fur looks lighter. Is the head for pushing water, floatation? Do you fish this on a floating line or sinking?

Looks great! I could swear I saw this picture on Facebook today or yesterday in regards to a question about a stream "an hour away from" the person who posted?

How about something like this?

They've co-existed in much much larger numbers with fish for thousands of years. I think the fish will be ok.

(FND10) Hybrid Sunfish Redear x Bluegill Hybrid, perhaps?

I'd still like to fish your pond. Looked like your koi were bigger than these, and red ones! Plus you have catfish too.

@Johnsfolly Yes, my locally. I caught them very close to where I was at the time. 😜 (FND09) Goldfish (Petstorio escapus): Caught 7 of these yesterday on the fly rod.

(FND08) Koi (Carpio beatificus): These have been on my fly rod bucket list for many years. Caught 13 yesterday...various colors and scale patterns. The middle one (silver mirror koi) in the first photo was the first: Here's a few other standouts from the bunch: And my favorite 2.... I've given them names.... "Rudolph" and "Campfire":

The bighead and silver asian carps are supposedly really good. They did blind taste tests, and most people picked those invasive carp over catfish or tilapia (actually, the second link below suggests folks picked tilapia over the asian carp, but still preferred asian carp over catfish). https://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/carp-taste-test/155287 and https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/invasive-carp-clobber-local-catfish-in-taste-test/

Firetiger was a really good color pattern early in the season back in Iowa. Water was typically much less clear there. What's a good early season color in MO? I saw some guys throwing red crankbaits for bass last weekend. In fact, one of their crankbaits broke off and floated into my range...I cast out and caught it. When those guys walked near a couple hours later, I returned it to them.

Nice work! I like it!

Makes you wonder with all the pharmaceuticals in the water and fish tissue....are all the extra folks we saw out fishing over the past year.... ADDICTED to eating the fish now? Fishin' for a FIX? 😬

@Quillback As far as counting subspecies and strains and hybrids, etc... If I or someone here can tell them apart, then I'm for it. Fish like a Mirror Carp or Leather Carp, for example, or a Blackstripe Crappie. Or a Hybrid Striped Bass or Tiger Musky or Tiger Trout or Meanmouth Bass. Hybrid Sunfish is a single category for me...because it can be difficult to determine parentage. Like, I've seen hybrid sunfish that looked strongly of Pumpkinseed parentage...in waters where I've never caught a purestrain pumpkinseed. So...is it a P'seed hybrid? Who knows? Its unverifiable. This is all for fun and our own interest, after all.

Simple...weighted: ...and unweighted. Should push water really well:

(FND07) Redear Sunfish -

(FND06) Golden Shiner-caught over 15 of these...all really nice ones, measured several from 10"-11". Apparently max. size is about 12". No State Record or Master Angler for this species in Missouri. But for comparison...the Wisconsin State Record was set in 2011 with a 9.75" fish, then broken in 2015 with a 10.75" fish. So...just sayin'...these are record-class-sized fish. They actually fight really well on the fly rod! Although called Shiners, they are in their own Genus...not closely related to Common Shiners or Striped Shiners. Rudd can look pretty similar, let me know if you think these are Rudd.

I agree. I don't care for that either, and got better results with the Frizzle Chenille. Get the biggest frizzle chenille you can...I think there's a 3/4"? I got one pack that was super thick and awesome, like 2 strands of it twisted together it seemed like, ....When I got low on that material, I bought more of the same stuff. It wasn't as thick. Still good, but not AS good. I even wrote the company (Hareline) and told them I wondered if the 2nd one I got could have been a mislabelled package. They sent me more (and that sweet rubber tying pad in the picture I posted with the Feather Gamechanger), but it was still like the 2nd pack. Seems the first pack was an anomaly.

I agree...most Black Bullheads and Yellow Bullheads are not splotchy. Like these Black Bullheads: or There's always the exceptions, I suppose. This Yellow Bullhead that ate my fly was sorta splotchy as well:

Oh, I totally hear you. I also like simple patterns...fast to tie, fish well, don't cry if one gets lost or falls apart from catching so many fish. Gamechangers are actually really fun to fish, though. The first You can swim them or fish them like a jerk bait. Its hard to argue with the fish...the darn things are always right! The very first time I tried one, it blew me away with how many bass it caught. I visited other waters and repeated that success. I was sold. Now, the disclaimer...much like flyfishing in general, it isn't always the best tool for the job. Tying them takes some practice. I've tied plenty of shoddy ones, but they still caught fish. But don't feel like you gotta tie them! You can buy them from certain places...and sometimes they cost about the same as what it would cost you to buy all the materials on your own to tie. I wouldn't recommend the Umpqua version. That thing is too stiff, it darts, but doesn't swim. Onion Creek Fly Company makes some good ones (https://onioncreekflycompany.com/collections/flys), and the Flymen Fishing Company (https://flymenfishingcompany.com/collections/the-blane-chocklett-signature-fly-collection). Orvis also sells the Flymen ones, I think.

Exactly. Not complicated, just very time consuming. Each segment is like a separate fly...I've spent AN HOUR on just one of these more than once. Depending on materials used, some don't take nearly that long, but its still a time investment. They are one of my favorite patterns for Largemouth Bass, along with big topwater flies. They aren't my favorite for anything else yet....however, I've caught at least 9 freshwater species on them: Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, White Bass, Black Crappie, Brown Trout, Black Bullhead, Channel Catfish, Green Sunfish, Hybrid Sunfish.

Wow, THAT is super-impressive! Jumbo! I caught one 18-1/8". It was in August, so not egg laden. What do you suppose that weighed?

Beautiful fish!

Nice one! What did that measure?

I haven't tried the bulkhead streamers yet, but did tie a couple. Gamechangers in all types and colors and sizes have worked extremely well for Largemouth Bass. Like this Feather GameChanger: It's caught a bunch of nice bass for me, up to 21.5" (the one on the right is that fish...damaged jaw, obviously it had been caught and mistreated before): Here's a moptail Gamechanger...pretty good action: It caught this 18.5" Smallmouth in Iowa:

My bad. You are correct. It may not be a pheromone... but some other chemical. "Schreckstoff, German for “scary stuff,” is a chemical compound, glycosaminoglycan chondroitin, that some fish species release when they are injured. This “take-one -for-the-team” signal lets their conspecifics know that there is danger in the area. But more than just an alarm signal, Schreckstoff also serves as an immune response for the injured individual, warding off parasites and pathogens such as molds, trematodes, and solar radiation. Schreckstoff is utilized by fish superorder, Ostariophysi, such as minnows, catfishes, and characiformes (including piranha and tetras), and has also been documented in other species, such as salmonids." Here's more info if anyone is interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schreckstoff