FishnDave

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?

Lone Elk Park, Valley Park, MO.

a very dark Spotted Gar:

I have caught a few with these black tiger stripes, and some really dark nearly all-black ones. Extremely uncommon, but I suppose they might be more common in certain waters due to diet, environment, or genetics. Really cool fish @Quillback !

Pure Green Sunfish. Based on the cheek markings, large mouth, colored fin edges, typical operculum, colors and patterns beneath those tiger stripes. Interesting colors and patterns!

So, which chef squirrel won? I didn't find a list of the squirrel competitors, but did find some "action" photos.

Blackstripe Topminnow: Southern Redbelly Dace: Bleeding Shiner:

Creek Chub: Striped Shiners: Longear Sunfish:

Mottled Sculpin: Redfin Shiner: Blackspotted Topminnow:

Wow! What a trip! Enjoy! Norwegians are good folks! For comparison.... the 2024 population of Missouri is 6.2 Million.

Cool trip! How'd you get there? Fly into Bergen, then drive north? Trondheim? Oslo?

Yes, that appears to be true. Males have red eyes, females have brown eyes. Males have more decorated shells. The back of the carapace on males flares out... that part of the female's shell usually does not flare out. So... looks like I met a fella and a lady. I bet they knew each other. They spend more time in/near water than I would have guessed, but explains why I've found their shells when wade-fishing. I was also surprised to learn they eat a fair bit of meat.... snails, slugs, bugs, worms, fish, crayfish, frogs.... Aggressive hunters they must be! They can probably spend hours stalking a slug! Prior to the feast, they probably have a very intense stare-down! Nightmare fodder, for sure! 😜

Awesome! I read that only (some?) males will have the red heads. Will only males have the decorated shells, too?

Do we have turtle afficianados here? Besides @snagged in outlet 3 and his cooters? I met a couple box turtles yesterday while micro-flyfishing a creek near St Louis. One was swimming across the creek when I saw him. I waded down and set him up on top of the steep bank, since I didn't think he could make it up there on his own. He was a handsome fella! Red head, yellow spotted front legs, colorful shell. \ Maybe 50' upstream, I met another box turtle sitting on the shore. I walked over for a picture, but otherwise left it (her?) alone. She didn't try to run away. Are they both Three-toed Box Turtles? I'm pretty sure the second one is... but wondered about the first one.

These grassies were caught at a different creek...sort of the upstream end of a small lake... but I hear you! Gotta get you some!

Not sure I've ever eaten one.... are they any good?

I believe you are right! I don't think I've seen these around when I'm fishing either... but there's so many seeds in the poo, they've gotta be really close by. I'll have to look harder!

Ok... well, I did another search online for it. Found some similar pics. So, I'm sharing them. sorry. Persimmon Seeds?

You can thank me for not taking and posting pics of animal excrement. So, while out fishing from shore, I often find animal fecal piles with really big seeds in them. And I've wondered what the seeds are from. They are roughly the size and shape of an almond nut (meat, not shell), maybe not as thick as an almond. Kind of a brown or light reddish-brown color. They must be tough, because they seem to be completely intact inside the poo.... not cracked or partially chewed. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Paw Paw tree where I fish.... but they could certainly be around. I looked online.... the poo seeds might be similar to Paw Paw seeds, but not quite as dark brown as the pics I saw online. I dunno. Just curious about it. Anybody have any ideas, or have seen what I'm talking about?