FishnDave

I know its not everyone's cup-o-tea... but having grown up fishing doughbait or worms for carp, flyfishing artificials for them gave me a huge appreciation for them that I didn't have before. It turned them into predators to be actively enticed. Much more fun and exciting. Just sharing a personal observation. I'm still a little scarred from those early days of doughbait fishing for carp. My dad would catch one and say, "look at the size of this ba$tard!" I suppose I'd heard of bass. I assumed "ba$tard" was another name for these fish. So I was shocked and confused when my mom got angry with me for calling them that.

The ads don't bother me either. SQUIRREL!

As a youngster, my Dad made his own dough bait recipe for carp. Something like flour, corn meal, vanilla, karo syrup. I don't recall ever catching suckers on it. I think worms are the better choice for sucker bait.

I caught this amorous pair helping to build the Brood XIX of 2037!

Oh sure! Lots more to the story. @Ham has his own pics. Pics I took of him on my phone I have given to him, and I don't generally share pics of others, as I don't have permission to do so. But there's this one (We didn't stage this.... but it looks like he's trying to pet my GIANT pickerel):

Last spot we visited was a swamp that was high, fast, and muddy from the rain. It was tough! I had a Spotted Gar on shore, but it came unbuttoned and flopped to freedom before I could grab it. I caught a Warmouth and a couple Fliers.

Next we visited a little creek, hoping for Darters. We were viciously attacked by butterflies and cicadas. Just kidding, they were friendly...just stopping to land on us to say "Hi." I caught a Redfin Shiner and Bleeding Shiners.

Day 2 fishing with @Ham Trying to get some more species for the yearly flyrod list... we hit 3 spots in about 1/2 day. First spot, I caught Creek Chub, Green Sunfish, Rainbow Trout, Banded Sculpin, Knobfin Sculpin, Redspotted Sunfish, and Grass Pickerel.

Thanks! The beard...you mean the 5 o'clock shadow? 🧔

Zebra Swallowtail: Black Swallowtail:

The 4th one was the biggest one, the 25.5-incher:

2nd one: Third one:

Put in some substantial windshield time, and met up with @Ham for some good times looking for more species on the fly rod. The main target for this trip was Northern Snakehead. Hamilton gets it done again and again! I caught 4 on a Howitzer Head bass popper, 20 lb tippet, 9 wt rod. It's close quarters mayhem in the canoe when one strikes! My biggest of the trip measured a good 25.5". Here's the first one:

Wow, beautiful! And what a story! What a day they had! A bunch of 40"+ Stripers! The stuff dreams are made of... This made me reminisce... Other than a 47.5" Longnose Gar that didn't weigh anywhere near what that Striper would have weighed (but was caught on a 9wt fly rod)... my 2nd longest flyrod fish was a 41.5" Grass Carp, estimated at @ 35 lbs, caught on a 5wt fly rod with sun-degraded and abraded 8lb test mono tippet. That battle DID last a good 20 minutes! It was epic...massive triple beaver-like tail slaps on the surface when I set the hook (unseen, it ate the fly I was using for bluegills), then it speedily porpoised across the surface to the middle of the pond and then dove to the bottom and then headed towards the main basin. It was a long back-and-forth battle, with me repeatedly getting it to shore, only to have it turn and charge back to the depths again and again. I didn't have a net! So awesome! May 31, 2015. I've caught @ 250 Grass Carp on flies since then, but this one remains my largest.

The hatch has picked up tremendously here in St Louis in the past few days.

That was really good! Loved the creek footage, and the underwater shots. In addition to rainbows, I believe I saw Southern Redbelly Dace, Central Stonerollers, and probably Striped Shiners. I bet there were more species there, but there was a lotta fish movement, and I didn't go back to review those parts a second time. I should tho! Thanks for making and sharing your epic movie! Would go great with some buttered popcorn!

Aw shoot! What kind of plant? Faceplant?

Checked outside this morning in Creve Coeur/Saint Louis. Hatch has started here!

29.25" Shortnose Gar:

I believe they are too dumbfounded to understand why anyone would WANT to fish there! I needed a bullhead for this year's flyfishing list.... and I was only there because my wife was at a work-related event in the complex. I drove her, and fished to kill time until she was ready to head home. There are some BIG Goldfish in there, but I didn't see many big ones last night. I caught one of the bigger ones I saw. It has a little bit of a "Wal-Mart" feel to it. You go, but you wish you had better options. Its a pretty spot, sorta, for an urban pond.

Black Bullheads: Goldfish: