Rock Creek

[Dirtworm]

Took my 4 year old fishing in a local creek on Sunday, and we had a blast. I am starting to think there are more opportunities in these small suburban creeks than one might think. It works for my son and me anyway, when the goal is to catch lots of fish, regardless of size. It was also nice to catch a variety of fish. Large mouth bass, lots of green sunfish, longears, and ... a walleye? I think thats what it is. A little guy but fun to catch one anyway.

[ozark trout fisher]

Congratulations! Little creeks like that can be a whole lot of fun.

It's a little hard to tell, but the fish in question may be a sauger, a very close relative to walleye. I don't really think so though. The coloration is what gives me that idea, but the shape of the head seems to be wrong for anything of the perch family. I don't know what you've got there. I'm sure someone else can shed some light on it though.

[Al Agnew]

Looks like a walleye to me...not the best picture quality, but I'm about 99.9% sure it's a walleye.

Don't know where your stream is, but walleye come up out of the Mississippi River into these small streams that run directly into the big river to spawn, usually in late March and early April. There is little spawning habitat on the Mississippi itself throughout Missouri, so they move up the creeks until they come upon a riffle with spawning gravel. So a lot depends upon how high the Mississippi is as to how far up the creeks they go. In high water years, some of those creeks are backed up for 10 miles or more, and the walleye move up that far until they find a riffle. Which means that, once the Mississippi drops back down, the adult walleye are back in it but the young of that year will often be left far upstream on the creeks. I've caught walleye about that size on Establishment Creek above Bloomsdale, and Saline Creek more than 20 miles from the river. You probably won't catch one any bigger than that, because the young ones will eventually move back down the creek to the river, probably when we get some higher flows during the winter.

[Dirtworm]

Looks like a walleye to me...not the best picture quality, but I'm about 99.9% sure it's a walleye.

Don't know where your stream is, but walleye come up out of the Mississippi River into these small streams that run directly into the big river to spawn, usually in late March and early April. There is little spawning habitat on the Mississippi itself throughout Missouri, so they move up the creeks until they come upon a riffle with spawning gravel. So a lot depends upon how high the Mississippi is as to how far up the creeks they go. In high water years, some of those creeks are backed up for 10 miles or more, and the walleye move up that far until they find a riffle. Which means that, once the Mississippi drops back down, the adult walleye are back in it but the young of that year will often be left far upstream on the creeks. I've caught walleye about that size on Establishment Creek above Bloomsdale, and Saline Creek more than 20 miles from the river. You probably won't catch one any bigger than that, because the young ones will eventually move back down the creek to the river, probably when we get some higher flows during the winter.

Very interesting, Al. I knew that fish had a story. As always, thanks for the insight. You are also correct about the photo quality. Working on my one-handed camera phone operation.

[Dirtworm]

Looks like a walleye to me...not the best picture quality, but I'm about 99.9% sure it's a walleye.

Don't know where your stream is, but walleye come up out of the Mississippi River into these small streams that run directly into the big river to spawn, usually in late March and early April. There is little spawning habitat on the Mississippi itself throughout Missouri, so they move up the creeks until they come upon a riffle with spawning gravel. So a lot depends upon how high the Mississippi is as to how far up the creeks they go. In high water years, some of those creeks are backed up for 10 miles or more, and the walleye move up that far until they find a riffle. Which means that, once the Mississippi drops back down, the adult walleye are back in it but the young of that year will often be left far upstream on the creeks. I've caught walleye about that size on Establishment Creek above Bloomsdale, and Saline Creek more than 20 miles from the river. You probably won't catch one any bigger than that, because the young ones will eventually move back down the creek to the river, probably when we get some higher flows during the winter.

As for where the stream is, it does indeed feed into the Mississippi - somewhere near Imperial, MO. I was fishing about 3 or 4 miles upstream. I live close to Saline, I will have to give that a try. Is it possible to catch the spawning adults in the spring in these creeks?

[Al Agnew]

It's possible, but timing is pretty critical. I don't think the adults stay on the spawning riffles very long (and they actually spawn at night and then move back into deeper water during the day). So you might only have a week or so in which they are in the area, and then you still have to find where they are spending the days, since I think the season is closed at night to protect them. On streams the size of Saline Creek, they may move up into the lower parts of the creek during the winter and stage in preparation for spawning, but on streams as small as the creek you fished, I suspect they just make a quick run when the urge strikes.

[Dirtworm]

It's possible, but timing is pretty critical. I don't think the adults stay on the spawning riffles very long (and they actually spawn at night and then move back into deeper water during the day). So you might only have a week or so in which they are in the area, and then you still have to find where they are spending the days, since I think the season is closed at night to protect them. On streams the size of Saline Creek, they may move up into the lower parts of the creek during the winter and stage in preparation for spawning, but on streams as small as the creek you fished, I suspect they just make a quick run when the urge strikes.

Very intriguing. I can imagine a little creek like this would look very different with a decent sized walleye churning up the water in a good fight. I think this is my kind of fishing - a little like hunting as you have pointed out before, a little like exploring. I fished a different stretch of the creek today, maybe a mile down stream, and its completely different. Same water volume of course, but the banks become muddy and the water clouds up. The fish don't seem to mind, caught a few decent sized large mouth. It is fun to see them come from the other side of the creek to hit a lure, no matter the size.

[ozark trout fisher]

Very intriguing. I can imagine a little creek like this would look very different with a decent sized walleye churning up the water in a good fight. I think this is my kind of fishing - a little like hunting as you have pointed out before, a little like exploring. I fished a different stretch of the creek today, maybe a mile down stream, and its completely different. Same water volume of course, but the banks become muddy and the water clouds up. The fish don't seem to mind, caught a few decent sized large mouth. It is fun to see them come from the other side of the creek to hit a lure, no matter the size.

Very nice. This sounds a lot like the sort of fishing I've been doing lately on the streams around my new home in central MO. Fun stuff for sure, finding good fish in those marginal little creeks.

[Dirtworm]

Another one to identify. I am going with a creek chub. I have never caught one of these before, and didn't even know they got this big. Makes me wonder just how big they do get. I thought I had some sort of bass at first until I saw the small, very soft mouth.

[Al Agnew]

A little hard to tell from the photos...it's either a creek chub or a hornyheaded chub. I'm going with creek chub.