Greensides and brozebacks

[Johnsfolly]

To stick with the small stream creek theme, I fished a tributary of the Gasconade yesterday due to most of the large waters being muddied or still receding after the rains this last week and weekend. I had spoken with the gentleman that is currently revising the Fishes of Missouri guide book about the greenside darter. He suggested that I would have better luck fishing within the Gasconade drainage. So I went down to fish a small stream that I had fished many years ago while looking for smallmouth bass. This water holds a fair number of smallmouth, but most don't get much bigger than 12-15". Any smallmouth caught on this trip would be the icing on the cake if I could catch a greenside darter.

The section that I fished was fairly shallow and running fast and clear. I was seeing darters everywhere I looked. I would find one that looked different than I have caught in the past and tried to catch them. Most were female orangthroat darters.

These fish were anywhere from 1.5 to 2.25 " in length. I know that the greenside was a larger darter species, but still did not have a good picture on mind on how different they would be to darters I have caught before.

In one of the deeper runs (12+") there were swarms of minnows that looked to be spawning. I could easily identify the bleeding shiners and the rosyface shiners in these schools. I would drift my bait down into the schools and caught only one rosyface shiner on the tiny worm piece and #26 hook that I was using. This was a new species for me. So I was pretty excited.

I also caught a couple of the bleeding shiners as well. There was what looked to be a third species o minnow in this mix, but I couldn't catch one in this run. I did find several runs like this one all across the creek and eventually caught what I believe to be an Ozark minnow that third species in each of these groups and also would be a new species for me.

Still no greenside darters. I saw one male rainbow darter and caught a female rainbow both of which are larger than the orangethroats I had been catching. As I headed upstream, there was deeper water that has held smallmouth in the past. I switched rods and landed a 12 and this 10" smallmouth using a fluke. The dingy water in this section  didn't do the picture any favors, but the red eye shines through.

I continued to head upstream to where the stream hits a bluff to try for more smallmouth or find the greenside that I came to find in this creek.

No smallmouth were found in this stretch, but I went along the bluff where there was some deeper water and bigger rock.

This run has flowing water coming in from under the gravel at its head. Because the water was coming in below the gravel, the surface was not affected by the current and thus was really clear. I continued to see a number of the orangthroat darters and caught a couple of more. I also caught some more bleeding shiners in this run as well as a longear sunfish. Then I saw a large bottom fish that I thought might be a logperch due to its size. This fish was over 5" in length. I fought the current was able to position my bait right in front of this fish. No take. In fact the fish darted under a large rock. From the blenny like movements, I knew that this was a greenside darter (Etheostoma blennioides) that I was looking for and it was a giant. It stuck its head out from under the rock, but I still could not get it to take my bait. So I moved to find another and then another. Each time the fish would spook when I got the bait near them and hide up under the rocks. This run was only about 45' long and I had already seen and spooked three greenside darters over its entire length. As I headed back to where I saw the first darter, I spotted a smaller one. As I was trying to position my bait in front of this fish. I caught another longear sunfish and orangethroat darter. Fortunately the greenside did not spook. Eventually I go the bait in front of it and it took the bait.

This was my third new species on this trip. I couldn't be happier than fishing this little stream on a beautiful day. I missed the greenside spawn this year, but will try to get back next March to try and take one in its spawning colors now that I know what to look for in terms of habitat and size of fish.

 

[Ham]

Freaking awesome John! I built a kayak rack and put together some wire racks at the new boat barn. I wish weather had allowed us to do the Current River trip as originally planned. We will make it happen a little later and won't have to deal with waders!

I'm sticking with my #16 dry fly hooks. If they are too small to catch with a #16, I'll just have to do without.

[mjk86]

Awesome report, I really enjoy you targeting species that i would never even consider or even known existed.  Great pics too!

[Johnsfolly]

Thanks Ham and MJK. The shiner swarms were pretty cool. I expected the bleeding shiners, but got real excited when I saw the 25 or so rosyface shiners in the mix. I saw the same swarming / spawning behavior when I fished Grindstone creek here in Columbia last week. Those were common shiners and central stonerollers swarming on that day. It's a great time of year to be out fishing.

[dan hufferd]

Very nice ! When does the book come out? Great pictures too. They will look great in the book

[JestersHK]

That is so awesome.  Man 26 size hooks gotta be tiny... Would love to see one of those little guys hooked up.  I thought you netted most of them?  Thanks for sharing and the scenery there looks awesome too!