Ozarks Version of Pokemon Go - Multispecies Trip

[Johnsfolly]

After a successful day on the river on Sat. I was able to convince my wife and my daughter to make a trip down to do more fishing. We were originally going to go to Bennett's, but due to off color water, did not want to make the 2 hour trip and have bad fishing especially when my favorite river was fishing well. This was going to be a casual fishing trip. I wanted to get them onto some fish. I brought three different rods. One with 8#, 4#, and 2# test line. I still had my PBJ Ned rig on the 8# line incase we got into some smallmouth or largemouth bass. The 4# could be used to fish small jigs or roostertail baits for sunfish or bass. I brought along the 2# rod just for the possible microfishing opportunities. Where we were headed has smallmouth, and largemouth bass, sunfish, rock bass, and a large variety of minnows, darters, topminnows, etc. I felt that we could handle most anything that we came across with our set-ups. I was not planning to fish much, but to help out rigging lines, taking pictures, and just enjoying the day.

Many folks on this forum know that I have a collectors mindset when it comes to catching multiple fish species. A friend stated that my fishing was my version of the Pokémon Go craze hitting throughout. Even my wife and daughters are out chasing the variety of Pokemons throughout our neighborhood and town. So I was hoping for a variety of fish being caught on this trip. We decided to access a small tributary of the river I fished on Sat. The water was running a bit higher than I normally see in this creek. Took this as a good sign and decided we should look over the one or two holes I could see from where we parked the car. I sent my daughter upstream to a hole with some large rocks on the bank and I assumed down into the hole while I rigged the 2# rod with a tiny piece of hook for my wife to catch shiners in the multitude of schools in this creek. My daughter had the 4# rod and a 1/32 oz olive/black marabou jig. I don't think that she made more than one cast to catch this smallmouth bass.

Just as I finished this picture and Olivia released the fish, it was back downstream to Follysbetterhalf to capture her with her first bleeding shiner catch. You'll notice that she is in stealth mode with the large white hat and brightly colored top.

Gotcha! Its in the bag instead of a Pokeball.

We all moved up to the hole that my daughter was fishing and Follysbetterhalf caught a 10" smallmouth on the Ned rig (no picture due to a quick release once unhooked). She then got hung on a branch near the opposite bank. Instead of blowing out the hole, we left that rod and used the other two. Just as I was noticing a different topminnow in the creek that I don't believe that I had caught before, my daughter took the 2# rod and immediately caught a northern studfish, the topminnow that I had just seen. I also noticed a school of western mosquitofish (look like large guppies) at me feet. Also a fish that I have never caught before. So it was on as to who could catch the first mosquitofish. I also was behind with not catching a studfish.

Dad takes the first mosquitofish. Then just after releasing this fish lands his first studfish. Gotcha!

Then the girls doubled on mosquitofish.

Then we got the Ned free and headed downstream. My wife stopped us by telling us she just saw a small black catfish go under some of the small rocks in the stream. We never found that one, but had a madtom head in our direction. It took 10-15 minutes for my daughter to finally net this guy. We could not tell from the photo if this is a stonecat or a freckled madtom. I will have to contact someone to see if he can help Id this fish. I only count fish that I catch by hook and line, but my daughter likes to catch fish by hand or in this case with a small net (she caught a large male longear sunfish later on by hand, but no picture).

One last minnow for my daughter as we head down the confluence with the river, her first bleeding shiner.

I found that under the bridge there were a couple of pools with some bass in them and I called the girls to try to catch them. Olivia was first with the Ned rig. Followed by my wife with the 1/32 oz olive/black jig. A couple of fat largemouths.

Her nails match the colors on this green sunfish she caught on the jig.

After these fish the girls, used Olivia's dive mask to look at sunfish and minnows in the stream and I caught another largemouth with a 1/16 yellow/black jig. When Olivia got the Ned hung up in deeper water of this pool, we sent her diving for it with her dive mask. She said that there was a large bass that came right up to her face. The 13" largemouth that I just caught may have been that fish.

We finally got to the confluence and there was more fishing and swimming. My wife caught four smallmouth on the Ned and I caught three myself and lost two large fish. We were just slow reeling it across the golf ball to base ball sized rock. It's definitely a game changer bait. I have got to make some more.

Just before I committed to swimming in the deep hole we caught several smallmouth, I had one more fish to catch. I had seen a thinner minnow running along the surface as we were catching the bass. So with a #20 hook and a tiny piece of worm I landed this brook silverside, my third new species of the day. GOTCHA!

 

 

[bfishn]

Wow, a silverside on hook & line! You are definitely the mini-hook man!

[Johnsfolly]

Thanks. Never thought thatI would see any silversides in MO let alone catch one. Just in the right place and lucky.

[bfishn]

Table Rock & Beaver are lousy with them. They likely fall right behind shad in the mini-forage dept there.

[Mitch f]

Very nice report!

I have no idea exactly what this Pokemon stuff is all about. I remember 10 years ago there was a Pokemon craze....is this the same thing revisited?

[DownStream]

Your daughter clearly is thrilled to be fishing with her pops. Thanks for the report.

[Johnsfolly]

Downstream -  Out of my three she is the only one that still likes to get out and fish with dad. At least until she finds boys. So I will take any time she is willing to go out with dad.

Mitch - You haven't see the zombie-like groups of people running around looking at their phones, stopping and looking around? Pokémon go is a game that folks use their phones to track and capture Pokémon. It's at least getting folks outside to go catch these things. I know you guys recently had an addition to the family, but is your wife leaving the house more frequently to go for walks? If so, she is probably playing the game.

[bfishn]

Lotsa folks trying to outdo each other in the stupidity aspect of the game. Here's my favorites so far;

"On Wednesday, firefighters rescued two men who fell several stories off the crumbling sandstone bluff in Encinitas, according to authorities. The men, who were in their early 20s, were playing “Pokemon Go” at the time and likely were led to the cliff when they were trying to catch characters, said Sgt. Rich Eaton of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

One man fell 75 to 100 feet. As firefighters rescued the man, they found the second man unconscious 50 feet down the bluff, said Battalion Chief Robbie Ford of the Encinitas Fire Department. Both were taken to area trauma centers and suffered moderate injuries, he said.

The men, according to firefighters, had crossed a fenced area to get to the bluff"

[Ham]

Really dumb to die over a phone based video game, but people die playing golf so I guess I can't hate on them too much.