Sometimes Failing Doesn't Hurt Too Bad

[FishnDave]

 I had a couple failed attempts at fishing this weekend.

1.  On Saturday morning, I tried a recommended lake for bass.  Saw a big one.  Caught one bluegill.  It was a nice-looking lake, and I will go back to it to try again sometime.

2. On Sunday, I fished a small river about an hour and 20 minutes from my home.  The goal was to catch a smallmouth bass and hopefully a rock bass as well.  Very few bass were seen, but I did see a few BIG ones, and had good strikes from 3 of them (2 smallmouth, 1 largemouth) ...and didn't catch any of them.  Crazy.  Ended up catching a couple small Largemouth Bass, a Bluegill, some Longear Sunfish, and a Shiner...(and I need help with this one..is it a Common or Striped Shiner?).

Really beautiful stream.  It was fun just to be there.  And the drive to and from was just a solid landscape of trees.  Having lived in central Iowa and northern Illinois.... I gotta say, Missouri is a BEAUTIFUL state!

Here's some "other" stuff seen while fishing:

And check this out....I found a tortoise shell in the river.

So, I didn't catch what I was after this weekend...but I still enjoyed my time in the pursuit and being near water.

Still hoping to catch some smallies yet this season...

 

[Johnsfolly]

Great looking longears! From Pflieger you need to look at the shiner from the top to see if there are any striping that converges behind the dorsal fin. Count the scales along the top of the fish along the midline in front of dorsal fin. 22 or less it's  a striped. Also some darker pigment under the mouth.

Commons don't  have chin pigment nor that convergent striping. Also have 23 or more scales.

Personally I have relied as much or more on distribution for these two species. The shiners in streams around Columbia were  common shiners. 

Regardless of not knowing where you were fishing I would assume striped shiner if you fished any creek or river south of you.

[FishnDave]

@Johnsfolly It was south of me.  Just a quick lateral line scale count...I counted @ 35!

[Johnsfolly]

11 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

@Johnsfolly It was south of me.  Just a quick lateral line scale count...I counted @ 35!

It's not the lateral line scales that need to be counted. It's the number of scales across the top of the fish at the midline in front of the dorsal fin. Still fairly comfortable that you have a striped shiner.

[FishnDave]

1 hour ago, Johnsfolly said:

It's not the lateral line scales that need to be counted. It's the number of scales across the top of the fish at the midline in front of the dorsal fin. Still fairly comfortable that you have a striped shiner.

Sorry, I should have read your first post better.  I skimmed over scale count number... because it seems like its usually a lateral line count.  I need to pay better attention to your instructions!  😁

[FishnDave]

11 hours ago, FishnDave said:

 Check this out....I found a tortoise shell in the river.

 

 

Ok...after a little digging....not a tortoise shell...probably a box turtle, right?

[Johnsfolly]

24 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

Ok...after a little digging....not a tortoise shell...probably a box turtle, right?

Looking at that shell it's probably a three toed box turtle like the one below.

 

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Sounds like a fun time.  Nice bonus pictures also.  

[FishnDave]

7 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

Great looking longears!

Some of these were decent sized... I measured one at 6", not sure if it was the biggest one of the day or not.  I'm amazed at how different each Longear looks from each other.  I caught 2 that were pretty similar in size and color, but the rest were each pretty different.

[Ham]

Good Job Dave!