Unspecified Ozark creek 10-8-2020

[FishnDave]

Drove 2 hours to hit a new-to-me Ozark creek, hoping to find Rock Bass and Smallmouth Bass.
The creek is low, and very clear, as its largely spring-fed. Beautiful! 
I didn't find any Rock Bass, and only 3 Smallmouth Bass. Not much for size...this was the big one for the day:


I also caught a Hornyhead Chub:

And a Striped Shiner (no picture), a Green Sunfish (no picture), a couple Longear Sunfish:

I also caught a new-to-me species.... a trio of Northern Studfish (I wouldn't have known what these were, if @Hamhadn't posted his picture of one):


Other things seen while fishing:
I dodged a box turtle along the road while driving to the fishing destination.
I found a box turtle shell in this creek, much like a different creek a few weeks ago. But this one was broken:

I saw a Bald Eagle. I saw 3 Otters.
Saw Comma butterflies, and a Spicebush Swallowtail (which I hadn't heard of or seen before).

So...pretty good day.   

[Ham]

Nice Fish Dave!

[Johnsfolly]

8 hours ago, FishnDave said:

I also caught a new-to-me species.... a trio of Northern Studfish (I wouldn't have known what these were, if @Hamhadn't posted his picture of one):

So...pretty good day.   

Nice trip Dave! Did you sight fish them or just had them hit blind casting? These guys can be a gateway fish to the dark side of microfishing😉! Opens up a whole world of multispecies opportunities.

[FishnDave]

1 hour ago, Johnsfolly said:

Did you sight fish them or just had them hit blind casting? 

Sight-fished, although I didn't know what I was looking at.  Each of these were caught in separate backwater areas or small pools separated from the main creek.  I think there were different kinds of small fish present, most were too small to get hooked on what I was using.  Microfishing would have worked, for sure.  Also saw lots of darters and such in the main creek.  And tadpoles. 

[Johnsfolly]

10 hours ago, FishnDave said:

also caught a Hornyhead Chub:

If you get over to SWMO and fish the Spring river, Elk river, Indian Creek, Neosho, etc. you can catch the redspot chub which looks just like these guys.

From Indian Creek.

However any river or creek that ends up in the white River system like Roaring river still have the hornyhead chub like this male from RR.

[FishnDave]

Thanks!  The Hornyhead I caught yesterday was the first one I've caught that didn't have the red spot behind the eye...I assume it slowly fades away after the spawning season, or maybe this was a female?

Redspots are just in certain river systems then?  Thats gotta be a tough one to ID, right?  They look the same to me. 😅  Is there any morphological features that can be used to tell them apart, other than location?

[Johnsfolly]

5 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

Sight-fished, although I didn't know what I was looking at.  Each of these were caught in separate backwater areas or small pools separated from the main creek.  I think there were different kinds of small fish present, most were too small to get hooked on what I was using.  Microfishing would have worked, for sure. 

Did you notice the "fluorescent" patch on their heads? Most of the topminnows, e.g., studfish, blackspotted, blackstriped, plains, starhead, etc., in MO have a similar patch but in different shapes and sizes.

A size 18 or 20 fly would catch many of those smaller species. I've caught bleeding shiners and southern redbelly dace on elkhair caddis and hare's ear nymphs.

[Johnsfolly]

Just now, FishnDave said:

maybe this was a female

Females do not have that spot. Based upon it's size that is not likely to be a juvenile and more likely to be a female.

5 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

Redspots are just in certain river systems then?  Thats gotta be a tough one to ID, right?  They look the same to me. 😅  Is there any morphological features that can be used to tell them apart, other than location?

I have gone more with distribution on identification between the two species.

[FishnDave]

59 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Did you notice the "fluorescent" patch on their heads? Most of the topminnows, e.g., studfish, blackspotted, blackstriped, plains, starhead, etc., in MO have a similar patch but in different shapes and sizes.

A size 18 or 20 fly would catch many of those smaller species. I've caught bleeding shiners and southern redbelly dace on elkhair caddis and hare's ear nymphs.

I almost never fish less than a size 10.  Midge eaters are safe from me.

I've seen fish that seem to have "glowing" or reflective areas on their heads.  I don't think I've caught any of these fish, although they have chased my flies.  I've seen them in most of the creeks I've fished, but I don't know what they area.

[Ham]

Come over to the dark side ; Buy a 2 weight and throw size 20-24. You’ll be surprised