Lunker Micros?

[FishnDave]

Or Micro Lunkers?  Is that an oxy-moron?

It occurred to me that I haven't used nor heard the term "lunker" in some time.  Do people still use it?  Sounds funny.

Maybe I just don't catch fish big enough to be called lunkers.   To wit:

Having reached my goal of 100 U.S. Freshwater Fish on Fly, I've considered changing my stance on micro-fishing.  It wasn't something I was particularly interested in, although I DO like seeing some of the cool micro species folks catch, such as the beautiful darter species.  Most Micro-anglers use bait, often a tiny chunk of worm or even a piece of a grain of rice.  I'm going to try it with micro "flies" on a fly rod.  Something artificial (not bait) tied on a very small hook.  (Just my personal choice, and keeps in line with my bad habit of making fishing way harder than it needs to be.)  Trout anglers have been using very small hooks for some midge dry flies and midge larva nymph flies for many years.

Anyway... So I looked into micro-fishing a bit.  Many micro & minnow species have TINY mouths, of course.  Gotta have a tiny hook they can get in their mouth.  For my first go at this, I bought some Tanago hooks that are pre-snelled on a length of line/thread.

I also bought a pack of Daiichi 1130 #26 hooks.  The tanago is finer wire, and the hook bend to hook point distance is about 1/2 what the Daiichi is.

I tied some material to 3 of the Tanago hooks (so far), each one a bit different material and different color.  I took them fishing to a new-to-me creek.
I fished for at least a couple couple hours, caught at least a dozen fish.  Lost 2 of the 3 tanago flies to overhead trees after missed hooksets.  Might be a little too aggressive... hey, I'm just learning!

One of the reasons micro fishing didn't previously appeal to me, was that minnow species can be pretty hard to distinguish from each other.  Today was a good example.  There were 4 species I recognized (3 I'd caught before on larger flies), and then there were some I was not sure about... and still am not sure about.

These 2 are Creek Chubs.  Much smaller than I'm used to catching:

Mottled Sculpins:

Now, I don't know how you measure your fish... with these micros, I guess I can just use my own "finger-width" scale.  This little fella is somewhere in the 2.0-2.5 finger-width range. HA!

Southern Redbelly Dace (just one, and was the only FOR SURE fish I hadn't previously caught on (bigger) fly):

Striped Shiner:

Some or all of the following may also be Striped Shiners, or not...I really don't know... but here they are:

I did have some Darters chasing and hitting my flies, but at @ 1" long, they were too small for me to catch even on my tiny hook.  At another spot, I got out just to look and left the rod in the car...and saw some other minnows including Northern Studfish...which I've also caugth before.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

Tying onto the tanago hooks is pretty difficult due to the pre attached leader.   I've tried many times and often break the hook.   Here is a link to a photo tank that includes a measurement to keep track of your lunkers.   

@Ham and or @Johnsfolly may be able to help with identifying your catches that you are having uncertainties about.   

 

Welcome to the fun.    

[FishnDave]

1 minute ago, Daryk Campbell Sr said:

Tying onto the tanago hooks is pretty difficult due to the pre attached leader.   I've tried many times and often break the hook.   Here is a link to a photo tank that includes a measurement to keep track of your lunkers.   

@Ham and or @Johnsfolly may be able to help with identifying your catches that you are having uncertainties about.   

 

Welcome to the fun.    

Ok, you used Lunker in a sentence!   

Yes, thank you, I meant to mention that both @Ham and @Johnsfolly are very helpful in ID'ing these things, and they know other folks that can offer suggestions if we need help.

[BilletHead]

           Good job Dave! 

  For a minute there I thought you were going to say you were going to buy some nightcrawlers. 😁

[bfishn]

44 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

           Good job Dave! 

  For a minute there I thought you were going to say you were going to buy some nightcrawlers. 😁

I wouldn't hold my breath, I bet he'd say "The Creed" if someone else would put a crawler on for him... 🤣

[FishnDave]

21 hours ago, bfishn said:

I wouldn't hold my breath, I bet he'd say "The Creed" if someone else would put a crawler on for him... 🤣

I lose way to many hooks trying to "accidentally" impale inchworms clinging to the trees above and around me. 😬

[FishnDave]

Tried a different section of the same creek yesterday, with the micro stuff again.  Caught 29 fish.  Striped Shiners, Creek Chubs, Bluntnose Minnows, Bleeding Shiners, Northern Studfish, Longear Sunfish, Bluegills, and a Green Sunfish.  Finally had a couple Darters hooked, and several Topminnows hooked, but all fell back into the water instead of into my hand. Rats... would have loved to have gotten pics of them!

This looks like it would be really easy to catch these little fish.  Sometimes it is (for the Striped Shiners and Creek Chubs), but its also a lot of work and time, and patience when trying to get the smaller-mouthed fish to strike something that isn't real.  Many times I see fish come up and look and decide my offering is NOT FOOD.  Frustrating.  Equally frustrating is when a fish finally DOES hit, and somehow manages to not get hooked on the tiny hook.  You only get so many shots!

@Johnsfolly and @Ham were consulted again to help me I.D. some of  the fish.  

The Bluntnose Minnow was a new species on fly for me.

Bleeding Shiners:

Bluntnose Minnows:

Creek Chubs:

Northern Studfish:

Striped Shiners:

[Ham]

Good Job! Bluntnose are not easy. Their population numbers don’t seem to be as high as a lot of the minnows

[Johnsfolly]

On 3/11/2024 at 11:25 AM, Ham said:

Their population numbers don’t seem to be as high as a lot of the minnows

They certainly are less frequent where there are a lot of bleeding shiners or common/striped shiners. Maybe they get squeezed out. They are super abundant out this way.

Nice Micros Dave! If it's any consulation, they often spurn worm offerings as well 😉. The hook and drop off is a common occurence that is supper frustrating when you only see one or two of the target species and you know that that same fish won't bite the bait again 😠

 

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

For anyone interested.   I seen a post on Facebook where someone used a tennis racket to make a fishing net.  It looked great.   I also have had many times the micros fell back into the water while fumbling with them.   I am working to create a net for micros with a badminton racket.   I do have a homeade job that extends like an old car antenna.   Haven't put it to trials yet.