Intrusive Thoughts : Can a leopard change its spots?

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, FishnDave said:

@Ham Yes, and me too!  I did later catch one in the Meramec River near StL, after Ham broke the secret code to catching them in AR.

I wish that we had mooneye and goldeye near us. The Ohio river and tribs may have them.

[Ham]

74) Common Roach

75) European Perch

76) Northern Pike

all caught in the Grand Canal west of Dublin. Trip report in European Waters forum

77) Brook Silversides 

I am dialed on these little guys. A small fly pulled across the surface will get attacked. Eventually, one chokes it down. Like a 18 or smaller. 

[Ham]

78) Bigeye Shiner

aggressive little guys that are usually in fairly large groups. I often catch them a little bigger, but this is the guy I caught first.

it used to be Notropis boops, but I think they changed the genus name. You’ll always be Notropis to me

 

[Ham]

79) Neosho BassI got a Neosho Bass from Illinois Bayou today. I’d been wanting to fish there and today after the Arkansas River disappointed me, I went there to fish. Well, it was underwhelming and I doubt I will go back, but I did get a Neosho Bass. I had to hook three to land one, but it was a FUN eat. 

[Ham]

80) Skipjack

I had been champing at the bit for quite a while waiting on the water level at Batesville to get right or at least right to me. I jumped the gun and went when it was way too high. I won’t do that again.

FINALLY, the water level was right for me. I took off that way this morning after walking the dogs. When I was about to take off from the ramp, a boat came in two “older” guys in a boat came up. I asked them if they caught them all. They said no. They had caught some early, but they shut down an hour ago. Bummer. I asked if they had caught skipjack. That’s what they were fishing for. I asked about White Bass and Grass Carp. No yo both of those.

Undeterred, I headed up to the ramp. First cast, a skipjack flashed my fly’s repeatedly. “Shut down”? It only took a few minutes and I had my first skipjack in the boat. I was hoping for a 30 fish day so I stuck with it a little while. I went looking for other stuff once I got to 10 skipjack caught. Lots of them flashed in the flys repeatedly without ever taking them. I had a double on for a little bit, but only landed one of them. 
 

[Ham]

81) Grass Carp

such a fun fish on fly! In city ponds, they are such PIA, but in rivers where they are wild, they are greedy eaters. You still have to be careful not to spook them. They will react to a fly line going over their head. It seems like a fly landing heavy gives them a direction to go look for the food. I got three yesterday. All more than 30 inches. Pretty tough customers. It takes a while to wear them down.

 

[FishnDave]

Great job, @Ham !

[Ham]

82) Telescope Shiner

I made a drive to a wildlife area to get a Telescope Shiner for the annual species total. I tied some flys for the trip this morning and I got my Telescope Shiner on the first cast!!! Then I caught a lot of Bleeding Shiners. I did get a few more Telescopes though. 

[Ham]

83) Steelcolor Shiner

I made a roadtrip looking for a few micro species. I had two I was counting on catching and two that I was hoping for. 
I have a very reliable spot for Steelcolor Shiners. I was hoping that I could catch one in a few minutes, but it took close to an hour. 😳

oh well, at least it was a Big Pretty one 

(I caught several more smaller washed out ones at the next spot). 

[Ham]

84) Wedgespot Shiner

 I have a couple other spots where I can confidently fish for Wedgespot Shiners. This spot is normally a place where I see Ozark Logperch. So, I set out “counting” on catching Steelcolor Shiners and Wedgespot Shiners relatively quickly , and then having time to look around for Ozark Logperch.

well, while we have been dry lately, apparently that area has not been. They had a flood event recently and water levels looked springtime high not Indian Summer low. 
So, I did my thing. I caught numerous Bigeye Shiners, Longear Sunfish, Cardinal Shiners, and Steelcolor Shiners. I saw numerous Brook Silversides.

I never saw a single Ozark Logperch. I nibbled the edges and finally found an area I could safely cross the river. A wading staff would have helped. 
I fished until I figured out where these guys were holding. I caught one where the Chevron was blurry and then I got a nice clean one. 
I spent my remaining time looking for Ozark Logperch, larger Neosho Bass, and a mystery micro that we’re pretty numerous last time I was there. 
the flood event really changed the place. It was slow going getting where I wanted to be and water levels were too high for my mystery micro spot.

I missed one larger Neosho. I made my way back through the post flood debris and did the sketchy wade back to the car and didn’t get stuck getting back to the highway.
I got what I needed, but I was left wanting a little more.