May 26
Two friends of mine, Dave and Mike, had never caught a Longnose Gar. So we planned a day to give it a shot. Our original date was last weekend. However, heavy rainfall just before the weekend blew out the river. So we delayed the trip until this Sunday.
Here are some pictures of our wonderful gars.
By mid-afternoon, each of us had landed at least 5 gars. All of us had a couple of gar came off the hook right by shore just as we were netting it.
May 30
A few days ago, my friend Richard mentioned that there were small fish swarming all around his boat. I suspected that they were Alewife, and got a confirmation when Richard sent me a photo of a dead fish floating on the surface.
We tried for them on Monday after work but they ignored small chunks of nightcrawler or small segments of garden worm. They would circle our jigged bait...but they would not hit.
We tried it again today, and with a tip from the locals (ie. other boaters in the marina), we finally figured out what they wanted.
Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) - Species #389!
No, they were not snagged. I don't count snagged fish on my lifelist...nor do I think snagged fish is fair.
Jun 1
While trying to figure out how to catch Alewife the other day, I saw some Stickleback in the shallows. My guess was that these are Three-spined Stickleback. The Stickleback wouldn't take the flake of worm, but they attacked the swivels and splitshot with gusto. I thought that a dark coloured fly might get the Stickleback to bite firmly, so this was the result.
Smallest fly I've ever tied.
Even though it was a simple nymph pattern, it took me over 10 minutes to tie. Since the hook wire is so thin, I cannot put too much pressure on the wrap in fear of bending or even breaking off the hook point.
Before trying for the Three-spined Stickleback, I went to a little pond where Michael found Northern Redbelly Dace. I had not catch a Northern Redbelly Dace, but Michael reassured me that it was not hard. There were schools after schools of Northern Redbelly Dace and it took all of 30 seconds to catch one.
Northern Redbelly Dace (Chrosomus eos) - Species #390
Well, the fly worked for these guys. How about Stickleback?
So I went to a little spot where I knew Brook Stickleback existed. I could see some Brook Stickleback on nests and females were visiting the nest on occasion. They were not really in the mood to bite, perhaps too busy spawning. However, I did get a couple to finally take the hook.
So the fly worked for Brook Stickleback. It should work for Three-spined Stickleback too, right?
WRONG!
The Three-spined Stickleback continued to hit the swivel and split shots. Only on two occasions did the Sticklebacks sucked and spat the fly so fast that I didn't even have time to set the hook. I tried to tip the fly with a flake of worm but that did not induce more hits or a longer hold.
Well, back to the drawing board...the battle continues...
We spent the rest of the evening fishing for Alewife again, Richard, Michael and I. Michael got his lifer Alewife in no time and we kept some Alewife for future salmon bait. It was a fun filled afternoon of quickie fishing.
Jun 14 (weekend)
10 hours on the road, $200 spent over the weekend, 3 days, 30 hours fishing, a million of perch later...I got 9 species plus two ambiguous would be lifers...
You can read about it here...
http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca ... nting.html
Here are the two ambiguous lifers...
1) A Redhorse with the body of a Shorthead Redhorse and the lips of a River Redhorse...
2) Golden Shiner body and fins but with fully scaled keel...I doubt the Rideau is full of Golden Shiner x Rudd hybrids...really don't know how to call these fish...
Sigh...the hunt for a River Redhorse continues...4 years and counting...
Here are the other non-lifer catches...
Yellow Perch
Channel Catfish
Emerald Shiner
Silver Redhorse
Sauger
Mooneye
Freshwater Drum
Pumpkinseed
Bluegill Sunfish
Jun 22
Here's the story...
http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca ... tions.html
Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) - Species #391!
And a bonus Grass Pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus)
Birthday boy got his lifer Rudd and Grass Pickerel too!
What the??? Steelhead on June 21st??? YES!!!
Birthday boy with his Steelhead of his own...
Freaking eh!!!
Jun 29
Full stories here.
http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca ... ifers.html
It was my birthday. I don't like to throw parties on my birthday...but instead rather spend a large part of it by myself fishing.
I set out to hunt down two species - the locally endangered Redside Dace and the common but elusive Longnose Dace.
Probably owing to everyone's birthday wishes, I found both!
Redside Dace (Clinostomus elongatus) - Species #392
Longnose Dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) - Species #393
Also caught this very stunning male spawning Blacknose Dace
Flipped some rocks to find crayfish
No better place to spend my day than this...
