Moved to St Louis, MO

[FishnDave]

We've moved to St. Louis, Missouri! What a busy week, and still TONS of stuff to unbox and get organized at our much smaller place.

I got out fly fishing Saturday morning. Had to drive 30 minutes, but found a lake that is posted "C&R Only" and "No Live Bait or Scented Baits/Lures". Perfect for me. There was one other angler when I got there, and he eventually left, so then I had the whole lake to myself. At a popular recreation area. Near St. Louis. On a Saturday. What??? :headbang:

First fish...a Redear Sunfish!


Later, another...with orange eyes?:


Caught some bluegills, didn't take any pictures of them. Caught some suspected Redear/Bluegill hybrids:






I caught 3-4 bass (two on a popper). None were very big, this wasn't the biggest, but it was really dark colored:


I caught quite a few Green Sunfish. Really good-looking fish, even the smaller ones. Some were pretty good sized, I measured one that was a good 8".






The water was reasonably clear. I was able to spot some Redears. The spawn was over quite a while ago....these were just going about their normal business of feeding, so I could watch their behaviors. It was pretty interesting. I could also watch them react to my flies/jigs. They'd feed anywhere from the bottom to the surface. They are very finicky...they'd look at nearly everything I'd try, but then refuse it.

[mcfish]

Congrats on your move. Please continue your prolific writing; I especially depend on it since March. Hope you find many new waters with receptive fish.

[Prairieschooner]

Great stuff Dave, and I'm jealous. With temps near 100 and humidity almost that high I haven't been out .

[Rick Z]

Glad you found a nice piece of water.

Rick

[Uncle Jesse]

Congratulations on the move toward warmer weather. Those are some nice fish, in the past I have found coloration on shellcrackers to vary quite a bit, I used to fish one lake where their belly would be completely black.

[oldster]

Looks like a nice day Dave. Doesn't look as if they were too picky. Were you fishing from the bank or a boat ? Nice pics Thanks for posting.

[iaflyfisher]

Great pictures David. Glad to see you haven't lost your knack and neither has the Wunder jig!

[FishnDave]

Thanks fellas!

Dale, I owe my microjig/indicator skills ALL to you!

Oldster, I was fishing from shore.

Uncle Jesse, yes, I'm noticing that as well. I visited another small urban lake a few days later. Caught bluegills, a bass, a green sunfish, and another Redear. This Redear had some more typical/darker coloration. Pretty fish!

And the Green Sunfish:

[rwar1423]

Congrats on the move. Were the redears shallow?

[billhouk]

Gar 2.jpg
Caught this last year in a retention pond in St Charles, a suburb of St Louis. Never know what you will find in Missouri That's an 11 inch Tenkara handle...