Drove an hour and visited a place I had not been to before. Always exciting to learn a new place! It was Mississippi River floodplain lowland swamp type of place. A fisheries biologist told me Pirate Perch and Grass Pickerel had been sampled here, along with Spotted Gar, Bowfin, and other stuff I enjoy catching. So… off I went.Driving in, there was abundant wildlife. I saw deer, a raccoon, turtles, snakes, a lizard (I think…super rare in this area!), Redheaded Woodpeckers, Indigo Buntings, Goldfinches, Cardinals, herons, buzzards… really fun to see!I stopped at a number of spots. Some were too shallow, or weed choked, or otherwise unfishable. Others were interesting. Most had tiny minnows (Western Mosquitofish / gambusia). Some had bigger fish!I did not manage to catch Pirate Perch (which apparently feed at night and hide in deep cover during the day), nor Grass Pickerel.I DID catch Eyetail Bowfin, some gar (possibly spotted x shortnose hybrids?), Warmouth, Green Sunfish, some very feisty Largemouth Bass, Bluegills, and Black Crappies.One of the Warmouth I caught was absolutely GORGEOUS! One of the prettiest ones I’ve caught, for sure. And after fishing other spots, I returned to the spot later in the day and caught another Warmouth… that turned out to be the same one from 6 hours earlier! No, the water wasn’t clear enough to see the fish, so it was pretty random, I felt. Very cool, though!Here’s that Warmouth:
And some of the other fish:
This Bowfin measured 25"…not my biggest ever, but maybe the 2nd biggest:
Some of the bigger bass:
All the gar were nice ones. I only measured one, and it was 29.5"
Nice going Dave. That Warmouth is very cool looking and the Gar looked healthy. Dennis
Dave,Such a wonderful selection of fish, must be a blast fishing when you have no idea what type you are going to catch.Larry —sagefisher—
Absolutely! Fishy surprises are some of my FAVORITE surprises!When I caught the bigger Bowfin, I was using a very small microjig, as I was hoping for Orangespotted Sunfish, or small Warmouth at that time. I was working shallower water near shore when the bowfin hit. It’s sometimes mystifying why a large bowfin would bother to strike such a small fly. They have big mouths! I suppose that’s true of trout as well. Equally mystifying is how that tiny little hook managed to hold a big freaked out bowfin! They fight hard and even jump! When I got the fish in the net, the hook fell out, and was partially straightened!