Some Like it Cold

Most Esox could care less when it starts getting cold. Pike, pickerel, and muskellunge are more tolerant and aggressive in water under 50 degrees than most other predators in the same water bodies. Their maintained vigor in cold water occasionally takes me by surprise despite having caught them with aggressive presentations just about every month of the year. One such day in the dead of winter, a few warm days had melted the edges of the pickerel pond I was fishing, leaving two to five feet of open water before the ice started. I caught fish casting streamers onto the ice and dragging them off the edge. Most fish ate the fly as you'd expect, while it was actually in the water. But a few blasted right through the soft edge ice trying to get the fly before it even had a chance to get into the water. That was pretty cool. The water was just a tiny bit over 32 degrees and these fish were occasionally busting through ice to get at the fly. So, when many other stillwater fish are thumbing their noses at fast retrieves and big flies this time of year, I look to my old friends, the Esox niger, to get my violent predatory behavior fix.

I've had some frustrating and some typical and productive pickerel days lately. The frustrating days were due to lack of action though. Exploring a body of water I haven't fished much at all, I found plenty of willing fish but just didn't have the right tools to get the job done. I'm fairly confident that most of the fish I was getting reactions from were actually redfin pickerel, and though they were large for the species they were small for the flies I had on me, at least all the ones fishing the top three inches of the water column. I had plenty of small flies on me but none that would ride high in the water column at an appropriate retrieve speed. A small gurgler would likely have brought a bunch of fish to hand. Now I know. 

On other days in different waters, it was as easy as it should be. Drunk and Disorderly fished quickly on a floating line, lots of violent very visual eats, a few fish to hand. 

I may well and up going back out in an hour after some larger pickerel before the storm really gets going here. With some much cooler weather inbound, I'm hoping fishable ice comes with it. A decent amount of snow in the northwest corner of the state, which is where the first good ice is pretty much always is, makes things questionable. Time will tell but I can't wait to be walking on the water and jigging for panfish.

Until next time.

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, john, Elizabeth, Chris, Brandon, and Christopher, for supporting this blog on Patreon.

A Redfin Pickerel Mission (from back in July)

This is very late because it is. 

Rather, this is very late because I intended to but didn't fit it into the lineup with all the Maine, New Hampshire, and  other summer stuff that I prioritized, but have decided to write it now for the sake of diversity. Most of what I've done fishing wise in the last week is brook trout and striped bass. I like to use this blog to promote the awareness of less popular species, and since brook trout and striped bass are not remotely unpopular, I'll throw back to a mission to get a redfin pickerel before getting back to that stuff.

Redfin pickerel is the one species of fish I actually frequently get asked for help over. Before I was even really as up-front with my life listing endeavors I got the occasional email inquiry regarding the species (more accurately the subspecies, American pickerel is the higher classification.) I offer up what little I actually know whaen asked though I do consistently catch the species they often throw me for a loop. They are hyper aware of human presence. Though they may not appear to spook if you can see them they can see you and they probably aren't going to eat. They're supposed to be fully diurnal and yet I've now caught more than one while night fishing for trout. Their frequent preference of water just inches deep doesn't help either. Redfin pickerel are one nutty, charismatic little fish. So I do hat I can when someone asks but it's easier to show than to just tell. So when fellow lifelister Brad Rasmussen (Fish Finding) told me he was planning a trip to Southern New England and wanted to target redfin pickerel, I was quick to offer to show him the ropes on one of my local waters. I enjoy sharing this goofy little species with others. That was sometime in February I think. 

Fast forward to this July and I was meeting my new friends Brad and his girlfriend Alex near a redfin stream after they'd driven down from Quebec. Though this wasn't the only fish they'd be after on the trip, I really didn't want it to be an "everything but" outing, which it often can be here. 

It seems everything from white perch to brown bullheads can find your presentation before a redfin does in these waters, and that was almost what happened this time. It's also typically the case that if you are after any lifer, even an easy one, the first one comes harder then it ever should. Alex had never caught a redbreast sunfish, and the first hole we fished is typically just brimming with them. Of course she caught like a dozen bluegills instead. I rarely catch bluegills there. Neither Brad nor I got a redbreast out of that hole either. I hooked a snapping turtle, then a brown bullhead which I was happy with. Alex did end up getting a lifer out of that hole, but it was a largemouth bass of all things.

Brown bullhead, Ameiurus nebulosus

 Downstream we went in search of the primary target. And find them we did, though we went through all the trials and tribulations of redfin fishing. Spooked fish, fish in water to shallow effectively fish to at a distance, even one hooked and  quickly lost. But eventually we found one that was willing, one that slammed Brad's tiny jig repeatedly, got hooked, stayed hooked, then didn't escape after the hook was out. Mission success.

Esox americanus americanus

Not long after, Alex got her lifer redbreast sunfish as well.

Lepomis auritus

So I was probably as relieved if not more so than Brad. I would have been really bummed out if I hadn't gotten them on a redfin! I'd also recommended a few saltwater spots that could produce a number of other lifers, and they ended up finding something in one of them I never had. Check out Brad's post about the trip here.

Until next time.

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, john, Elizabeth, Chris, Brandon, and Christopher, for supporting this blog on Patreon.

All American Fish on 4th of July Eve

I took a quick break from writing yesterday's post to go catch something. And get devoured by mosquitoes. The place, a small warm water stream. The tackle, a 6'6" 3wt fly rod. The fly, a simple featherwing streamer. The fish, very hungry.

Lepomis auritus

Semotilus corporalis

To make the trip fitting of the date though I had to catch some fish that are distinctly American. That was my mission. And it was a success. These two fish are both not only American by range but American by name. Of course, ideally I would have liked to have been in Florida and caught an Amnerican flagfish to celebrate Independence Day, but these two are fittingly gritty, tough, and sometimes way too good at populating a places.

Redfin pickerel, Esox americanus americanus

White perch, Morone americana

I hope you all had a fun and safe 4th of July. And please do take time to be thankful for one of the things that truly does make America exceptional: our vast areas of protected public lands.

If you enjoy what I'm doing here, please share and comment. It is increasingly difficult to maintain this blog under dwindling readership. What best keeps me going so is knowing that I am engaging people and getting them interested in different aspects of fly fishing, the natural world, and art. Follow, like on Facebook, share wherever, comment wherever. Also, consider supporting me on Patreon (link at the top of the bar to the right of your screen, on web version). Every little bit is appreciated! Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, john, and Christopher, for supporting this blog.

Natives Close to Home

I've spent some time on small bodies of water close to home within the last few days, and I've caught some beautiful native fish.

Redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus) range from Central Florida north along the East Coast just into Canada.  They tend to like rocky or sandy streams and lakes, and will inhabit small ponds with connections to streams as well. Males and females show very different morphology during spawning time, and it takes only a quick glance to discern between the two. Dapping a foam beetle in the margins of a mill pond the other night, I caught great examples of both.

Male redbreast sunfish 

Female redbreast sunfish

Pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus) range from the Eastern Georgia border to Northern Maine on the east coast, west through the Great Lakes to the far Eastern Dakotas, and back south into parts of Iowa, extreme Northeast Missouri, and Illinois. They occupy both a broader range than redbreast and as broader variety of habitats, from freestone streams to near blackwater swamps. Redbreast and pumpkinseeds can hybridize, though I still haven't found one in my years of sunfish hunting, despite having seen redbreast paired with pumpkineeds in the very spot I caught this beautiful specimen:

Colors that would make a brook trout jealous.

Redfin pickerel (Esox americanus americanus), a subspecies of American pickerel, ranges from the Lake Champlain watershed and extreme Southern Maine south to Central Florida, from the spine of the Appalachians to the coast, then around the southern tip of that range into Alabama and Mississippi. Redfin pickerel thrive in shallow, weedy water. Blackwater swamps and slow, meandering streams are their favorite habitats, though they can also survive in freestone streams within small pockets of shallower weedy water, which is where I found my favorite fish of the hundred or so I caught in the last three days, an absolute stud of a redfin pickerel.

Everyone, no matter where they live, has some kind of wild, native fish species not that far from home. Don't forget about them.

If you enjoy what I'm doing here, please share and comment. It is increasingly difficult to maintain this blog under dwindling readership. What best keeps me going so is knowing that I am engaging people and getting them interested in different aspects of fly fishing, the natural world, and art. Follow, like on Facebook, share wherever, comment wherever. Also, consider supporting me on Patreon (link at the top of the bar to the right of your screen, on web version). Every little bit is appreciated! Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, john, and Christopher, for supporting this blog.