Birthday Lifers!

Some people like to throw a big party for their birthdays. Personally, I like to spend at least a large part of my birthday in solitude. I often like to reflect on the past year and look forward to the new year. There is no better way to reflect than to spend some time on the water and enjoy the outdoors.

Today, I have a goal in mind. I had been trying to catch the very common but still elusive Longnose Dace. Even in streams where they can be found, they often only occur sparsely, often outnumbered by other minnow species. In this stream, I would have to sort through many Creek Chubs.

Using #22 dry fly hooks, 2lb tippet and a small flake of nightcrawler, I started to sort through all the Creek Chubs.

After a dozen Creek Chubs and a Blacknose Dace, I tangled my hook and line on a branch and snapped off. It took a little time to retie, and as I readied my gear again, I glanced at the pool downstream. It certainly looked interesting. Baited with a fresh chunk of crawler, I stealthy crept over to the pool and saw a long but thin minnow darting just under the surface. The head appeared pointier than the Creek Chub. I gingerly lowered the bait about 6" from this little minnow and it swam over and engulfed the bait.

It's a bit hard to see a wriggling little fish. Regardless of Creek Chubs or other minnows, I try to be careful landing them and made sure to check every one of them. To my delight, I saw a larger mouth and a very pointed head. Yes! It is a Redside Dace!

Redside Dace (Clinostomus elongatus) - Species #392!

It is quite surprising to find Redside Dace in this little urban stream, since this species requires very good water quality and ample riparian zone. There are many small but deep pools and much of the creek was well shaded. The water felt cold and ran clear. I hope this stream could maintain its "pristine" state for years to come.

Looking more carefully, I started to be able to distinguish Redside Dace vs. other minnows. There were a few juvenile Redside Dace sitting in faster water at the head of the pool, snapping up morsels drifting by. My #22 was too big for these juveniles. It was good to see the small school of them.

Still searching for my Longnose Dace target, I decided to explore an upper stretch of a steelhead stream. Part of my curiosity was to find new pools for steelheading, and the other part was to search for a Longnose Dace. Last year, I saw a Longnose Dace while steelheading. By the time I readied my tanago rod, the little fish had swam away and I wasn't able to locate it again. Since they exist in this stream, I wanted to explore new areas that may hold more of them.

It was already 1pm when I arrived. The sun was high and it was perfect for spotting fish. There were many small "dace" in the head of the riffle. The way these juveniles were feeding, they appeared to be Longnose Dace. However, even my tanago hook was too small to catch them. I did see a couple of larger dace flirting in and out of the water water. I switched out the tanago hook for the #22 dry fly hook. Since the current was quite swift, I added on a larger splitshot. Placing my bait strategically in a sandy spot behind the eddy of a larger rock, the bait was able to sit on bottom without twirling. Soon, a couple of the larger dace came out of the fast riffle to inspect the bait. I could feel little bites on the rod tip. When I saw the splitshot move, I lifted the rod and hooked one! The fish didn't have the red stripe of a male Blacknose Dace or the black stripe of the female Blacknose Dace. Instead, it had more of a mottled pattern with some scattered spots. Even from far away, I knew what I had caught...the Longnose Dace!

Longnose Dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) - Species #393!

I tried to catch the other dace that was in the head of the riffle, but it didn't come out of the fast water again. Looking downstream, I could see a very brilliant spawning male Blacknose Dace. I just had to catch it.

Looking still further downstream, there was a small deep run. Placing my bait on bottom just outside of the fast water, I felt some furious taps and caught another Longnose Dace! This fish appeared to have sustained an attack by a larger fish, a crayfish or maybe even a bird. It had lost a lot of scales on its tail.

Another try...and another Longnose Dace! I think I finally have them figured out!

Richard and I had arranged to fish at his marina in the afternoon. We need to find some bait for bass fishing. On the way back toward the car, I started to flip some rocks to look for some crayfish. Found them!

After catching a few crayfish, I saw a little darter under a rock. This little darter bit 4 times...and it had the #22 hook well in its mouth all 4 times, but I can't for the life of me keep the fish hooked! It looked a somewhat like an Iowa Darter. It would have been a lifer! :( Well...at least I know where to find them next time.

Such a beautiful stream. Perfect place to celebrate my birthday.

I arrived at Richard's boat by 4pm. He had bought some minnows. With worms, minnows and crayfish, we're sure to catch some bass, right?

Before we started bass fishing, I tried to catch Three-spined Stickleback again. We had the not-so-brilliant to use bloodworms as bait since chironomid is a such a common item on the diet of many small fish. But even the very thin wire of the tanago hook was extremely difficult to hook a bloodworm. The little stickleback didn't like the bloodworms though...even when I expended so much effort to put that bait on the hook. One stickleback was very aggressive and willing to bite. In fact, it had bit my hook 3 times but I just couldn't set the tanago hook. Urgh!

Well, as it turned out, the bass didn't get the memo of their free feast. All we could muster up were a few perch. This one was about 9" and it was the first fish...and also the biggest fish.

Bass fishing was a dud. We tried all three live bait, and even tried some lures at dusk. We saw one little 7" bass and a 12" pike...both refusing our very lively minnow.

We were going to try the marina mouth a bit, but an approaching thunderstorm chased us off the water. We got back just in time to unload and put the cover on Richard's boat.

We finished the evening eating at the clubhouse and Richard treated me to some fish and chips. Thanks Richard!

It was a perfect way to spend my birthday :) Hopefully next year I can spend my birthday with my grandma in Hawaii :)

When you have low expectations...

Since last weekend's encounter with those troubling Golden Shiners with questionable ID's, I've been searching all week for potential Rudd spots closer to home. After sorting through various sampling reports from Canadian as well as US sources, then browsing through many fishing forums to determine the best timing for Rudd fishing, it appeared that I've already missed prime time for Rudd.

I came across a great spot for spring time Rudd on the US side. These US Rudd comes in to spawn when the water is around 40F, just before the Yellow Perch starts to spawn. We're well past spring and the water is around 70F, so I figured I would just do some recon to see if there are any potential areas on the Canadian side that has similar characteristics. I'm really just looking for spawning areas that fulfills certain criteria. With a number of GPS coordinates written down on a sticky note, it was time to laid down some footwork.

We started very early today. The weather forecast called for mainly sunny skies, but it was mainly NOT sunny skies in the early morning. We even had a few rain sprinkled on the drive. We were not entirely confident that our quest would be fruitful. In fact, confidence and expectation was at an all time low.

By 8am, we arrived at the first of six location. The first location was quite disappointing since it was very shallow with heavy current. There were a number of little "shiners" which we tried for a bit, but they simply wanted to chase but did not commmit.

The second location was a bit deeper but a bit murky. We didn't see any Rudd and moved on.

The third location was much deeper and much clearer, although there were little weed growth. We could see bass on beds and bass hunting shiners. However, there were no Rudd to be seen.

As we arrived at our fourth location, Michael went ahead to scout while I went back to the car to grab the wallet I had left sitting in plain sight. Just then, I heard "Ken, GET YOUR ROD!" Woah! That's a good sign!

I ran as fast as I could trying to contain myself. Just as I arrived, I saw a school of Rudd swam upstream away from us. Darn! I thought. Michael offered me the first crack at them since I did most of the ground work toward this expedition. He was keeping an eye on them as I put on a chunk of worm. The school of Rudd had continued upstream way past casting range, but there was a pair of Rudd hanging around just downstream. I got into casting position and delivered a surgically accurate cast just ahead of the pair's path. As the chunk of worm slowly sank, the smaller of the two Rudd turned toward the bait and I saw the mouth flashed open. I waited untit the float sank...FISH ON! It was that easy!

Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) - Species #391!

There is absolute, positively, ZERO ambiguity with this fish. You can't get more Rudd than this.

This fish was a male that was milting. It was following a rather large fish that we assume was the female. In fact, the small school of Rudd appeared to be several mature males following the female. So I guess we found the right spawning ground. I'm not sure if these were just late spawners, or perhaps the spawn lasts longer than I've gathered from reports. But in any case, this was a very good start. I would like to come back next spring to see if we can pattern the spawning time.

Now it was Michael's turn...

Well, it appeared that our prancing and dancing and general giddiness might have scared the Rudd away. OK, actually we gave each other a couple of manly high-fives and fist pumps...but we think the commotion of that struggling Rudd had alerted the rest of the school. Now the remaining pair of Rudd was completely uncooperative. After trying for a good half hour, the decision was made to explore the remaining two locations, and return here if necessary.

Location five was semi-clear but did not have much weed cover. Location six was wide, slow and muddy. Neither of them was ideal. And not surprisingly, we did not find any signs of Rudd.

So it was necessary to return to location four. It hit all the necessary criteria of a "ruddy" spot.

As the morning progressed, the sky started to clear. We had seen some fish "puddled" further upstream when we were last at this spot. Now that the sun shined into the water, we could see that it was a school of smaller Rudd that was "puddling". They appeared to be actively feeding on something on the surface, but they were a bit out of reach (for now).

Michael concentrated on a few roving Rudd that did not want anything to do with us. Over and over again we tried to refine our rig and presentation, but these Rudd were much too wary. Finally, as Michael retrieve his worm, one of the Rudd charged forward and chased. Hm...that was interesting...

I went to the car and grabbed my fly rod. Perhaps they would chase a fly on the surface? Despite some careful casting, there were simply too much shoreline foliage for the fly rod. It was really getting me nowhere at all. Michael decided to tie a dry fly on his float rig, and did a bit of bushwacking to reach the puddling school of smaller Rudd upstream.

Over and over again, Michael tossed the float-and-fly into the school. The splash of the float would scare the school. It would take them a little time to settle down but they wouldn't take the fly sitting on the surface. By random chance, Michael had cast the rig a little too and he was retrieving his float-and-fly back toward the school while the dry fly had sunk. He noticed a Rudd chased the sunk and moving fly.

So he repeated this action and had another chase. Finally, on the third time, a Rudd took the fly and Michael made no mistake! Oh, it was Michael's birthday today...and this was his birthday Rudd!

We've both caught our target. Technically, we were ready to go. However, we wanted to pattern these fish so we could guide our friend Eli in the future. We wouldn't want Eli to drive 6 hours to here from Ottawa only to catch a fish that we had no clue on how to target them. Since these fish liked to chase, we thought...maybe a small spinner would get them hitting more often?

I tried a #1 spinner and had them chased on every decent cast, but either the hook were a bit too big, or the action was just a bit off. They would chase but would not commit. So we though maybe we could tie a trailer nymph behind the treble to give the Rudd a target to hit. Over and over, the Rudd would follow but not hit the nymph...except for one Rudd that finally smashed the nymph and I had the fish on for a couple of seconds until it jumped off. Yes, the Rudd was jumping!

We know we can catch some more if we simply put in the time to cast over and over again at the fish, but by now it was well after 12pm. Since we both accomplished the Rudd, I figure Michael should try for his Grass Pickerel since we were fairly nearby. Before we left, I took this picture. Can you see all the red fins in the water? This was just a fraction of the school. There must have been close to 30 Rudd in this picture, and the school was larger than I had estimated. There were a couple of Rudd with beautiful orange body. It would be too cool if we can catch one of them.

A bit of a drive later, we arrived at the spot where I caught my Grass Pickerel a couple of years ago. The water was higher than last year and quite murky. In fact, it was quite a bit higher and much muddier than two years ago when I caught my Grass Pickerel. Something had changed...and I hope it doesn't affect this fragile population of Grass Pickerel. Still, we pounded the water quite a bit....I had a false alarm when this Black Bullhead stopped my lure dead in mid retrieve.

Since this spot was quite dead, we decided to move on. While pouring over the maps, I found an interesting little trail that lead to a section of the water that might not be so heavily used. It about about 1km hike...but it could very well be worth the trek into the unknown. Michael and I decided to give it a go, since we had basically very little confidence and expectation today.

We arrived at a wide spot that contained about a dozen carp. The water was deep but murky, possibly due to the presence of carp. We worked this area real well and I had something slashed at my lure, then another Black Bullhead thought it was a Grass Pickerel. But after a good 45min of searching, we were empty handed.

Just about 100 metres back from this spot, there was a little side trail that led to another section of this water. Michael and I decided to explore even further into the unknown. This area was well shaded, shallow, still and very snaggy, all the criteria of a great Grass Pickerel habitat. We spread out to cover water and quickly became acquainted with the snags. I was down to a couple of small trusty lures while Michael only had larger larger models with him. After fan casting the area for 30 minutes, I finally had a little Grass Pickerel followed the lure. Another 5 minutes later, I had probably ran the lure 10 times through this little spot, but this time, I felt a grab...and up came a little Grass Pickerel!

Although I described the fish as "little", this Grass Pickerel was about 8in; which is the average size in this body of water. These little Esox don't exceed 12in here, and this is individual would be approaching mature size. It had already lost its juvenile lateral light band, but if you look carefully, you could still make out a faint trace of it. It was a bit more evident in person. Also, note the fully scaled cheek and opercular, and the backward slanting bar (teardrop) under the eye. These are characteristic of Grass Pickerel. Northern Pike has fully scaled cheek but only the upper half of the opercular is scaled. The teardrop of a juvenile pike also either point straight down toward the corner of the jaw, or it slant slightly forward.

Grass Pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus)

Another 15 minutes later, I hooked into another Grass Pickerel that came off.

To my right was a virgin area where I had not fished yet. I waved Michael over so he can have a fresh crack at it. I handed him my rod with the trusty lure but that lure was quickly lost when one of the hungry snags ate it. We were down to only one trusty lure left and this was the last chance. While Michael worked the area, I took his rod and danced his little spoon around to see if it would attract any Grassie. On my 5th or 6th cast, I felt a little tug and missed, but then a little Grassie followed the lure all the way to shore, hitting 3 times in total but missed the hook each time. Michael was puzzled since I received most of the attention, but I affirmed that he simply needed to work each area methodically and thoroughly...and to keep faith. Not long later, Michael said "I got a follow!"...and another few casts later...

Michael got his birthday Grass Pickerel!

We were pretty satisfied by the result...and now I felt 500% more confident that Eli can catch his lifer Grass Pickerel the next time he tries for them. This spot is seriously Grassie!

Now it was about 5pm already...but we were not really done fishing yet. We figure we would try another spot on the way home for some multispecies fishing. We were hoping for some Redhorse species...but boy would we be completely surprised...

We arrived just after 6pm and started pounding the water. For a weekend, it was not as busy as I expected. The water was low but murky...and I really have little confidence when visibility was this poor. Still...we fished on.

An hour later, I felt a strong tap on the line...and after a little tussle, up came a Channel Catfish. Not really our target, but it's nice to get a rod bent.

Another 20 minutes later, I was just feeling the bait bounce along bottom when there was this double tap...then a bit of loss of tension...then again a few more determined taps. I raised the rod tip a little and felt the weight...BAM! This fish was fairly strong...and I thought maybe it was the right kind. However, it came to the surface and I saw a bit of silver. Hm...another Channel Catfish?

Nope! It was a freaking Steelhead in June freaking 21st!!! What?!?!

OK...that was random...and probably a fluke...but then another 20 minutes later...

Two is a theory...three is a pattern...well...

Houston, we have a pattern. In fact, we saw an 8lb Steelhead jumped just before we left at 9pm. I finished up the evening with one more Channel Catfish, and Michael had the lone Mooneye of the day.

For a day which we had very little expectation, everything sure exceeded all our expectations!

Ambiguous Lifer Hunting

I saw my first River Redhorse 4 years ago while fishing for Longnose Gar. At the time, I was not aware that River Redhorse spawned in that particular river. These huge red tailed Redhorse were there for the taking, but they caught me without any worms that day. Since then I had been going back every year to look for them but had not seen them since. However, Eli and I found a river close to him that has a population of River Redhorse.

For the past two years, I had visited Eli in Ottawa to fish for the River Redhorse (Moxostoma carinatum). The River Redhorse is one of the six species of Redhorse found in Ontario. Although it attains the largest size, with 10lb+ individuals not uncommon, it is the second rarest and only occurs in a handful of large rivers. This river was not only a major spawning site, but also the rearing habitat for young-of-year and juvenile River Redhorse. When Eli told me the Rivers had arrived to spawn, timing is of the essence to catch one of these rarities.

I had hoped to arrive in Ottawa early, but traffic threw me a curve ball. It took me an extra two hours to drive from Toronto to Oshawa from a sick combination of rush hour traffic, cottage traffic and road construction. I was surprised that there wasn't an accident throw in for good measure to mess me up.

Since I arrived at Eli's new address at 9pm, there was no daylight to fish. We decided to start early the next morning instead.

Jun 14, 2014

We woke up at 5:30am on Saturday and was fishing by 7am. Not long after, we caught the first of millions of small Yellow Perch that would plague our lines for the next two days. Many of them were so ravenous that they deep hooked themselves...and I bet the Northern Pike in this river thanks us for all the free floating dead perch.

Not long later, Eli had a good fish that materialized as a juvenile Lake Sturgeon! He has caught sturgeon here before, so this was not entirely a surprise.

For most of the day, we were "perched"...over and over again. There was no getting away from them...and they simply depleted our worms quickly.

Eli had to leave at around 12pm. He wished me luck on the River Reds. When I had a good hit and a heftier fish, I was really hoping Eli was right...but the fish ended up as a disappointing Channel Catfish. :(

When Eli returned at 1:30pm, he came with a tanago rod. We saw some shiners with what appeared to be orange head. We thought they might have been Rosyfaced Shiner. When we caught some, they were simply Emerald Shiners. Perhaps the reddish coloured water was reflecting off the shiny scales.

A couple of hours later, Eli caught a Shorthead Redhorse and a Silver Redhorse in rapid succession. Both fish fooled us thinking we had the right kind.

Eli had to leave again at 4:30pm and left me with some good vibes. Just as Eli was leaving, two guys and a girl arrived. They positioned themselves in a slack water spot. Within 5 minutes after they started fishing, the girl brought what appeared to be a big Redhorse to shore, only to lost the fish in the shallow water. I was too far away to see if it was a Silver Redhorse or a River Redhorse, but at least the Redhorse continued to bite.

About an hour later, I hooked into a better fish. When I saw the red tail, I was very excited...until I saw the head of the fish. At first, I called this fish a Shorthead Redhorse. Then I saw the lips and the lips looked like those belonging to a River Redhorse. This fish was only 15 inches long. It could either be a juvenile River Redhorse or an adult Shorthead Redhorse. Juvenile River Redhorse can be mistaken for Shorthead Redhorse. The head definitely looked like a Shorthead Redhorse, but the lips were confusing me. Can this be a hybrid? This was the first ambiguous catch of the weekend.

Half an hour later, I received a very subtle hit and set the hook into a strong fish. Could this be my River? No. :(

I love big Silver Redhorse...but I really wish this was a River Redhorse instead.

Just before 8pm, I thought I had caught yet another millionth Yellow Perch...until the fish came to hand and it was my third Sauger ever! My previous picture of a Sauger was very poor, with my hand covering most of the fish. This picture was perfect for the lifelist.

By 8:30pm, I had to wrap up the fishing before it got too dark to hike back. We finished Day 1 with some Redhorse and we were hopeful that Day 2 would bring the right kind.

Jun 15, 2014

Another early start and we were fishing by 8am. We were tormented by yet another million Yellow Perch, with the welcomed diversion of a couple of Bluegill Sunfish that I caught in some slack water. I was focused on the slack area today since Eli caught his two River Redhorse here last year, and others had caught River Redhorse here in the past. But the slack was also preferred by Yellow Perch. It took a lot of patience to weed through perch after perch after perch.

Just after 12pm, I had a bite that felt different and a fight that was definitely different since the fish tried to jump. It was a feisty Mooneye!

Not too long later, I had a strong fish in the slack. It felt a little like the right kind, but up came a Freshwater Drum.

Another cast and another Freshwater Drum fooled me...at least it wasn't a Yellow Perch.

Oh right...the Yellow Perch came back...and we were catching perch non-stop.

Aside from still fishing on bottom, Eli and I also tried to bottom bounce with slinky rig. Although this allowed us to search for fish, we didn't find any Redhorse. Eli went back to the sit-and-wait method at about 4pm. When he saw a giant River Redhorse surfaced, he placed the bait in the approximate area. Although this sight-then-cast method usually doesn't work with Redhorse fishing, he got a solid hit 5 minutes later and fought a strong fish. Just as we were about to get a look, the fish snapped off. Judging simply by the fight, it felt like the right kind.

A few more casts later, Eli hooked into another strong fish but it was a Silver Redhorse. It appeared that the Redhorse were holding is faster water today...and I had fished most of the day in the slack water. :(

Eli had to leave at 6:30pm for Father's Day dinner. I continued to fish in the fast current until dark, but I was fooled 4 times by Channel Catfish up to 3lbs and a couple more Mooneye.

Although the fishing was fun and the company was excellent, I felt completely unaccomplished after fishing this river for 24 hours in total and coming up with only an ambiguous "red tailed" Redhorse. Three years after seeing my first River Redhorse, I remained a River Redhorse virgin...

Jun 16, 2014

Earlier in the spring, Eli caught some fish that we couldn't confirm by picture whether they were Golden Shiner or Rudd. From Eli's picture, the fish appeared to have fully scaled keel between the pelvic fins and the anal fin. Such feature would suggest these fish were Rudd, but the fins were not red in colour. Eli suggested that I should catch some and check them out in person on my way home.

It took a while to find the school. While looking for them, the water was filled with these. If you fish for carp, you know how attractive these looked. These carp were lucky I didn't have any suitable bait with me...

While probing the area fly fishing with nymphs, I caught some handsome Pumpkinseed and Bluegill Sunfish.

I also came across this Snapping Turtle munching on a Brown Bullhead.

Finally, I found the school...all the way close to the mouth of the creek where it joined the Rideau Canal. I caught 5 of them and all of them looked like Golden Shiners but they all had fully scaled keel. Could these be hybrid Golden Shiner x Rudd? Hybrids are known to occur, but it is hard to believe that all the fish were hybrids, especially since Eli and I caught these fish on separate days and it was unlikely we were fishing the same school of fish.

I was about to keep one fish to send to a fishery expert, but the fish's googly eyes convinced me to release it. Little did the fish know that a 2lb Largemouth Bass was waiting hidden in ambush at my feet and the only sign of the poor little fish was a cloud of slowly sinking scales.

The Rudd would have been another lifer for me, but these fish were too ambiguous to call Rudds.

I made a second stop on the way home to search for Greater Redhorse, but it appeared the spawning run was long over and the fish had left the creek.

There was one last spot I like to explore in Kingston for Brook Silverside where Eli had caught them easily in the past. However, it was raining steady and heavily when I arrived in Kingston. After waiting 30min in the car for the sky to clear, I gave up waiting when the rain intensified.

I caught a total of 11 species on this weekend. Most were fun except for the annoying tiny Yellow Perch. The River Redhorse had yet again eluded me. I take comfort that the more effort went into catching a lifer, the sweeter it'll feel when I eventually catch it.

Thanks to Eli and Alisha for hosting me all weekend! Hope to do it again in the future...and one of these days I'll get that River Redhrose!

Smallest fly - no target but managed a lifer

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. The pond was in such beautiful setting.

I had not catch a Northern Redbelly Dace before, 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!

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.