Well, that trip didn't yield any pickerel or golden shiners. My friend and I just caught lots and lots of pumpkinseed sunfish, bluegill sunfish and green sunfish, plus the odd largemouth bass and a couple of black bullheads.
Ever since that trip, I had poured over the maps and biological samplings some more. There was one other stream in the area that were just teeming with pickerel! The ratio was basically 1 pickerel to 7 any other fish species! That is the absolute best chance for me to find some pickerel.
I woke up today at 6am and got on the road. About 1.5h later, I arrived at spot #1. It was a piece of slow water with some cabbage weeds on one side, and some shore grasses on the other side. At first, I started with a float and nightcrawler following Kazu's previous success in a nearby stream. However, there was no bites after 30min, so a new game plan is needed.
I didn't have too many lures with me since I was exploring and traveling light. I did remember I do have some inline spinners, so I put one on to see if I can get some aggression strike. There were some minnows swimming around and on the surface, so the spinner should be great to trigger a predatory strike. A made a few casts near the cabbage weeds and didn't get a strike. However, when one of the cabbage strands fouled my hook, I tried to shake it off...and BAM! I saw a good size pickerel came up to grab my spinner, but somehow, I missed it.
Well, at least they are reacting to the spinner. I made a few casts close to the shore grasses. About 6 casts in, I felt a little tug...FISH ON! I had no idea what it was since the water was pretty stained and a little murky. When I finally see some colour, it was a long shape...could it be? YES! IT IS!!!
That would be my first Grass Pickerel (Esox americanus vermiculatus), a subspecies related to the Redfin Pickerel (Esox americanus americanus), a small relative of the pike, muskie and chain pickerel. That would make my species #214!
This pickerel was about 7" long, which I read is fairly average for the fish in this stream. This fish was attacked by something in the recent past. It was missing a pectoral fin and you can see the slash on the side of the body. Maybe a snapping turtle near miss? Or maybe one of the larger pickerel tried to make a meal out of this one?
I know there were over 100 individuals sampled from this area, so I kept fishing to see if there are any more of them. I fished downstream for a bit but got nothing.
I went to fish upstream again to tempt the big one again. On the third cast, I got smashed by it at the exact same spot. Although I was expecting the hit, and did everything right, the fish was only hooked for a couple of seconds before the hook came out. Darn! That one has to be close to 12" long! (Big for Grass Pickerel standard in this stream)
Well, there are two other stream crossings in this area and I wanted to check them out. Spot #2 didn't yield anything at all...but instead, I lost a silver spinner to the logs. Spot #2 didn't have any visible baitfish in the area. I'm not surprised to see the lack of activity.
When I arrived at spot #3, I found a nice little backwater where a couple schools of fish were quickly spooked by my presence. What were they? I don't know...but we'll figure that out later
I looked upsteam. There was an overhanging willow tree on one side and some shore grass on the other side. The second cast into a little point of shore grass, my line started moving as soon as the spinner landed into the water. I just had enough time to flip the bail and start cranking to catch up line before the fish jumped and threw the lure. I never even had a chance to set the hook! It was another 12" pickerel. Sigh...losing all the big fish.
But that was only the second cast. This spot looked promising with all the baitfish nearby, right?
Nope...a big fat zero.
I decided to check out what those spooked schools of fish were that I had seen. I know there were some golden shiners in the area streams. I wanted to catch one since I never had a good picture of the one and only one I caught years ago while icefishing.
I took off the spinner and put on a Shy Bite float, a BB size split shot and a #20 hook. A tiny chunk of nightcrawler it would cover the hook. Reaching these fish proved tricky, as there was a short but steep, wet, slippery bank to traverse. At first, getting down was not hard...it was the getting up part that was tricky. I almost end up in the water, haha.
Anyways, I got down to the fish, and my movement there spooked them! However, since I had been watching them for a while, I knew they would promptly reappear in the same spot. I cast toward the fish and they were spooked by the splash of the rig. When they reappeared, they seemed to avoid my rig. Hm...
So I cast again and yet again, these fish ignored it. I let it sit there for a minute hoping the fish would settle down and get curious. Indeed, I finally had a bite...and...
It wasn't a Golden Shiner...but it was a Spottail Shiner (Notropis hudsonius)! Bonus species #215!
As good as a new species is, I really wanted to catch a Golden Shiner for a great picture. The next cast, my rig barely settled down before something took my float down. I set the hook and saw a little yellow fish...could it be?
YES! There's my Golden Shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas)! I do like this picture.
The events leading to this picture was where I almost end up in the drink. After catching the spottail shiner, I had to rebait and while I was baiting up, I left the camera by the cooler. I held the fish in one hand and the rod in the other hand. Now I had no hands to grab onto the bank. I tried to force my way up, but one slippery foothold had me slipped backward. Had I not jammed my knee into an exposed root knot, I would have been swimming!
After the last mishap, I decided that one Golden Shiner was enough. So I fished from the safety and stability of the culvert and caught a pumpkinseed and 3 bluegills. Then I caught this minnow species. I think it is just another Golden Shiner...but in case it isn't, I took a picture. I really didn't look too much like the Golden Shiners I'd seen before. The back was more greyish green, the belly silver, and there was a broad yellowish lateral band. There were also scales on the belly, which the Golden Shiner should not have scales on the belly to the anal fin. Hm...
After the sunfish and minnow bite dried up, I fished upstream again with the spinner. I got two follows from two separate pickerel, but they were both only 5-6" long and they only followed the lure.
At about 1pm, I decided to call it a day. I had hoped to try for White Crappie on the way home, but with the hot and humid temperature today, it was just too hot to fish an open reservoir with little shade. Getting my missions accomplished today sure felt good...not to mention a bonus new species
