Old favourite hobby of mine. Super fun, rather easy; trick is to find a nice spot. I live within walking distance of the Rocky River in NC, and have ready access to awesome summer microfishing spots and a good number of species.
Figured I'd make a thread here to keep track of whatever I've caught so far, and for others to post if interested.
Would also appreciate any ID's, as I have little clue as to what I'm catching most of the time.
Current rig is a classic drop shot with 1/8oz lead weight and two size 20 fly fishing hooks (ran out of 26 and lost all my 30); using small bits of hot dogs as bait. 4lb test, fluorocarbon, 7' Shimano Trout One AS Ultralight.
Getting a bite's a bit tricky with such a large hook, but is doable with a decent hookset.
Spot in question. Problem is, there's not a better riffle/pool in over a mile up-and-downstream; and because it's right next to two majour neighborhoods, there's oftentimes people bringing their children and splashing about in the water and whatnot.
Disrupts spawning fishes and makes it difficult to fish at best at times (with the peoples' permission, of course), but it's not exactly a great spot for fish to spawn in the first place (high fish overturn rate whenever the river floods; and it's almost all just sand at the bottom) and it gets exhausted of bites fairly quickly.
I did meet some kids the other day; gave them some bait (they didn't have any), some light tackle, and some pointers; in turn, they told me of a beaver dam ~4 miles downstream, past some private property and dense forest, with some half-decent fishing, that may or may not have been completely destroyed in the last year.
Sounds fun; might walk down there one of these days to check it out.
Lepomis macrochirus- caught from under a wooden snag:
Lepomis cyanellus?- Also caught from the same snag
Nice Lepomis cyanellus, from the large pool.
Another Lepomis cyanellus.
Switched over to some heavier tackle; size 16? hooks to target larger Lepomis and Nocomis.
Nice male Nocomis leptocephalus- shame they don't fare well in home aquaria.
Kinda felt bad targeting them while they're in spawning condition; they become incredibly ravenous right around breeding season and it becomes super easy to grab a large number.
Nice female? N. leptocephalus
Dropped my phone in the river; camera turned all blurry- probably from the water.
More Nocomis:
These two were caught on the size 20 hooks- nearly caught five on them; lost three due to the sheer diminutive size of the hook.
Lepomis cyanellus- from the same snag as yesterday's:
Another L. macrochirus- also from the same snag; bluegill are pretty rare in this stretch of the river- might've been the same one?
Now for the micro species:
A bunch of Cyprinella spp., I think- pos. nivea?
Two at once!
Figured I'd make a thread here to keep track of whatever I've caught so far, and for others to post if interested.
Would also appreciate any ID's, as I have little clue as to what I'm catching most of the time.
Current rig is a classic drop shot with 1/8oz lead weight and two size 20 fly fishing hooks (ran out of 26 and lost all my 30); using small bits of hot dogs as bait. 4lb test, fluorocarbon, 7' Shimano Trout One AS Ultralight.
Getting a bite's a bit tricky with such a large hook, but is doable with a decent hookset.
Spot in question. Problem is, there's not a better riffle/pool in over a mile up-and-downstream; and because it's right next to two majour neighborhoods, there's oftentimes people bringing their children and splashing about in the water and whatnot.
Disrupts spawning fishes and makes it difficult to fish at best at times (with the peoples' permission, of course), but it's not exactly a great spot for fish to spawn in the first place (high fish overturn rate whenever the river floods; and it's almost all just sand at the bottom) and it gets exhausted of bites fairly quickly.
I did meet some kids the other day; gave them some bait (they didn't have any), some light tackle, and some pointers; in turn, they told me of a beaver dam ~4 miles downstream, past some private property and dense forest, with some half-decent fishing, that may or may not have been completely destroyed in the last year.
Sounds fun; might walk down there one of these days to check it out.
Lepomis macrochirus- caught from under a wooden snag:
Lepomis cyanellus?- Also caught from the same snag
Nice Lepomis cyanellus, from the large pool.
Another Lepomis cyanellus.
Switched over to some heavier tackle; size 16? hooks to target larger Lepomis and Nocomis.
Nice male Nocomis leptocephalus- shame they don't fare well in home aquaria.
Kinda felt bad targeting them while they're in spawning condition; they become incredibly ravenous right around breeding season and it becomes super easy to grab a large number.
Nice female? N. leptocephalus
Dropped my phone in the river; camera turned all blurry- probably from the water.
More Nocomis:
These two were caught on the size 20 hooks- nearly caught five on them; lost three due to the sheer diminutive size of the hook.
Lepomis cyanellus- from the same snag as yesterday's:
Another L. macrochirus- also from the same snag; bluegill are pretty rare in this stretch of the river- might've been the same one?
Now for the micro species:
A bunch of Cyprinella spp., I think- pos. nivea?
Two at once!
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