Silly Shiners

 I've been taught to use your own fishing bait whenever possible.  In my current preferred method of fishing to use only flies, I have not been able to master the art of tying my own flies, but I don't have the patience to tie them myself.

I belong to a local fly fishing group called Fly Girls, and they have been sponsoring zoom video classes on fly tying.  They are a cool social way to learn some new fly patterns, but it takes very deft fingers, a bunch of supplies, and again patience to make just one fly.

Even if it's not perfect it can still be effective in catching the desired fish it it's the right color, moves in a similar manner to the bait characteristics, etc.

Shiners are problematic, because most of the live ones will die in the 20 minute trip I take from the fishing shop to our house. 

My efforts to catch them in traps this year has been futile.  I'm either using the wrong bait, checking the traps too frequently, using the wrong style of trap, and all the other reasons that I cannot think about right this minute.

Also, my favorite trap was stolen last fall when I took a short bathroom place at my favorite fishing spot on Belle Isle.  There's a small culvert that allows the tiny lake to communicate with the Detroit River, and if the water is clear enough you can see all the fish hanging around or traveling thru in either direction depending on the light characteristics, temperature changes, and whether they're looking for a good place to rest or find different type of prey.

All I have to do on a clear water and overcast day is lower a line with a dry or wet fly/fish into the water and you can see the pan fish follow it around and decide whether it's good to eat.   If they decide it's GO TIME they'll strike and I can just put the tip of the rod up to set the hook, and I have a feisty friend for the turtles and plecostamus in the fresh water tank.

Piece of cake! 

 

 And then there were none......

Now that I can visit my favourite microbrewery more frequently since they built a patio and can roll up the garage door type windows to the street, I had a nice conversation with a young guy.

He told me about the incredible fecundity of a few dozen regular goldfish that he put in his dad's pond.  They are reproducing like watery rabbits, which was not what he expected.  

The pond is about an acre and about 4 feet deep, so it's no surprise that the little buggers have no problem surviving over the winter.

I have gifted some feeder fish to a friend with a small pond that has a maximum depth of 2 feet.  They were less than 3 inches when I put them in there in late summer, and they were hunkered down over the winter with no problem.  They don't seem to have survived this winter, but I think they were probably poached by a bird or racoon in the fall.

We had to give a few 8 inch goldies to a neighbor because we had no room in the aquarium.  They made it with no problem through a pretty tough midwest winter, but my favourite orange beauty was snatched by a racoon as the family members watched from inside the house!  Yikes!

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