Midwest Summer Fishing - with a ridiculous number of photos

[BenCantrell]

Everything in this post was caught after my D.C. snakehead trip in May.  I'm way behind on blog posts, so there aren't writeups for now.  It's been a great start to the summer!  The crazy (or maybe sad?) thing is that only 2 of these species were new lifers - alewife and strawberry darter.  It's probably time for me to move if I want to keep adding new ones to the list, haha.

Alewife from the Milwaukee River in Milwaukee, WI.


Rainbow trout from the Milwaukee River in Milwaukee, WI.


Brown trout from the Root River in Racine, WI.


Round goby from the Root River in Racine, WI.


Creek chub from the Root River in Racine, WI.


Bluntnose minnow from the Root River in Racine, WI.


Longear sunfish from Kickapoo Creek in Charleston, IL.


Spotted bass from Kickapoo Creek in Charleston, IL.


Golden redhorse from Kickapoo Creek in Charleston, IL.


Brindled madtom from Kickapoo Creek in Charleston, IL.


Bluegill from Kickapoo Creek in Charleston, IL.


Warmouth, green sunfish, and bantam sunfish from Mingo Swamp in MO.


Dollar sunfish from a Black River trib in Poplar Bluff, MO.


Redspotted sunfish from a Black River trib in Poplar Bluff, MO.


Blackspotted topminnow from a Black River trib in Poplar Bluff, MO.


Starhead topminnow from a Black River trib in Poplar Bluff, MO.


Golden shiner from a Black River trib in Poplar Bluff, MO.


Chain pickerel from a top secret Black River trib in MO.


Brook darter from a Black River trib in Poplar Bluff, MO.


Carmine shiner from a Current River trib in Van Buren, MO.


Central stoneroller from a Current River trib in Van Buren, MO.


Hornyhead chub from a Current River trib in Van Buren, MO.


Ozark minnow from a Current River trib in Van Buren, MO.


Bleeding shiner from a Current River trib in Van Buren, MO.


Ozark bass from a White River trib in MO.


Ozark madtom from a White River trib in MO.


Knobfin sculpin from a White River trib in MO.


Rainbow darter from a White River trib in MO.


Duskystripe shiner from a White River trib in MO.


Striped shiner from a White River trib in MO.


Northern studfish from a Strawberry River trib in AR.


Strawberry darter from a Strawberry River trib in AR.


Silver chub from the Wabash River in Lafayette, IN.


Freshwater drum from the Wabash River in Lafayette, IN.


Smallmouth buffalo from the Wabash River in Lafayette, IN.


Rock bass from Deer Creek in Delphi, IN.


Skipjack herring from the Wabash River in Lafayette, IN.


Goldeye from the Wabash River in Lafayette, IN.


Smallmouth bass from the Wabash River in Lafayette, IN.


Silver carp from the Kaskaskia River in Carlyle, IL.


Black crappie from the Kaskaskia River in Carlyle, IL.


White bass from the Kaskaskia River in Carlyle, IL.


Common carp from the Kaskaskia River in Shelbyville, IL.


Shortnose gar from the Kaskaskia River in Shelbyville, IL.


Shorthead redhorse from the Embarras River in Charleston, IL.


Spotfin shiner from Kickapoo Creek in Charleston, IL.


Steelcolor shiner from Kickapoo Creek in Charleston, IL.


Redfin shiner from Kickapoo Creek in Charleston, IL.


Grass carp from the Big Muddy River in Benton, IL.


Yellow bass from the Big Muddy River in Benton, IL.


Next post will be from California!  I'll be in Escondido from June 25th to July 11th.  Hope I can meet up with some of you guys again!

[xjchad]

Wow, some of those fish almost look tropical!
Love he sculpin, looks like a mini Ling!
What size hook are you using for those tiny fish?? I assumed you were netting them, but on a hook and like, that is cool 

[BenCantrell]

Wow, some of those fish almost look tropical!
Love he sculpin, looks like a mini Ling!
What size hook are you using for those tiny fish?? I assumed you were netting them, but on a hook and like, that is cool 

Yeah, a lot of those stream fish are beautiful.  A few of them keep their colors year round, but most of them only color up when they spawn in the spring.

Everything was hook & line caught.  For the tiny fish I use #20, #26, or a Tanago hooks.  The Tanago hooks have a different shape, so it's a little hard to say what size they are, but I would estimate around a #30.  I get the presnelled Owner New Half Moon Tanago hooks from this website:

http://www.tenkarabum.com/micro-fishing-hooks.html

[Latimeria]

I got my $$$ on Ben overtaking KenT on the North American species list for sure!  Don't let me down, Ben and keep those micros coming!

[BenCantrell]

I got my $$$ on Ben overtaking KenT on the North American species list for sure!  Don't let me down, Ben and keep those micros coming!

If I want to do that I'll have to stop helping him out with spots. 

http://muskiebaitadventures.blogspot.ca/2016/05/2016-us-midwest-day-6_23.html

As with all my road trips, we were on the road more than we fished. In total, we had driven over 40 hours between the 6 days, fished only 35 hours but caught 27 new species.

[spideyjg]

I got my $$$ on Ben overtaking KenT on the North American species list for sure!  Don't let me down, Ben and keep those micros coming!

What about a bull shark in fresh water. It happens.