Strange Fishing Challenge Day Five

Well it has been a while since I launched the Strange Fish Challenge.  To review, my whippersnapper of a grandson (age 5) has a longer list of fish species caught than I do.  I decided to try and show him a thing or two.  I mean, it has to work out better than when I showed him the correct way to do a cartwheel, right?

So I said I'd see if I could catch 20 different species of fish in seven days of fishing.  Having started this fairly late in the fall I got in four days....and 11 species.*  Do the math, I need three per day to pull this off.

I'd been out for a few recon missions as the water warmed up and the fish got frisky.  On one of them I caught a couple of sturgeon.  This little guy was just so cute!

His great grandpa took my line an hour later.  All I saw was a flip of a huge, prehistoric tail as he ripped the 20 pound test line off my reel.  Watching it spin off I had no choice but to bring the rod tip back and take a stand.  SNAP!  Fun, but as it was not an official Fishing Challenge Day sturgeon are not on my list.

Recently I had a day to kill.  The usual schedule of helping out with the grands was off for me as I waited, like a condemned man, for a root canal.  Time for distraction.  I went to a small stream called Muddy Creek.  And in the first hour I got this guy:

This is a White Sucker, and a rather fine specimen at that.  And just a few minutes later, look who turned up:

A cute little brook trout!  This was only the second one I'd ever caught, and the White Sucker was an entirely new species for me.  It was only 10 am and I figured my odds of getting another species were excellent.  I went to where the sturgeon had been a few days earlier...

Nothing.  Picturesque, dead water.  I tried a couple of little streams on my way back to Eau Claire.  Nothing.  I tried a spot on the river in Eau Claire where I'd had luck.  Same.  Half Moon Lake, allegedly home to bowfin, bullheads and other Strangies....just a few bluegills.  I even tried my last ditch spot on the Chippewa River near home.  My son and grandson had caught catfish there.  No fish.

So for the day only two novel species.  So far five days, 13 species.  I'm falling behind.  I think the problems are several.  Certain species are just so common that they crowd out the odd ball fish.  Strange fish are often in strange and hard to get to places.  In fast current.  Or heavy brush.  Or in the middle of swamps.  In particular the minnow sized fish are very hard to catch.  You go through life as a potential snack to all manner of fish, mammal and bird species and you dash for cover when anything approaches.

Well we'll see.

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Fish list as of this posting.  Small and largemouth bass. Northern and Walleye pike.  Yellow Perch.  Creek Chub.  Common Shiner.  Bluegill.  Silver Redhorse, Smallmouth Buffalo, Shorthead Redhorse.  Brook Trout and White Sucker.