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3. It's Autumn, once again...and a new personal record

The colors have turned but the fish are still biting, at least when I've been out! Dating back to the last nice brookie from [REDACTED] Pond, here's a series of fishies, fall colors, fungi, and a little wildlife thrown in from my latest fishing adventures. Enjoy!

Jonathon

Pretty little spot there Jonathon! Looks like a good Wood Duck hangout.

Spence

Ya kept the trout but not the perch? With perch like that I would start learning how to regularly catch perch on a fly. Sounds like a great fall going on.

Uh - That perch looks like a smallmouth bass to me, Jon.:):)

Very nice. Thanks for those images.

Is that just a really really dark olive floating line? Or a sinking line?

Nice looking trout, especially the rainbow beneath the bass. You guys should fish some of the Finger Lakes in the fall....14 inch perch are the norm on some lakes!

Artie, that is a very dark floating line, a Cortland Clear Creek weight-forward 3-weight I got on sale earlier this year when I replaced my favorite 3-weight setup. I like the darkness for the stealth factor on small clear streams that I fish.

Regarding the consumption of the yellow perch - yes I did keep it, but unfortunately trusted a friend who said she knew how to fillet but sadly was WAY out of practice...so that fish got butchered in the bad sense of the word and I ended up eating as much as I could but...and for some reason she didn't think it needed to be scaled...blah...a sad end to a fine fish.

Jonathon

P.S. Oh that's right, I meant smallmouth bass! Thanks for correcting my fish ID there, Kurt... ;oD

Trumpeter or Tundra? I want to see your field notes sir? The picture, when I blow it up a bit, goes too fuzzy for me to positively ID...;)

Your favorite Nerder Birder

Trumpeters, Spence. "The [tundra swan] adult's black bill often shows a bright yellow spot that the trumpeter lacks."

Robbins, C., B. Bruun, and H. Zim, 1983. Birds of North America, A Field Guide to Identification (rev. ed.). Golden Press, New York. A good scientist always cites their sources.

The best part was, after they came together, they swam over to the west end of the lake (about 13 acres) for a while, then they took off (and trust me, they need a lot of runway and what a commotion!) and headed straight for me, turning just as they were about to fly right over me not even twenty feet off the water! As if they were saying, "see you later"!

These birds are actually quite common around here. I've seen them ice fishing on Alcona Pond (have had great big flocks fly over, magnificent!), at Clark's Marsh, on Foote Pond, now at Reid Lake, they're all over the place. Like the bald eagles! This part of the world that I live in is a naturalist's paradise, and the fishing ain't too bad either!

;oD

Jonathon

Good deal...I had tried to expand the pic to see if there was a yellow patch at the base of the bill and couldn't see it. Picture blurred at that point. Except for the reintroduced Trumpeters they tend to hang out west.

Don't take lightly getting hit...You will regret it if it happens. In 1973 I was at a friends father's farm north of Kazoo in Wayland. I walked around the end of the barn and when I looked up a few geese were headed right at me...I had to hit the dirt...and change my shorts after. :)

It is getting to be the time where some of the northern waterfowl start to migrate down our way. I have seen some arctic birds on Kent Lake in November. I have even seen Loon out there. Coots by the hundreds.

Spence

You're welcome. Any time, Jonathon. LOL

That Reid Lake rainbow is pretty for a catchable. Is it a holdover? Looks like it was planted as a fingerling. If not, that's a darn good hatchery you have up there.

Jonathon, was it anything like this?

Allan - LOL - no, not quite! As they say, OMG!!

No, these swans knew where they were going and knew what was in front of them.

Kurt, the MI DNR throws 1,300 to 1,600 or so rainbow trout in this lake between about 6.5 and 7.5 inches annually. And the minimum size is 12" for the frying pan (or casserole dish, if you like), so that by the time they are big enough they look pretty nice. The flesh on this fish was salmon-pink, and it had a big leaf-footed bug (Hemiptera: Coreidae) and the remains of a bald-faced hornet in it's stomach.

But the problem with this lake is that the fish are scattered - I catch one or two fish in one spot, then it goes dead and I have to move the kayak a few hundred yards and try some fresh waters. A nice 9" rainbow bent the rod almost as hard as that big perch (er, smallie!), then after those two, nothing...two more fish in about 2 1/2 hours and that was it. However, it is open year-round so I can still squeeze a few days of kayak fly-fishing in there before things freeze up, if we get some nicer days...50s F and rainy right now, not a fishing day for me.

Jonathon

Jon,

Did you catch that mixed bag of brook trout, rainbows, largemouth, and perch all in the same water?

Heavens no, Matt - that would be something, wouldn't it? The brookie came out of [REDACTED] Pond a few days before the end of the season, and the rest of the fish pics are labeled as to location.

Jonathon

Found a load of sulphur Mushrooms yesterday. They were beginning to get old, but they were still soft and they taste great.
Bruce

Bruce, I'm still eating that big batch I found...they keep very well in the fridge, and go just perfect in the morning (early afternoon, in my case) with bacon for breakfast. I don't have much left considering this is my favorite way to eat them, but I have considered using them as a chicken substitute in some dishes to see how that works. Next year, unless I found more fresh before the snow flies...

Jonathon

I thought that was Molson Canadian...It is for me. ;)

You know, Warren Buffet says "own what you know", maybe I should own some shares of Coors/Molson...Maybe that was Jimmy Buffet???

Spence

Spence, you should try these mushrooms - they are absolutely delicious and generally when you find them, you find a nice big bunch! Mine lasted two weeks in the fridge, finished them off yesterday, already missing them...

Dr. Andrew Weil, noted nutritionist, has recommended that vegetarians (and I have strong tendencies in that regard, though not as strict as Spence) eat mushrooms due to their protein content, plus plenty of fiber and vitamins, minerals, etc. Also, he has advocated eating fish...which runs a bit counter to our emphasis on catch-and-release here on Troutnut.com. Although, I'm having a very hard time releasing perch these days...

Jonathon

"Oh yee of little faith!" ;)

I prefer psilocybin mushrooms...;) With them I'm not concerned with anything, especially whether or not I'm getting enough protein. Besides, I think the Molson has the protein problem covered...Right?

Spence the "Merry Prankster"...Owsley who?!




That's the corn-fed bacon, right? "Free range" ;)