A few Invasives

     After figuring out how to catch bowfin consistently at my usual spot, I wanted to catch them elsewhere. There was a place in St.Catherines that was supposed to be really good for them and catfish. We pulled up to a beautiful park that was packed with picnickers, and had a short but scenic walk down to the water. There was Lake Ontario on one side, then a short beach separating the lake from the creek we planned on fishing. It was weird to see such a massive body of water next to a tiny body of water, and they were not connected.

     I tried for bowfin with my spinner and proceeded to get nothing, until I snagged and wrecked one of the treble hooks on my spinner. Not having a replacement, I switched to night crawlers. We had been seeing lots of little fish jumping around, and it was not long before my little brother managed to catch a white fish I had never seen before. I cast out to get one and caught a dinky little brown bullhead.

 I thought this was a yellow bullhead at the time because it was yellow...

I also had no clue what I was doing

     A few bullheads later I pulled up one of those white fish. We caught tons of them this size by the end of the day. Lots of bullheads as well. I never did cast into the shallow, thick weeds to try for the bowfin.

 Species #8 White Perch (Morone americana)- An invasive species in Ontario

     There was nothing else to note that day. Our next trip was to a large hydro weir, almost a whole month later, to try for smallmouth bass. My dad caught one, and a few redhorse suckers. I was not as fortunate. The water was flowing extremely fast and I snagged virtually every cast. Eventually I caught this

 Species #9 Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus)- This would be the first of many

They are invasive and likely the most common fish in the Niagara region

     I went a very long time without catching a fish that could pull any drag, although I had a trip planned with my cousin a few days later that would change that