The fairest of them all...

Lepomis auritus--the black-sheep of the Lepomis lineage, shunning still-waters and preferring the rough and tumble expanses of rivers and streams. They are the 2.0 version of "bluegill" standing toe-to-toe with Micropterus dolmieu in pocket water and along riffle edges.

Many (if not all) Lepomis are are endowed with striking regalia--especially during the romantic seasons--but L. auritus might just be the fairest of them all. A mixture of iridescent indigo-blue and flame-red highlights reminds one of an evening sunset.  

The first "bluegill" species that I remember catching and the species that taught me the finer points of upstream drag-free drift presentations. I search for them wherever warm waters flow and always spend a little too much time admiring their beauty. 

This is a photo-tribute to L. auritus, Enjoy! 

Eye of the tiger.

A color palette on steroids

From the Amazon? No, right in your own back yard!

A stretch of the Rockaway River along I-287; typical L. auritus habitat

As if Lake Victoria didn't have enough problems...

Overfishing due to increased demand for and increased export of Nile Perch (Lates niloticus) to EU countries, Australia, and the Middle East has forced President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete to halt "...all fishing activities on the Tanzania side of Lake Victoria for the next three months."

 "Speaking to the Ministry officials in Dar es Salaam during his working tour, last week, Kikwete said the order is meant to give a room for the fish species to increase after over fishing. He said fish had disappeared from the lake.

Victoria is the large. round-ish lake in the center

Nile Perch (Lates niloticus)

Well ain't that a bitch. Nile Perch are exotic and invasive in Lake Victoria, introduced in the 1950s to supplement native, sustenance fisheries (which didn't need it). This introduction lead to the decimation of the very diverse cichlid fauna (>500 of species) that evolved there over the last few million years.

When teaching ichthyology and/or evolutionary biology, I often cite the radiation of Haplochromin cichlids in Lake Victoria (and other East African rift lakes) as one of the few examples of sympatric speciation...

...and the introduction of Lates and subsequent extinction of cichlids as one of the worst environmental disasters to have occurred on the planet, of which there are (sadly) too many examples.

"fish biomass of the lake has decreased from 80% to less than 1% since the introduction of the Nile perch, and that some 65% of the Haplochromis species were driven to extinction in the process, an event which may well represent the largest extinction event amongst vertebrates in the 20th century (link)"

So, not only did we destroy one of the most amazing, real-world evolutionary/ecological experiments on the planet but now that damn plague-of-a-fish is going extinct too! (I'm ignoring the economic impacts to the $250 million East African fishing industry). 

I am going to have to agree with (and severely paraphrase from memory) something that one of my very good fishing buddies (and former college advisor) said...

"Those with intentions of "improving" should never be allowed within 1000 feet of an aquatic ecosystem..."

 Lake Victoria is and continues to be a very large and obvious example of this statement.

Extra Terrestrials

Some of my top, go-to fly patterns imitate terrestrial insects. Trout, and other fishes, often can't resist these chunky morsels of protein. In terms of the amount energy that a fish receives from consuming a mayfly compared to a Japanese beetle is the equivalent of comparing a soy bean to a T-bone steak. Fishes have evolved to maximize the cost-benefit relationship between energy used to consume prey vs. the energy benefit of consuming that prey. This evolutionary inertia can be so strong that it is possible to catch trout in the dead of winter using terrestrials patterns even when the insects they imitate are not active or available. Here are a few of my favorite floating patterns (tied by yours truly). 

Steeves' Firefly

Furled-body Cricket (can be used wet or dry)

Disc-ant (can be made high-vis by adding drop of fluorescent paint to rear disc)