August 8 2014 - Mountain Run Lake

Went fishing out at Mountain Run Lake after work.  Weather was overcast and still.  Air temperature was 79 degrees, water temperature at surface was 82 degrees.  The people who were taking out as I was putting in said they'd caught nothing, which wasn't encouraging.

I was the only boat on the lake, which was nice.  For my first salvo, I started throwing a chartreuse spinnerbait, and didn't get anything.  I switched to a little orange popper on a fly rod and started catching some sunfish, like this nice redear:

I also caught this fish, which based on its appearance, may be a redbreast sunfish?  If there are any ichthyologists in the audience, some help would be appreciated.  In any case, I haven't caught a fish here before with such a truncated snout and prominent operculum flap.

In fish, the operculum is the flap covering the gills and related structures.  In humans with partially erupted wisdom teeth, the operculum is the flap of soft tissue that covers part of the tooth, capturing food beneath it and ocassionally getting infected.  The only reason I expound so much is that my jaw has been sore the last week because of such an infection.


I caught 3 more bluegills, all of which were smaller, maybe 5 inches.

As dusk fell, there was some scrabbling on the bank and I watched 3 raccoons climb to the top of this tree.  Can you spot them!?  Solution below!

3 raccoons: