Banded cichlid

 In a previous blog post, I talked about fishing for tropical fish at Rogers Spring. Feel free to read that post to understand why this fishery exists and why I sometimes fish there. This colorful fish in the picture is one such specimen found in this water. I have caught several different species and variations of fish from this pond. It is, however, extremely hard to identify these fish. Years of interbreeding can give one fish multiple characteristics from several species.

I believe this one to be a Banded Cichlid. This is a male in his spawning colors, as most of the year, these are just grey and black. I Have seen the males change to blue heads before, but this one is particularly colorful. This is just one of a few species of cichlid in this pond. More often than not, I end up catching the Rio Grande or Texas Cichlid. The cichlids are the biggest fish in these waters, and thus the easiest to catch.

The other inhabitants are a lot smaller and somewhat more vibrant. A wide mix of Mollies and Guppies with the odd unidentified tropical fish around. In this grouping I have only managed to catch two species; what I believe to be Western Mosquitofish, with brown rings on the edge of their scales, and the aptly named Dalmatian Mollie. Both of these fish are extremely small and very hard to land on hook and line.

In fact, micro-fishing is one of the hardest fishing methods to master. Getting the smallest possible hook, and baiting it with a small enough piece to fit inside the mouth of a one-inch fish is no simple task. To add insult to injury, setting said hook is a challenge in itself. An enormous amount of patience is required. The moment you think the fish has the hook in its mouth, you set the hook. But these fish don’t weigh much, so often the hook fails to penetrate and just slips out of their mouths. They may be small, but they are not stupid. Once you failed to hook them, they won’t bite again for quite a while. That means you get one shot to catch them or you mess it up. And while this is very far removed from what most fishermen do, the challenge is enough to entice persistence from those fishermen that enjoy this technique.