The first day was sunny with temperatures in the 60's throughout the afternoon.  Apparently the area had seen some rain earlier in the week, giving Little River a murky coffee-colored hue.  Since Little River is a small branch of the Detroit River which connects Lake St. Claire with Lake Erie, STS organizer Jeff Turner said to expect most any species, including carp, catfish, shad, goldfish, suckers, panfish (bluegill, rock bass, crappie, perch), bowfin, pike, walleye, bass (out of season-must be returned immediately) and even musky.
 

Alan and a porky black & orange goldy

Top individual Alan Leeson of Team Canada with a lunker goldy and large carp (note deformed tail).  Alan was lucky to draw the #1 end peg, near a widening of the river closest to the entrance into the Detroit River.  Good spot, but a good angler still has to take advantage and catch them like Alan did.

Alan and his largest fish for the day

14 lb. for big fish of the day

29.06 lbs. for second place

With Chris' big finish and solid catches from the rest of the team, USA took a strong lead of 86 to Canada's 125.  Scoring is based on world match rules, with 1 point for the heaviest bag, 2 for the next heaviest, and so on.   In other words, the low score wins.  What fascinated me was all the large goldfish taken - if one wanted to stock his koi pond, this was the place to go.  Other species taken was a lone pike, bass, bluegills, rock bass, perch, shiners, suckers, assorted minnows and gobies.  Surprisingly enough, no catfish were taken, which were caught during the previous practice day.  On to Day 2...

a rare (in North America) mirror carp