Ham

I want a 30 incher.

My son and I went Snakehead hunting/fishing yesterday. Pretty uncharted territory in East Central Arkansas. They can be literally anywhere that connects with Little Red, White, Cache, Black, or St Francis rivers. I’m still learning/figuring the fish and the locations out. AGFC has a map showing all the locations that they have been documented in. It’s impressive. Hard to get a hold of and I don’t have a good way of displaying it here. Bad news for me is none of it is close. 2-4 plus hours each way. They can be Super Spooky or dopey as heck and easy to fool. Super Aggressive or totally shut down. I have no understanding of why. Hollow Body Frogs is still my starting point, but I am also throwing flukes, Chatterbaits, and Spinnerbaits at them. we rallied and got 5 nice ones yesterday after our first three stops were not right. Biggest is 25. Smallest is 19.5 inches. It is ABSOLUTELY illegal to transport them alive. I cut the throat/gills out to bleed them out. I got 5 lbs of filets off these 5 fish. Meat had a firm texture and a mild taste. it can be very difficult to get your bait back. I’m Sorry that I can’t get better pictures. They are slimey and keep struggling until their throat is cut. I’m focused on not rolling canoe, not get hooked also, and not losing the fish over the side.

57) Flier My Son and I made a long, exhausting trip last Wednesday. One of my goals for the day was to get a Flier. And I did! Getting it on a popping bug was just a bonus and a pretty decent sized one. Ian was under appreciative of their appearance calling it “kinda looks like an ugly bluegill”.

56) Blackspotted Topminnow First Flyfer in a little while. I just hadn’t thought pimping them before.

55) Dollar Sunfish (Western) I haven’t caught many of these ever and I was Happy to get another one. I think I have a pretty steady supply going forward. I won’t pick on them too often.

Something in the water for sure. This Warmouth had orange fins too. as did the next guy

Heck Yeah! Good Job! I love your Cat!

54) Redspotted Sunfish I found another fun little fishing spot full of all sorts of weirdness.This is the first Redspotted I caught, but then I followed it up with this beautiful thing.

53) Orange Spotted SF i spotted these guys holding tight to the bank in cover with a heavy back Current. it took a few fly changes to find a heavy, small fly that they would eat. They would pick at it, but not take. Finally, I saw the.beadhead disappear.

52) Black Crappie they aren’t large, but they are reliable so far. Let’s Hope that Holds

50 species on fly was the goal I worked towards last year, but last year is old news. 51) Green SunfishI’m pretty sure @FishnDave caught some of these on New Years Day, but it took me a bit longer.

50) Northern Studfish I tried for a Big pretty colored up male. I had to settle for this one.

49) Bigeye ShinerPretty common Notropis species for the Búffalo River

48) Whitetail Shiner a quick float down the Buffalo River yielded a few new species on fly. Not a Flyfer. Cyprinella are fun. Pretty aggressive guys that hunt in groups of a few fish rather than large schools.

47) Freshwater Drum, my GMC truck failed me. I was unwilling to do the expensive repairs on a truck of that age and set about replacing it. Very annoying buying a vehicle these days. I travelled to Indepence, KS to get my new truck. On the way back, I fished a little. I got a few White Bass and a Freshwater Drum.

46) Yellowtail Snapper I had hoped for one of these and maybe a Grey and Lane Snapper too, but this was the only snapper species I got on fly and the last of the Florida species on fly. I suspect that I also got a Bermuda Chub on fly, but if I wasn’t smart enough to get a clear pic of it and mentally note that it was on fly then I will have to wait to add that one.

45) White Grunt never let Dave sandbag you. He will act like every fish he caught in his life was a Happy Accident (shout out to Bob Ross). @FishnDave caught like 20 of these before I got one on fly. I did end up getting 3 or 4 on fly eventually.

I’m not sure how I lost the original text, but I’ll try again. 44) Rainbow Parrotfish This might be my luckiest catch of the year. I changed flys over to a tiny little shrimp pattern. I was letting it drop down closer to the rocks. I was actually looking away at something else when the parrotfish decided to yank my arm pretty hard. Perfect size for me to catch. There were bigger ones zooming around that would have destroyed me and gotten away. Really Happy with this guy. Takes a little of the 0-5 on Tarpon away.

43) Sgt Major total surprise. These guys are tough to hook on natural bait even with small hooks. I had hoped for one, but thought it highly unlikely that I would get one. I never have to try for another on fly #winning

42) Slippery Dick Wrasseguys get tired of catching them? But I’m not there yet especially not on fly

41) Mock Blenny this was a TOTAL surprise. My fly dropped through a massive cloud of other fish and down between rocks/coral at the White Street Pier. I asked some Professional Fish Nerds for help with the Id as there are several Blenny that look very much like each other.

40) Redbreast Sunfish a targeted Flyfer! I love it when a plan comes together. They were in the suggested creek and we caught em!

Good for you guys

39) Redear Sunfish Post Barramundi (will I ever be the same ?) we stopped at a tannic creek to try to get out Flyfer Redbreast Sunfish in Fly. This little guy jumped the train.

38) Peacock Bass I like giving myself multiple opportunities to catch a species, but I am also a HUGE fan of a bird in hand. I stopped fishing for Barramundi a few minutes early to give myself a chance at Peacock Bass. I was able to sight fish a few and talk one into eating. Heck Yeah! I got a better one later.