Ham

26) White Crappie the first of a bunch of undersized White Crappie on fly

25) Spotted Gar I guessed Shortnose, but my son noted mottling on the top of its head. I turned it over to the fish nerds and so far, ppl think it is a Spotted Gar. This may still change sight fished. He ate immediately. I stuck him and he jumped and threw the fly. He dropped down in the water column a little bit and I blind casted right back to where I last saw him and he ate again. Decent fight before I could drag him up the mud bank.

I’m not sure why the sense of urgency to get the levels down, but they are dumping water like I have never seen. maybe throwing the marina operators a bone so they can have a normal summer.

Here’s my Swampland Longer from Birmingham, AL

You’re fishing JDM handcrafted baits on spin cast reels with braid and I worry you. huh?

I think I have three and I’m pretty sure I’ve never caught a fish on any of them #unlimitedpotentisl

So much secret code these days. Won’t name a discontinued bait that sells for $69 and up on bait junkie market

I do. So that’s one.

If y’all don’t know, Dave is wrecking the Bowfin on fly this year. I don’t jump through the fly rod hoops FULL Time so it’s easier for me on numbers and species. I’ll be alright. I ain’t mad at myself (yet).

Quarter Pole Update: a paltry 373 fish caught on 25 fishing days . Way off pace for 3K, but not alarmed yet. I did zero already so nothing to worry about going forward. I did get my first Northern Snakehead on fly. Kinda proud of that. 55 species on hook and line. 6 Lifers. 25 Species on fly. 4 Flyfers.

I would go CC. You’d be standing up which would help with looking for obstructions. that sounds like a whole lotta motor, but I don’t know the specs on that boat. look into hull thickness. The Blazers and maybe others are faster because they are running 0.080 hulls. I wanted 0.100 at a minimum. I run a Alweld 2052 with a much smaller jet. Top end speed doesn’t matter to me as much as running shallow. I need time to see stuff coming and to pick out the run anyway. good Luck with your boat and I hope it meets your needs

24) Bantam Sunfish Another Fly-Fer !

It was only frustrating because I so wanted you to get one. Now we just need to go back and get BIG ones

IF the flood waters ever recede, I want to try the Hurricane Lake WMA. It ought to be the Snakehead DMZ

Snakehead are reaching the Mississippi River from Arkansas. It seems reasonable to assume that they will eventually reach up and down to areas suitable to them via the Mississippi. They were detected in Missouri, but I don’t believe they are established yet. I do believe they might also reach Missouri via the Black and St Francis rivers. I have not looked into the laws of Virginia, but Lots of states now say you are not legally required to kill the snakehead you catch, but they must be released back into the water they were caught from. Completely illegal to transport them. AGFC strongly suggested that I kill every one that I catch and made sure I knew that it was illegal to transport a live snakehead. FYI, they do not die on ice in a cooler. You MUST cut their throat or cut their head off. looking at the east coast, snakehead use water that most gamefish do not use. They find a niche habitat that can overlap with bass and other gamefish, but often only has Bowfin or Gar. they are well established and expanding in Arkansas. Limited access to prime waters compared to East Coast, but you can go looking and find them.

That’s Awesome !!!

23) Central Stoneroller a Flyfer!

22) Eyetail Bowfin caught 2, lost 2, and missed another bite.

21) Ozark Bass from a back eddy or on the rocks

Thanks Dave. I’m trying. It seems like I take one step forward and two steps back sometimes.

I see you trollin

20) Golden Shiner so Snakehead, Bowfin, and Spotted Gar were trolling me pretty hard. I got bites and finally hooked a snakehead that jumped and immediately threw the frog. but a saw groups of small fish dimpling the surface. I was confident they were NOT the usual top minnows and I thought there was a chance they might be Golden Shiners. I had to do extensive re-rigging to come up with a way to throw a size 24 with a tiny bit of worm at them. I had to hook a bunch of them before I got one to hand. Sadly, they were on the small side which made it more difficult. So, then I had to rig up my 6 wt and go through multiple fly boxes looking for a small fly enough to get eaten. Again, it took too much time and aggravation, but I finally got one to hand. not the first time catching Golden shiners on fly, but I was Glad to get it done.

So 4 years I reached out to AGFC to ask about where to fish for them and I was told it was a waste of time because it was a needle in a haystack trying to find them. Last year I asked again and was given some suggestions as to where to try. basically, they might be in any ditch or Creek or bayou or slough that’s is connected to the lower Little Red River, lower White River, Cache River, or St Francis River. IMO, populations are expanding rapidly. Now that they are in the St Francis, they are gonna do so well. they are a frustrating fish, but I’m having fun figuring them out.

Yeah John, I’ve never caught a pretty one.

Yes Jeff, we eat the snakehead. I call them ditch walleye. Long fillet. White, firm meat. Very mild flavor. Basically you taste the way you cook it. Beer batter, grill, or corn meal batter. It’s Good, but claims it’s the best fish you’ll ever eat seem overstated to me.