Ham

That’s some messed up stuff. What has happened to this world where you can’t trust your fishing buddy not kill you and feed you to Bigfoot. that’s like Something I would expect to hear from Florida.

So at the halfway point, here’s my update. 1) I’m definitely keeping it goofy 2) only 1218 fish caught so I have to make up some ground there. 3) life list is up to 198. I’m Still grinding, but I had chances to be over 200 already.

While there is no doubt that a Rooster Tail will catch them fish, I detest dealing with that treble hook and a squirmy trout. And the line twist that inevitably occurs even if you add a swivel to the mix. the BEST trout lure here there and everywhere is a White River Zig Jig. get some 1/8 oz and 1/16 oz Zig Jigs in White, triple olive, brown/orange. Get more colors if you’re feeling froggy. search Zig Jig on this forum and you’ll have some reading to do. But the quick version is to fish it down and across current with 6 lb line (or less) on a light action rod. that water usually has some cloudiness to it because of the water coming from the Springs, but the fish don’t care. Let the jig drop to near bottom and snap it back up. The trout usually grab it on the fall. I almost always pinch the barb down because it helps me release them easier and it comes out of me a lot easier when I get stuck by my own hook (it happens). no kidding, I’ve literally caught 1000’s of fish on Zig Jigs. I could fish nothing else and consistently catch a lot of fish.

I loved the Iowa fish. Jealous of the Common Shiners and Pumpkinseed. We will see what the next week brings for me.

I don't get angry often, but a guy parked in a ramp waiting on friends that refuses to move when asked, would have made me angry.

I think Boudreau or Thibadoux would punch him in the face and bust the windows in his truck for starters

Man, you can't fix stupid. I just do not understand how people can be so inconsiderate, but I've seen it enough now to know there are almost no limits. It would be really interesting to see how that would play out in South Louisiana.

Ian get's to talk so much poop on me. He got a Broadstripe TM and a Silver Carp on last Fall's frenetic pilgrimage. I felt like he would get a Big Snakehead and I would not. Full disclosure. He spotted the first of the baby ones for me. I get a lot of satisfaction of him catching those fish and I would rather he caught them than me. I'll get mine

“I want to go everywhere, catch every fish, and experience all that fishing has to offer,” Arcia said. “Microfishing is the way to do that.” I know you were asking John Pete, but this quote sums it up for me pretty well. I only wish I had started with this when I was 20 years old.

"Still, the rapid growth of microfishing has at least some fisheries managers concerned over its unregulated nature and possible downstream impacts." Me thinks Steven should bring some of those concerns about downstream impacts of an unregulated type of fishing to bear on "bowfishing". Most micro fishing guys are not going to sit there and keep catching the same fish. I try to take care of the little guys just like the bigger guys, but some of them are very fragile and seem to look for any excuse to die. I'm talking about you Brook Silverside.

based on the small number of trout that I have I have kept for supper, trout have a short straight gut. They do pass hooks and PowerBait.

I like “Frank’s Place”.

Northern Snakehead from St Francis County Arkansas my son Ian got a 19 inch one later in the day . I’ll get a bigger one sometime down the road

I most certainly did use Rick’s 3 weight and I submitted fish for the tournament that I caught both days with it.

MOW2. A couple of guys from Missouri. I don’t know them, but you can look their names up online at Ozark Fly Fish Journal

There were 20 teams in this year’s event. The SWAG bags were Legit. I really think the 💵value was higher than our entry fee. when you are catching target species and submitting catches, it’s so Great! when you are grinding and the bites aren’t happening, it’s a BAD time. I was prepared and we were Lucky. Next year I have to be more prepared to make sure we do well even if we aren’t quite as Lucky.

So, a few years ago a local Fly Shop came up with a Multi-Species fly fishing tournament. You try to catch each fish that is on the approved list of target species. You can read all about the rules etc on The Ozark Fly Fisher Journal. So, of course, as soon as I hear about it, I start scheming on how to fish it. Apparently, I am a little competitive since I wanted to only fish it IF I could have a respectable chance to win it. Several of the local Big Sticks in the fly fishing community fish it as well as several of the guides. It is not a walk in the park. Some of the big stipulations are no soft plastics, fly rod only, and has to be public water in Arkansas. Two man team and you have to fish “together”. they had an AGFC fisheries biologist doing the official ID work. Bonus points to act as a tie breaker are awarded to each species. The more difficult the fish the higher the bonus points. I conned FishNDave into joining me on the event last Summer and started prepping for the event back in August Last year. I did a lot of pre fishing to determine what species could be reliably caught where and time/distance to travel to these fish. I didn’t always use fly gear, but I did start fly fishing more. well after what seemed like forever this weekend was the tournament. Shotgun start on Saturday at approximately High Noon. Photos of your catches had to be received by 8 PM. Then the Tourney resumed Sunday morning at 0600 and pics had to be received by 12 noon. Saturday after our Shotgun start we drove to the wilds of a Black River backwater slough. I call it the Bowfin Hole. Dave needed a bowfin and we needed one for the tournament. Between last year and this year, I was pretty dialed in. Once on location, it took Dave 2 minutes to land his Lifer Bowfin. Which was a Beautiful Baby Boy.we could have caught a bunch, but we needed to get more species. Things had changed dramatically since I was there on Wednesday. I had multiple gar species biting my flys on Wednesday, but we could get no love. We did rally and get a Bluegill, Redear, and a Crappie. I know many were tiny fish, but in this tournament Size Does Not Matter. I also got a strange fish that I thought was a Redear and the biologist agreed.I had allotted a certain amount of Swamp time and then jump and run to the Spring River. Well, everything went as well as we could have hoped on the Spring River. We had minimal time, but dropped a hammer on them. Day 1 ends and we are in First Place. Felt pretty darn good.so so so after a short nights sleep (5 hours maybe) we rolled to Lake Norfork. I had a bunch of fish and a bunch of species located BUT the water just kept coming up flooded all my fish out. I was VERY disappointed. Dave saved our Bacon with some last minute heroics and got a nice Largemouth Bass. we ran back to the house. Swapped out Waldo for the No Name Canoe. Headed to Crooked Creek to see what we could get. I wanted an Ozark Bass and Smallie for sure with hopes for a Northern Hog Sucker. locals were swimming and fishing with live bait and doing what they do right where I wanted to fish. Part of what you have to work around. we got an Ozark Bass much quicker than I could have hoped and then STRUGGLED to get a Smallie. I was mortified at the prospect of failing to get a Smallie, but at the last minute I got a little Smallie for the needed picture. #crisisaverted At that point, it was all over but the crying and the woulda shoulda coulda. We awaited Final Results as we drove to the Wrap Up Meeting. So, we finished third. 5 bonus points away from Second. We each won a Custom Color Nautalist XM Fly Reel. I had a Great Time! I really wanted to win, but I just didn’t work the mental game well enough. I really would encourage you guys to come play. I’ll do my best to fish it in 2023. Thanks to Dave for being my partner in this endeavor and previous adventures. Next Year.

I’d love to Jeff!

Always Fun to see and fish new places!

Thanks Guys! I’ll be headed into work here in a little bit. Days off coming soon. Plenty of fish on my mind.

#toosoon

only 7 of the 9 days. I wasted the other two.

Lucky for me that I live too far away to participate

Payment is in the mail.

I had friends put a Big Flathead in a pond FULL of small Green Sunfish. Before too long, there was just the Big Flathead. they still could not catch him. I really think putting a Flathead in there would be a terrible mistake, but it would be interesting to see it play out.