Ham

#lucky Man, I'd catch those all day or at least until I got distracted by a micro.

Love to see it

#46 Woodruff County so, I am a bird in hand guy. My target area was Roaring Slough. Specifically, Roaring Slough around the Cache River NWR HQ. Snakehead have been caught there and it surely has Gar and Bowfin and God Only knows what else. So, as I am heading down Hwy 33, I crossed a small bridge and pulled over to check it out. It was crazy good-looking stuff. I Honestly could have stayed there for 2 Full Hours. It was swarming with Spotted Gar and I could easily work the flyrod. But first things first; Get a fish caught in Woodruff County. A couple casts with a small jig and plastic and Bingo a Bluegill eats. I ran back to the car and grabbed the 7 weight. Same fly tied on from Mississippi County trip. I worked several gar with no interest, but I managed to excite a BIG Spotted Gar. After several lame attempts, he gets a really good a Good Chomp on it. Strip set and Game on. He took off and I was able to play him on the reel. I worked him down and he was tiring. I had a decent net with me and I was picking my spot to lean down and net him. Freaking thing cleared the water and tail walked to freedom. Biting flies were making me crazy, so I took a break from the Gar and caught more panfish. I tried again for Gar and I got another one angry. Finally got a Good eat and stuck him. He didn’t stay hooked long though. I was desperate to get to the next spot and I convinced myself that I would have lots of more shots at Spotted Gar. Spoiler Alert: I never got another shot at a gar. Roaring Slough was Fubar. Shallow and Hot. And overgrown. And difficult to access. The only thing roaring there was the large trucks going by way too close to me. Sucked. Hot Humid. Sucked. No fish caught. I had tried Cache Bayou. Sucked. I tried Little Dixie River. Sucked, Sucked, Sucked. Thank God for Bluegill! Next Stop Monroe County.

#45 Jackson County I had the day off. My wife worked the late shift. It seemed like a great opportunity to push the envelope. I rolled out at 0730 with a rough itinerary. I find it helpful to kinda have some preplanned times in there so I can actually make it to all my spots. I plotted out a four county fishing Blitzkreig. I had never been to any of the spots before and had no real idea what would be biting or Not. No Big Deal. LFG! so I brought 3 weight and 7 weight Flyrods. I brought an old Ugly Stick that was gifted to me. I brought my last remaining Air Stream. I brought a UL for micros and tiny things. And a 13 Black Widow telescoping pole for micros (kinda struggling with it TBH). I also brought a frog rod just in case I ran into any snakeheads. Well, about an hour in, I realized that while I did pack my worms up, I did not put them in the car. I would have bought more if I had ever seen a bait shop. Without bait, I had 2 set ups that were just in the way. Bummer. One of the few relatively close by counties that I had not fished. After an enjoyable 2 1/2 hour drive through occasional rain squalls I arrived at Jacksonport State Park. Totally free of charge and lots of good bank access. Lots of parking and it was amazingly non-sketchy. Lately, I’ve fished some fairly sketchy places and so I was like “what’s the catch?”. Well, the catch was lots and quickly and easily. But also some misses. First Fish took literally a minute. An admittedly small LMB that took a flyrod jig that FishNDave tied up. I wish it had been a 5 lber, but whatever. I caught a bunch of smallish bass. I had one that would have kept. I also got Bluegill, Longear, a decent Black Crappie. The misses were a decent White Crappie, a White Bass, and a Green Sunfish. I had them on the way in and lost em. I hate the dropzies. I was relocating to a point with a current seam when a gentleman and his son got there before me. The gear they were using seemed counter intuitive for cat fishing, but they looked like cat fishermen. I saw them catch a slender silvery fish and asked what they were catching. Skipjack! I asked and received permission to fish alongside them. I was due to depart, but I had to strike this iron while it was Hot. they were using small minnows under a float. I used a small swimbait. They were catching them slow but steady. I lost the first three I hooked and then caught the next three I hooked. The swimbait is way more efficient at catching skipjack. My 104 th species for the year. so then of course, you grab up the fly rod. at this point I said Goodbye to my new fishing buddies. I had given them my skipjack to catfish with. I left fish biting to go to parts unknown.

I tried to get my wife to do that trip and she was not amendable to the idea.

Dude, you got to let your ppl know something ahead of time.

Mississippi County #43 lengthy drive on a HOT day I fished below Big Lake. I have no idea what normal flows are like. I know they are draining Big Lake to try to improve things for ducks. First fish took like 10 minutes. but I could see lots of fish working. Lots of gar and Buffalo mostly. I knew catfish should be active. I soaked a night crawler white casting my little swimbait. I relocated upstream closer to the spillway which I wanted and under a shade tree which I desperately needed. it got complicated quickly with drum and catfish on the crawler and lots of Gar action on the swimbait. Like one armed paper hanging busy. I got my 102 species of the year, Shortnose Gar And a channel cat. And more drum. I lost a BIG Longnose Gar trying to get it on the bank. I had brought multiple nets. I brought a more manageable net thinking I might need it for White Bass, small drum, Goldeye or whatever. I didn’t count on Big Longnose except I had brought my biggest net too in case I got into larger catfish. The big net is unwieldy and with all the gear I was carrying and the heat, I chose to leave it in the car. That cost me. I blew up my Air Stream spinning rod trying to get a decent sized LNG in. My fault. Totally avoidable. With a fishing buddy, it would not have happened. With my bigger net, it would not have happened. If I hadn’t been overheated, probably doesn’t happen. I’ll add a pic later. Fighting my phone and file size limit. I gathered stuff up and tried to relocate to the other side of the river. The footing looked better and there was a big back Eddy that I could have casted into easily and I was hoping to see what lived in there. yeah, I don’t get it. I cussed the feds. I cooled off a bit on my trip to the other side that ended up being closed. After I cooled off, I went back for more with my flyrod and the Big Net. like 3 minutes in, I hooked a LARGE Longnose Gar. I fought him down and was getting close to reaching for the net when he cleared the water and pogo’ed his way to freedom. One Very loud F bomb later, I resumed fishing. I missed a couple of bites and had a crap ton of refusals. It took like 15 minutes, but I hooked another decent one and he took off downstream. Almost got me into my backing as I rock hopped to back under the shade tree. I figured I might as well fight him in the shade. I very carefully played him down and eventually slipped the net under him. Longnose Gar was my 103rd species. I’d love to add a pic, but struggling to resize photo. after a rest and fluids, on to Craighead County.

4/19/22 St Francis County #41 Got some Bass on a hollow body frog. FishNDave had a Great strike from a Bowfin, but the hook didn’t grab. I got out of order. Sorry Adding a pic from St Francis County of my Orange Spotted Sunfish on fly. Not my first fish which was a stinkin bass.

4/21/22 Prairie County: Lake Des Arc #42 Black Spotted Top Minnow Northern Starhead Top Minnow I also caught some Green Sunfish FishNDave hooked what would have been his Lifer Spotted Gar. Sadly, it came unbuttoned.

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.