Ham

95) Ozark Sculpin Bennett Springs. Tons of them. I caught 49 of them. I’m not sure how many you could catch in a day.

94) Plains LES this is an armchair. I caught several from the Arkansas River and various tributaries like Gala Creek etc No pic. Sorry. I caught another one 12/15/25 so here’s a pic

Do we have any idea about number of boats vs number of fishermen? I have a riverboat with a jet. I will fish Friday and Saturday. I have two open seats. i will be looking to start the day at like 0900 and look to come off the water between 1600 and 1630.

I decided to float the Norfork in my kayak hoping for a Cutthroat Trout. It was gonna be low water all day and mild temps and “mild” wind. I had expected the sun to burn off the clouds, but they hung around all day pretty much. And the wind was very annoying. You see signs of trout everywhere, but the numbers are clearly down. It’s not the end of the world. I would say if you put in a FULL Hard say of fishing that you could scare catching 50 instead of a 100 + + So, I brought three fly rods. 5 wt, 4 wt, and 8 ft Bug Launcher. As it turns out I could have just brought one. All my fish came on a 1/32 oz Zig Jig fished like a streamer. I tried a Crackle back in multiple riffle areas to not effect. I had an egg with a tiny nymph behind it and I broke off the nymph on the only sure thing bite I had #bassfisherman I caught my first fish in the pool with Gene’s trout dock. I missed a couple before I caught one and lost a couple that I hooked. It was difficult enough that I changed my goal from 20 with a Cutty to 10 with a Cutty. Dropped out of that pool and got another on a hard current seam. Missed another one. Paddled back up and added one. Then I got a solid take from a heavy fish. I could see Brown. Good sign. Fished pulled back down in a spot with a lot of current. I managed the boat and took my time. I got another look at the fish and it wasn’t a Brown Trout maybe it was a Big Cutty. Still playing the fish carefully. I got my little net ready and managed to secure the fish. It was a Big Redhorse. Because it was so large I thought it had to be a Golden Redhorse. that would have helped me on the species for the year, but it’s looking like it was a MONSTER Black Redhorse. I really wish I could get them to eat flys more often. Great Fight! Well, I worked my way down river and figured out a couple things. I needed 2 foot of water or so for what I was doing to work. Transition areas from shallow to deep or deep to shallow held fish. If you missed the first bite, you could often put it back on them and get a second chance.The fish seemed to be more colorful than usual. I did not find them to be larger and sadly I did not catch a Cutty. I had the river to myself and if I am able to make that trip again this year, I will concentrate on a few areas and paddle through some others. I finished with 21 fish to hand. I missed a bunch of bites and lost a good number of fish. I have a love / hate relationship with barbless hooks. The Jigfest folks should be encouraged. River traffic will be low and the fish will bite.

Very Fair Price. I just don’t bass fish enough to need them. I never understood why they didn’t expand the color offerings for that bait.

If I see them, I’m gonna want to catch one and that just leads to all kinds of trouble.

Organic groceries. You guys will eat well. I know that the meat will not go to waste.

I’m just a guy jousting with windmills. Marty is The Man.

The fishing was fine. I struggled at the second pond because I stuck with flys that I thought would work and that I knew how to retrieve. It would have been a good time to get a fly from Marty and learn that fly, but that wasn’t the choice I made.

That was a Great Day with a Super Slam! Good Job!

I made a long overdue visit to the Billethead Compound on Thursday. Of course, I try to do too much in too little time. It’s not my best quality. It’s super fun to roam the grounds and try to count all the beehives, see all the amazing toys that I didn’t know where there, and remind myself about stuff I had forgotten about. After a little bit, Marty and I hopped into his ride and went to a pond that has (had?) a good population of bullhead. Maybe Yellow Bullhead? Maybe Black Bullhead? We have to catch one to find out. I had my fingers crossed for a Black, but I just had to roll the dice. It’s a Fun drive through the farmland. The terrain is so different from my stomping grounds. Watching for all kinds of predators and prey scampering around. These ponds are kept for irrigation of crops and livestock. The fish populations are often Happy accidents. Because Marty is a Good neighbor and all around good guy, he has access to many of the ponds around him. Over the years, he’s gotten dialed in on many of them. The first pond we went to was a little low. This was good, the fish would be super concentrated. I don’t think Marty had fished this one very much. We started out on the deepest side and kind of leap frogged along. I was using my TFO 8’ “5 weight”. I started with a 1/32 oz zig jig, but switched to a size 10 black pistol Pete. I felt like the jig was too heavy and I wanted the prop to put out some flash and vibration. With the water being cooler, the bites were a little delicate. The fly needed to be moving slowly and very close to bottom. I caught quite a few green sunfish or green sunfish hybrids. we gave it a good shot, but no bullhead wanted to play. So, Marty got on the horn and made sure we were ok to go play at another pond. The next pond was larger. The level was also lower than full, but it still had plenty of water. Marty was happy that the water was more clear than dingy. I went with my 6 weight rod because we were more exposed to the wind. I tried a gold /chartreuse micro jig for a few casts, but I wasn’t feeling it. Marty rigs up and catches a beautiful Black crappie that would have been perfect keeper size. Like 12 inches. Then he catches a chunky Largemouth. Like 14 inches. (I’m trying to tie on a different fly which is made more difficult by him catching fish after fish after fish). He got a couple more crappie before moving along a bit. I had put on a size 8 Chartreuse/White craft fur Clouser. This little guy catches everything and crappie really seem to like it. I adjusted my retrieve to try to mirror what Marty was doing..beautiful sunny day with geese flying. The sounds of livestock were carried on the wind. Hawks worked the thermals. Good day to be fishing, but I really wanted a bite. I gave it a good try, but I had to switch to a different fly. I tried Marty’s Tutti Fruity Wooly Bugger. Some panfish were eating bugs coming off on the surface. Obviously there were bass and crappie. Something had to eat it right. Ehhh no. Marty moved around catching a fish every now and then. I moved around catching nothing. I felt a little better that Marty wasn’t catching them every cast while I caught nothing. I couldn’t believe I could not get a crappie on a baitfish fly or any sort. I was starting to get short on time. I decided to focus on catching a bass. I put on a Pearl Sparkle Minnow. I played around with retrieves and a small bass rushed in and ate at my feet. I didn’t catch that one, but that was a start. I eventually dialed in and caught a chunky one. Marty found a group of fish in the other side of the pond and was stroking them. I ended up catching a half dozen bass. We headed back and said our Goodbye’s. I got sent home with bbq sauce, honey, and a sourdough starter. Then the long drive home. I got home, had a sandwich, and hit the sack. It was a Good day. Thanks @BilletHead It was a Good Day!

I think there is plenty of food to go around, but the fish we catch will have been in the river a while and should be Fat and Happy. I know more than a few people who advocated for drastically less stockings of fish. They will get to see if it what they hoped for. the local economy will take a hit for sure. It’s easy to hate on the guide boats using shrimp and corn, but that family of four ate at restaurants and rented places to stay too. It’s not just the bait guide that is gonna lose some revenue

Numbers of Browns should be less affected.Always stocked in much lower numbers and a lot more natural reproduction

I like the tarantulas. They are one of the signs of Fall that I look forward to seeing. I would love to see those big centipedes at least once, but I hope I never get bitten by one.

I would like an XL Please. I will Gladly donate to CAM this coming Summer. Someone will likely need to remind me though. 😳

I picked my first post retirement gas money days earlier in the month. I was hoping they didn’t get in the way they don’t.

What are the dates again? not that it changes anything, but the river clearly has less fish in it these days. I have not put a full day in on it in forever, but I get the feeling 25 fish caught would be a really nice day when usually I would say 100 fish.

93) Northern Hog Sucker I made an ill fated mad tom trip last Thursday night. I have learned that there isn’t any point looking for them until a couple hours after dark. It takes a while before they become active. Normally, I would be asleep when I started this fiasco. I’m already sketched out being out in Meth Central at night by myself. Going to access points and hoping I don’t run into people having sex in their vehicles etc. I get to the first spot and rig up. Roam around in the creek looking for mad toms. I see lots of fish, big no mad toms. I’d also be Happy to try for a Log perch, but I wasn’t seeing those either. Next spot. No Madtoms, but an angry beaver that kept doing the tail slap thing. Next spot, no Madtoms. I almost got swept off my feet in heavy current because my crappy wading boots don’t have felt. I went around a corner and more angry beavers. Last spot, looking for Madtoms and I spot this guy. At first, I’m not sure if it’s a sucker or a sculpin. Drag and drop. Getting it really close to his nose. He spooks and the way it swims says Northern Hog sucker. He swam in a big lazy circle and settles back down. I did another drag and drop. This time he scoots forward over the fly and the line twitches a little. Yeet. Up and out of the water. Wiggling like the little demon he is. No net, but I snatched him out of the air free hand and stumbled to shore. If I dropped him, I wanted some chance of recapture. Hook came out while he was in my hand. I took a bunch of pics. None of them great. I looked high and low hoping to have a shot at a mad tom. I saw exactly one. A decent sized Slender that stuffed himself under a rock and would not play. I’ll do this again, but I’ll have to wait until I forget how much it sucked.

92) Mottled Sculpin @FishnDave was absolutely instrumental in me catching this guy. He put in the sweat equity figuring these little turds out. I can catch Knobfin and Ozark Sculpins with relative ease, but these little jerks were hard to catch. I had tied some 16’s and 18’s with bright colors and over sized bead heads. I saw a few that were too small to eat the 16’s so I switched to an 18 and Dave found me one to try for. I got the eat and the catch! I was immediately done and ready to go. I doubt that I ever go fish for them again. I’m quitting while I am ahead.

91) Goldfish i hold a grudge when I get humbled by a fish. My first trip to the koi/goldfish spot I was really used and abused by the goldfish. I caught a couple, but not nearly enough. I tied up smaller flys and I catch them much easier now, BUT I’ll likely never get over it.

90) Koi @FishnDave has the best spots.

89) Hybrid Striped Bass I had been told there was a chance for a hybrids there and then I had HOT intell that they were there and catchable. I got the Buffalo. I got the Silver carp. I tried for other Buffalo and a Bighead Carp for a while. As my time quickly disappeared, I had to go try for a Wiper. I went downstream to my target area and missed a take on my second cast. I was looking at the area and trying to make sure I covered all the prime spots. . I lost my fly and tied on some big goofy articulated sparkle minnows that I had bought. a few casts in with that one I got a big tug and the fight was on. I played the fish carefully and soon saw that I had a Wiper! I played it down and worked it close and as I reached for the net, it flopped and came off. I was so bummed out. I took a minute and checked my leader and the hooks. It was all good and I just had to hope that I would get another bite. I did. I ended up catching three and missing a few other takes. Big Fun!

88) Silver Carp I hooked several and landed two. The first was much larger.

87) Bigmouth Buffalo I made the long drive to Illinois to fish below a lake. Online research and other intell made me confident that I could add a couple species on fly for the year. I was not expecting this guy though. Conditions were awful with a heavy wind that made getting my gear out of the car stupid hard much less casting a fly. I carried the 6 wt and the 8 wt with me down to the water. I started with the 6 wt hoping for a factory fish in the Morone variety. Well, I hooked a sea monster and pulled on it for a few minutes before the hook pulled. This is the part where I should have switched to the 8 wt, but I did not. I quickly hooked another sea monster and after a few minutes I got my first look at the beast. It was HUGE. After a couple more minutes, I was able to roll it over and see that it was a Buffalo. After a few more minutes another angler was nice enough to help net it for me. Cue Rick Flair. it was a lot for a 6 weight. The hook on the fly broke right as we slid the fish into the net. The fish had been in the net twice before that and escaped back out. I have a big net, but I need a BIGGER net.

86) Redspot Chub Very Close in appearance and behavior to a Hornyhead Chub. Much smaller range. I was able to see him roll up and eat.