Ham

Sorry Cameron, Can’t help you there Buddy

I don’t know why the pics are sideways. anyways Bandit 100 Hummdinger 1/4 oz Zoom Z Craw Jr Yabby Craw 5/16 oz tungsten weight

I had fished the Upper Strawberry River out of a canoe years ago. Loved It. It might have changed, but back then it was pretty wild and woolly with minimal commercial traffic. It was all self shuttling. We caught numbers, but no size. Saw multiple locals with full stringers of small bass. Way above legal limits. well, I look around on Google Earth a fair amount and in the back on my mind was Waldo on the Lower Strawberry. Multi Species was on my mind. I found a ramp that I thought would allow me to access enough water for a day’s fishing. It was actually a lot more than a day’s worth of fishing, but more on that later. i loaded Waldo for a little of everything. Last time Looked at the Strawberry River in person it was about 4 feet at Poughkeepsie. Dirty water and flowing fast. The gauge was at about 1.33 yesterday. I expected slow flow and clear water. I took a younger guy from work. I launched at Riverside School Ramp East of Saffell, AR. The Ramp is designed for use under a WIDE range of water levels. It is a Long and steep ramp that isn’t the easier ramp I have ever used. Heavily silted at the bottom of it too. water was pretty low and still flowing. It still had a fair amount of color. Cover was everywhere. All thoughts of finesse fishing went away. Micro fishing wasn’t much of an option either. I saw Black Spotted Minnows, but with the stain and heavy siltation, it wasn’t going to work out. I idled away from the ramp, but could not stand it very long and started fishing almost immediately. I caught a small spot on a Humdinger spinner bait and ran aground. Pulled the TM up and current swung the boat on top of wood cover. This happened about 100 more times. I’m not sure that I want to fish it any lower than 1.33. I’m guessing that up to 2.5 might be ok. I would want a drawn out fall allowing water to clear. fishing was not as Good as I thought it would be. Most of the fish were small and boat control was just a beatdown. Waldo bounced off every log in the Creek. It looks like you should catch 100, but I only managed 24 to hand. Spinnerbait worked. Squarebill worked. But I probably caught most of my fish pitching a Zoom Z craw Jr. missed more than a couple too. It was a Power Fishing day. last fall @Johnsfolly and I fished Big Cypress Bayou. I went for a variety of reasons, but I really wanted to catch a Choupique. I had my chances, but failed to do so. Well yesterday, I made a simple pitch about an hour into the trip. I felt it get heavy and set the hook into a Choupique! What the heck??? I did not know they were even in the river and I am not used to them being in areas with fair amounts of flow. An hour later, I caught another Bigger one. I had a couple more chances at Bowfin after that, but they got away. BowFun! dropped a crappie jig in a few tops and caught some really nice crappie. I think that would be a very workable deal if you made a trip to do just that. We did make the long run down to the Confluence with the Black River. Eventually, we got deeper water where it was safe to run WOT. We caught fish down there too, but the vast majority of our fishing was in shallower water with more flow. it was Hot. I had plenty of stuff to drink, but it still wears on you. There was some shade available almost all day and a breeze from time to time which helped. I had a Great time. I love my Lewis and Clark trips. I’m not sure I’ll Make that 210 Mile round trip again, but I might.

You wound me Sir.

I run a 9 gallon tank. I wish it was a 12. I trailer as close as practical to fishing spot. Some of the ramps are problematic, but I usually work through that stuff

@BilletHead has a cruel streak. He knows I will be impulsively drawn to answer, but that it is all but impossible for me too answer. “what do I have in the boat?” Lots and lots and lots, but it changes often with the seasons, on the target species, and lake level, and and and. If I was ever completely dialed in to the bite AND absolutely sure of the target species, I do have the ability to carry minimal amounts of tackle. Ask @Quillback, most recent Redear trip, I only brought 3 rods, worms, and a single tackle bag. There is a thread coming, but yesterday, I had an adventure. Lewis and Clark stuff. Never fished there. Didn’t know what species were available. Water color? Flow rate? Etc. planned for everything. I got there. Dialed in. Focused on 3 lures the rest of the day. Lot of stuff was in my way and not needed, but so it goes.

Mostly hatchery mutts at that

There’s another Cuttie in the mix too. I heard second from Dave Wotten that they were “Yellowstone Cutts.

Launching at Two Rivers is a Good Option. I’ve also fished Van Buren and Donophan. Seems like higher numbers of SMB overall when compared to 11 pt.

Is this Tiger Trout a one time deal ? I’m hoping they stock every year for a while.

Man, I know it's tough to lose your Dad. It will get a little easier as time passes. I'm glad you had a successful trip. I hope the memories of your Dad are pleasant ones and that fishing helps you find comfort.

How is that possible ?

NGL, I can’t wait to hear how many

Yeah, modern deck screws with T20 or T25 Head. They give you a free bit with the larger boxes

I’m actually feeling pretty good about getting to 75 species with 15 lifers now. Me Getting to 3000 fish this year is a stretch though.

Whaaaaaasat? I’m at 48 species and 7 lifers. I’m planning on hitting up Strawberry River on Saturday. Is it possible I could catch up or * gasp * ....pass you up?

@Johnsfolly Tell these Good ppl how many species you’ve caught this year.

Screws all the way

I’m not too proud to throw a Sabiki rig!

I freaking love fishing with John and it was a really fun trip, but if you set enough silly goals for yourself, you can get snippy when they don't happen. I'm pretty surprised John did not mention the biting flys which really became an issue the last few hours of the trip. They took almost all the fun out of it. We had to pass up a lot of productive water. John and I need three day trips and then we still complain bitterly about just not having enough time. I really wanted to get John that Skipjack, but they are just crazy fish. I am Glad John got the Shadow Bass done. The Most aggravating part of coming up short on the 15 species is that we should have caught LMB pretty easily and we had our chances. We put enough baits in the right areas and should have caught a Chain Pickerel pretty easily, but John is CP repellant. those two would have gotten us to 15. The Greensides were right there for the taking, but darters are my bane. And the RBT and Logperch that were seen briefly. Common carp were seen often. I saw a big catfish cruising around. The river was at 2.35 or so which was great for running the shoals. I was pretty surprised at the limited boats on the water and the unlimited number of campers in that heat.

We are all frustrated by the changes forced on us as we try to figure things out, BUT why in the world would someone take that out on people just trying to do their job. I'm Sorry your daughter is having to deal with any level of verbal abuse.

Thank You. it’s too hot on the lake for me.

Honestly, I changed my mind because 1) depth of body 2) weird area of oddly arranged scales at tail 3) length of dorsal (didn’t know they get broken) 4) color of scales

I’m changing my vote to River Carpsucker

FTR, I’m not frowning, but I am jealous. Very.