Ham

82) Telescope Shiner I made a drive to a wildlife area to get a Telescope Shiner for the annual species total. I tied some flys for the trip this morning and I got my Telescope Shiner on the first cast!!! Then I caught a lot of Bleeding Shiners. I did get a few more Telescopes though.

Sorry Pete. I don’t get to worked up about color variants. I’m a species guy.

Thats what I am trying to do. Catch a fish in every state. I don’t have to do it on fly or anything.

a trout trip to MIssissippi instead of the White River seems ill advised.

Man, That boat is gone, the net is gone, that Cabela's Rain Jacket is gone. 12 years takes a toll on gear.

81) Grass Carp such a fun fish on fly! In city ponds, they are such PIA, but in rivers where they are wild, they are greedy eaters. You still have to be careful not to spook them. They will react to a fly line going over their head. It seems like a fly landing heavy gives them a direction to go look for the food. I got three yesterday. All more than 30 inches. Pretty tough customers. It takes a while to wear them down.

80) Skipjack I had been champing at the bit for quite a while waiting on the water level at Batesville to get right or at least right to me. I jumped the gun and went when it was way too high. I won’t do that again. FINALLY, the water level was right for me. I took off that way this morning after walking the dogs. When I was about to take off from the ramp, a boat came in two “older” guys in a boat came up. I asked them if they caught them all. They said no. They had caught some early, but they shut down an hour ago. Bummer. I asked if they had caught skipjack. That’s what they were fishing for. I asked about White Bass and Grass Carp. No yo both of those. Undeterred, I headed up to the ramp. First cast, a skipjack flashed my fly’s repeatedly. “Shut down”? It only took a few minutes and I had my first skipjack in the boat. I was hoping for a 30 fish day so I stuck with it a little while. I went looking for other stuff once I got to 10 skipjack caught. Lots of them flashed in the flys repeatedly without ever taking them. I had a double on for a little bit, but only landed one of them.

I’ll try to make that happen. I’ll have to brush up on my trout fishing skills. you’re the Man Rick.

I abused the dopey Rainbows. It was oddly easy. I’m pretty sure that’s the most Rainbows in a day on fly rod for me. Dave absolutely knocked it put of the park for species and good size on top of that. The two carp were really impressive. He did a great job getting the eats and a perfect job fighting those fish. Well Done!

I sincerely Hope that I am never bored nor depressed. I’m (so far) staying pretty busy and I have so much more fishing that I want to do than I have time for. already, I can feel myself relaxing and taking more time with a project because I have MORE time to get things done. as it cools off a little and becomes more comfortable to be in the boat barn, I really want to go through and organize my fishing gear. I know I have too much. Like waaaaaay too much. Maybe by realizing how silly I was to buy so much stuff before, I will buy less going forward. I will give some stuff away. Sell some stuff. And hopefully use some stuff up. One idea I have is to have some grab and go bags. Trying to have stuff ready to go without the mad scramble the day before a trip. For example: My Ned stuff would be gathered and enough in a bag to run to the creek. A bag for 4 inch ochos and squirrel heads ready to go to the lake. A bag of zoom super flukes and the hooks that I like for them. a bowfin bag. A catfish/ sucker bag. then there is the fly fishing stuff to work through. Every time I tie. I get organized a little bet so that less time is spend looking and setting up. I don’t have a full time designated area to tie and probably won’t ever. I want to have a tote of all the fly related stuff. When I tie something that I know I like, I will often tie up more than I plan to take with me on any given trip. I’d like a tote to put ziplocks of completed flys in so I can restock quickly. Heck, I could put smaller ziplocks into gallon bags. A trout bag, panfish bag, bowfin bag, etc. I have a bunch of 3600’s and 3700’s. I can spend some winter days sorting through those. A keep pile and a go away pile. Then organize the sorted boxes in a yet to be fully thought out way that lets me find what I am looking for more quickly. I am trying to fish about three days a week. It might be a little more at times and maybe a little less at times. Fishing 175 days a year seems about right. A part time fisherman as it were. I am catching up on home projects and getting more into meal prep and cooking. I have books to read, playlist to make, and podcasts to listen to. It’s been really Fun so far.

79) Neosho BassI got a Neosho Bass from Illinois Bayou today. I’d been wanting to fish there and today after the Arkansas River disappointed me, I went there to fish. Well, it was underwhelming and I doubt I will go back, but I did get a Neosho Bass. I had to hook three to land one, but it was a FUN eat.

My last day was 9/4/25. I’ve only caught 228 fish since then

So, I quit a little early or at least a little earlier than I thought I would, but it was time. I saw where a pro athlete said that if you were thinking about retiring, it was time to retire. I always hated missing great fishing conditions when I had to work, but I did not mind going to work. Well, work got more and more demanding and complicated and I would guess me getting older made it a little harder to adapt to the constant changing work landscape. There was no single event that had me thinking about leaving, but an almost daily dose of unpleasantness made me longing to get OUT. So, I looked at everything and decided I could quit. I quit. I’m done. Mostly. I might work a couple days a month for gas money. here’s an official notice to fishing buddies that my schedule is a lot more open these days. Keep in mind that I am retired, but not divorced. I don’t want to become divorced either so I can’t just do everything I want any time I want. Just saying. it’s only been a little while, but Man, this feels Great. I freaking love this. I will miss my work friends. I will not see them very often and that will gradually erode those relationships. I’ll drown that sorrow by strengthening relationships with fishing friends.

78) Bigeye Shiner aggressive little guys that are usually in fairly large groups. I often catch them a little bigger, but this is the guy I caught first. it used to be Notropis boops, but I think they changed the genus name. You’ll always be Notropis to me

It used to be that $25 got you a guide’s license in Arkansas. Their experience and abilities really run the gamut.

The Huge name pioneers of the sport are dying off. I don’t really see them being replaced because there are so many mouths at the trough now. So many You Tube channels etc. by all accounts a Good Dude. Innovator, teacher, fisherman, friend, and conservationist. He lived a Full life rich with friends and experiences. It’s hard to find fault with that.

74) Common Roach 75) European Perch 76) Northern Pike all caught in the Grand Canal west of Dublin. Trip report in European Waters forum 77) Brook Silversides I am dialed on these little guys. A small fly pulled across the surface will get attacked. Eventually, one chokes it down. Like a 18 or smaller.

Might be some redfish caught too.

I plan on releasing mine with a lip ring. All the kids are doing it.

Headed back into Dublin via rail. 6 fish caught. I wish it had been 60, but I would have been ok with one.

So I got my roach (the easiest fish in the UK I was told) and my euro perch. I switched to pike gear. i had gotten bitten off earlier by a pike and a saw another one and eventually drilled down a location. It cost me some roach and perch, but I got my pike. I know he is little. I don’t care. Happy Happy.

I’m a mutt. I might do a dna thing to find out

No license required. Fancy places you have to pay to play. I have a free spot today.

the monkey is off my back. Flyfer/Lifer/First fish from Ireland. Roach? Rudd?

I left the hotel at 8:30. Walked a bit to a tram station. Took a Lewis in Dublin. I was told Lewis means fast in Irish. I think it needs a new name. Hopped off Green Line tram onto Red Line tram at Abbey Street. I took that tram to Heuston Station. The fare was 2 Euro which is about $2.40 I grabbed my ticket and found my train headed to Sallins/Naas. That ticket was 5.10 euros. Like $6. So now, I am bumping and grinding my way to Sallins/Naas where I will fish the Grand Canal. I am hoping for Roach, European Perch, and Northern pike. Honest to God, any fish species of any size will be a blessing and a relief. We fly home tomorrow and I will have to make it up to the puppies and get things in order BUT man am I Mad at the fish. There is an event on the horizon and payback coming to the fish as a whole for my mistreatment by the fish in Scotland. Lots of it. I will update “real time” if I manage anything to catch anything today.