Ham

Did some research and found a spot with a good chance for a Flyfer. More driving than fishing, but I rolled the dice anyway. I spooked s Big Cottonmouth on the way to the creek which is a good sign, I immediately got lit up by Bleeding Shiners. I figured they would be the dominant minnow and I would have to fish thru them. In just a little bit I starting picking up what I thought was my target species, but I wanted a larger pretty one. I could see them in the water column. Very different from Bleeding Shiners. I got a few. 82) Telescope Shiner. Very much like the Bigeye Shiner, but slimmer, smaller eye. Mouth more like a Carmine Shiner. No black band across eye

Kinda counting on it. I will make a trip that way and they will be the primary target.

One man’s racism is another man’s neighborliness or something like that.

Oh Buddy, I’m Sorry to hear that. You helped him have a Good life.

I got you Bro, but don’t put money down fir next year

I think so, but be prepared to walk and get wet. There are multiple access points. Im not sure how many bad you could catch in a day. 25-50 maybe

Last Tuesday, I made the long drive to Cass, AR to wet wade a section of the Mulberry River. It was forecast to be warm. Good thing I was fishing it during the middle of the day. My main targets were Neosho Bass, Ozark Logperch, and a mystery micro that I think is likely a Mississippi Silverside. They look different in the water than fish I have caught and act a lot like Brook Silversides, but more on those jerks later. I made the 120 something mile trip In good time. Road construction is frustrating, but necessary. There’s a reason Hwy 23 is lovingly referred to as the Pig Trail. Started and got the easy stuff quickly. Bigeye Shiner, Wedgespot Shiner, and Steelcolor Shiner within the first 5 minutes. Saw, Brook Silversides. Hooked two, but landed neither. I have them already this year so no great loss. I was scanning everywhere looking for jumbo Ozark Logperch like I saw last time I was there. I never saw the Ozark Logperch I was looking for. I saw a couple of other darters and got bites on my fly, but I could not hook them and you don’t get many swings before they spook. I set multiple alarms on my phone when I have limited time to try to keep myself on track. at the 1/4 mark, I hade caught 24 fish and several of them were juvi Neosho Bass, but not the ones I wanted. Back to the car for hydration and the 6 weight. I started with Marty’s pretty little craw that’s he tied up. He gave me three and I caught my Flyfer Swampland Longear on one earlier. I lost two of the three in Alabama. I knew it would be a great fly for Neosho Bass, but I was down to my last one. Once I got to a deeper pool with that special craw, it didn’t take long. I don’t make the rules, the taxonomist do. It has that long lower jaw and funky coloration that sets it apart from Smallmouth Bass. I at least for one new species for the year. I had spent a while on the mystery micros in the first quarter and had lots of looks. Speed is a strong attractant for them, but they nip rather than eat and Bigeye, Wedgespot, Cardinal Shiners, and Steelcolor will run in a grab the fly that they have their nose pressed against. I got this real nice Steelcolor Shiner. This largemouth tried to eat a real nice Green Sunfish that I was catching so I had a cast for him and he ate the little craw. I worked Darters and the mystery micro for a good while. I hooked and lost a nice Stone Roller. I hooked and lost the mystery micro at my feet as well as a couple more that I barely hooked and lost really quickly. I’ll have to tie a fly on a small look that looks big, but can still hook them. They love to hit flys too but for their mouth. I don’t know what they are, but I know what they ain’t. I’m pretty sure that I have never caught one. Sad to say, that I might have to go back especially if my other Ozark Logperch spots don’t pan out. 2nd,3rd, and 4 th quarters flew by. It was time to go far to quickly. I only added 22 more fish to finish short of a 50 burger, but that happens when you are targeting certain fish rather than just catching. another 248 miles on the Subaru and 19 species to go.

So, as Dave alluded to, I have fallen into the trap of trying for 100 Species on fly again. I’ll try to explain. Last year, I had this crazy idea and I obsessed over it. It wasn’t always Fun. I said that if I came up short, I wouldn’t try again until I was retired, if ever. And I meant it. I was going to consider 99 species Failure, but I would likely have traveled to somewhere to get the last few species. I was Very Happy to have gotten there and relived to but it behind me. I could just fish again. so, Dave and I fish the Arkansas River in January. We both got Stripers and Blue Cat on fly. I had gotten Sauger earlier. That was cool. Then I got a Cutthroat Trout which I didn’t catch in 2023. Then, I got an Ozark darter. And Channel Cat. And Yellow Perch. I kept picking up Species. the switch flipped in my head when I picked several Flyfers. Spotted Sucker, Swampland LES, Slender Blacktail Shiners, and Redfin Shiner. I couldn’t waste this start. The hard part was that basically I was starting at -30 from last year. That’s the number of species I caught in Florida and Canada. Since, I caught 105 species. I was going to have to find 25 species “locally” and make them eat a fly. I had those 8 species on my lifetime list that I did not catch in 2023. I would need some of those. Still, an uphill run. I made lists of possible species and reworked them a million times. Planned trips. Researched fish. Tried to fine tune how I caught fish before. I needed to repeat as many of the “local” 75 from last year as possible. Ive been quietly doing that. @BilletHead , Dave, and @Johnsfolly have been suffering my ramblings in the background. I picked more Flyfers along the way. Hit the easy button when I could. And the trip to Louisiana was a Huge help. I have hit the Home stretch. I’m not done. I got a very Lucky catch my first day back from Louisiana a Black Redhorse sucker which put me at 80 species for the year. I still have work to do and many miles to drive, but I like my chances. I’ll post the “last” 20 species as I catch them. It isn’t easy, but I am a lot less stressed about it this year. Still doing it two years in a row would be cool. I sure Hope I’m done with this silliness after that. No promises.

yeah….it ain’t easy being me

A little update, I did get Lifelist over 250. I hope to keep pushing that forward. I did get Freshwater Fly list over 100. Rio Grande Cichlid was the 100th. I did get Alligator Gar on fly. And I liked it. im gonna take a beating on some of the other goals

Oh, on the way home I swung by Wapanocca NWR in Crittenden County. Looked Great! Zero Bites. and if your curious, 2152 miles total on the truck got the trip

So, Friday’s weather was not any better than Thursday’s weather. The Sabine River went to flood stage so we did not go there looking for clear water to spot Gar in. I checked the weather for another area in Texas that I though we could get Dave an Alligator Gar in, but it was getting heavy rain also. we accepted our fate, prepped gear and waited for a window of fishable rain. We hit some of the same spots from the day before had numerous larger AG feeding, but they could not be bothered with us. I caught a couple of Redfish. we wandered further down the road and fished more ditches and caught reds and Ladyfish and blue crabs AND I got my Black Drum. And since I had one Black Drum, I then kept catching them. I caught at least 4, but it might have been 5. well, we had some logistical difficulties because I need adult supervision at times, but we got Dave to the spot for Alligator Gar. It was all him. I was not casting where the Alligator Gar were playing. Nope. Not me. I told Dave he was down to two hours. apparently, Dave has a flair for the dramatic. He got it done. I was so Happy for him. once Dave got his first, I felt free to fish again. So, I caught more alligator gar. It was Fun. I quit again because Dave was struggling to get a second one. I was hoping to avoid more fire ant bites, but I failed miserably. I hate those darn things. we loaded for home, but for flagged down by a guy who caught some Fat Sleepers with his cast net. We had to burn a 1/2 hour trying for those. Sadly, no Fat Sleepers were caught one fly. Thats the end of the fishing. Lots for goofy stuff happened on the way home, but nothing that y’all would want to hear about. Great Trip. Very memorable. I appreciate Dave for enabling my whimsical pursuits. Fish on Gentlemen.

So we headed south on Hwy 27. We passed up all the spots we spotted at before and we’re stopping at little pull offs. There would be a “road” that plunged j to the Marsh a bit and culvert would allow water to flow under these “roads”. We could fish boat sides of the culvert and almost always caught some kind of fish, but of course, Dave was after Alligator Gar and Some were usually around. i was trying to stay out of the way. At times I wouldn’t fish at all, but I still wanted to catch more species so eventually I tied a small weighed fly onto my trust TFO Bug Launcher and started trying to get a Black Drum or a Pinfish. I was also hoping for shots at larger Atl Needlefish. At one of the spots, there was plenty of life at the down current side and not much happening on the up current side, but I wanted to be out of the way. Dave and I have observed that you might struggle to catch a fish, but once you catch that first one that they come in bunches. I was not going to try for an Alligator Gar again until Dave caught one. so, I’m dragging a tiny (Size 10) home tie around when I got a big thump. I immediately thought Redfish, but it was gonna be my largest of the trip. The fish flashed the surface and I got greenish color and an asymmetrical tail shape. Bowfin? In brackish water? the fish powered away and with 6 lb tippet, I let him. A bunch of runs and line retrieval. Hoping for the best and expecting the worst. The fish tired enough to get a look at it and it was another dang Alligator Gar. 😳. That was the last thing in the world I wanted to catch right then, but with patience and Dave pouncing on him like a Spider Monkey when the tippet failed as it was being lead to shore, the beast was captured. I was Very Happy once landed. Picture Time! I’m pretty sure that I was done fishing for Macro species for the rest of the day. I remember getting very upset with Sheepshead Minnows for being the jerks that they are. Dave caught another beautiful Spotted Gar that we both thought was an Alligator Gar until we got it on shore and looked at it. That was so bad. Dave caught other fish. we headed back to the spot where I caught my first couple Alligator Gar and Dave had lots of bites and lots of hooked fish that evaded capture. I had lots of bites from Fire Ants and mosquitoes. I walked up and down the road. I absolutely was not going to catch another AG out from under Dave. I REALLY WANTED HIM TO GET AN ALLIGATOR GAR. we stayed too long and were late getting back. Most of the restaurants were closed by then. We ate at a Mexican place called Rhumba. I enjoyed it. Hope Springs eternal. Dave had to catch his gar on Day Three, but Iw as planning on boating the Sabine River backwaters to an area we were told had lots of 30-60 lbers Friday was gonna be awesome

So, we got to the rental pretty late Wednesday night and had a cold salad. A hero’s meal to celebrate my Flyfer Alligator Gar. Rental was very nice. Kinda pricey. Set up really well for fishermen and families. Dave and I would not spend much time there, but it was nice. weather was going to be an issue. We had to wait and see in the morning how bad and what issues. My plan had been to use the boat in the morning and in the afternoon/evening fish from shore. Thursday morning it looked like near constant bands of rain coming through and at times quite heavy with lightening possible. I nixed the boat. We had plenty of spots to try. First spot, I tied on an oversized bunny chartreuse Clouser with heavy lead eyes. The tide was pulling water out of one canal 90 degrees into another bank.I made my cast up Current and brought the fly back close to bottom with the current. It really did not take long before I had a nice take and strip set into a good fish. Heavy pull with lots of vibration had me hopeful and I was very excited to see my Flyfer Southern Flounder break the surface. The really inhaled the fly and was well hooked. It was a really nice one too. Not a doormat sized one, but a really solid “keeper”. I forgot about their habit of wanting to bite the hand that caught them and it shredded my pointer finger when I was popping the hook out. Blood poured, but you have to just keep fishing. It’s almost healed at this point. I think Dave was obsessed with the Alligator Gar working around us. I switched over to trying stuff for Black Drum and Hardhead Catfish. I caught a couple of small Redfish at a couple of the spots. we swapped spots a couple of times. Interesting interactions with locals catching blue crabs with hand lines in a heavy rain ignoring mosquitos and fighting alligators over a chicken neck. I got one of the bites that I was looking for, but it was the bite almost everyone hopes to avoid.I got my Flyfer Hardhead Catfish. They are universally considered not fit to eat and they are good at sticking a fin in you. To add insult to injury, they have venom glands that make getting poked even more uncomfortable. I was Happy to catch one though and Very Happy that I got Dave the Catfish Pro to release it for me. With my Flounder injury and getting poked by a Gafftop already, I was not wanting to take another hit. a big band of rain settled in For a bit so we drove north to Sulphur, La and ate at a great local place Hollier’s which was a buffet of the home style food I grew up with. I’d love to eat there about once a week. It was awesome. Some guys overheard us talking and suggested a spot for the next day which was supposed to be better weather. after Lunch we head south again in search of Alligator Gar!

Some of the heads looked more blunt than the others, but I felt like the teeth were definitive. I really Don’t want to see what I want to see and misidentify a fish .

Sadly, we did not keep any of our catch for food. I felt like I had enough on my plate already without worrying about cleaning fish and getting in home in decent shape to eat.

We banged on the Speckled Trout for an hour or so starting at 9 pm or so. Lots of willing biters. next Monday we loaded out pretty early and took a disfuncional route to Lafayette to be frustrated by Bantam SF and Golden TM. I saw both and caught neither. so where in there we realized that a not previously predicted rain event was moving into the area we planned on fishing. Nothing we could do except adapt. we drive through lots of rain and stopped at a boat ramp to drain water from the boat. Then on to alligator gar spot. we tried an areas that looked to good to pass up and then got to the target area. I had tied up some ugly buggers with a 4X long #4 streamer hook. It had plastic bead eyes and some rubber legs for a tail. It hovered pretty well. in just a little bit I got a good bite and was able to quickly hustle my first Alligator Gar on fly to the bank. He was hooked really well, but I took no chances.I was ecstatic over my tiny AG. I switched to @BilletHead Clouser to prospect for Redfish and stay out of Dave’s way, but another Alligator Gar jumped on it. Dave had shots, but couldn’t convert. At somw point we bailed and went to the rental

I had hoped for Gulf Killifish at the Rio ditch, but I didn’t see any micros at all. I had noticed small fish driving by a ditch leading to a bayou near our cabin. after a cool off/shower/re-dress from the morning session, we headed out to check the ditch. I toted the trusty TFO Bug Launcher and Dave carried his lightest rod an 8 weight. the ditches turned out to be loaded with all sorts of fish. I was quickly able to get a few Gulf Killifish. There was a little truck to getting them and once I worked that out, I could have filled a bucket with them. I got Dave to come over and catch one and he of course caught a juicy jumbo one. A little later Ladyfish started blowing up on the down current side of the culvert. So, we had to catch some of those. We caught Redfish. Dave got an Atlantic Croaker. And Dave managed to get a Large really pretty Spotted Gar. I got several Redfish and one of them really wore me out, but I was able to land themI’m still dragging stuff around trying for an Atlantic Croaker when I came tight to another fish. I was stunned to find out it was another Sheepshead!Dave got into a fight with an Alligator Gar and despite pulling on him for a good while was not able to land him. I moved around dinking and dunking and finally got my Atlantic Croaker.I hated to stop, but rain was coming and we wanted to have at least one decent meal on the trip so we headed in to get ready for Salvo’s Seafood

So, Apparently, I’m a slow learner. We were given another marsh pond to try by Clay. He catches lots of reds there. So, Tuesday morning bright and early, he head to the pond. Bait everywhere, Redfish no where. i’m poling the boat around. Dave got a Speck. I fished a little from the front and hopped down for a cool water and a rest. Dave spots some movement and gets to the front as well glide in. so version of him leading the fish and twitching the fly correctly leads to an ear and a hookset. The water is off color, but Dave sees enough to know it is a black drum. I asked how big it was and Dave says it’s ok sized or something like that. As the drum starts pulling the boat along, I suggest that it might be larger than he thinks. it took a while to tire it out. Everything held together which was good. Then a combo of fish gripper and Net to get big Boy into the boat massive big ugly.

So, Monday afternoon we took off for Metairie. Which is part of the Big Easy. Traffic was really awful. I don’t like driving in any big city, but there is lots extra workers in the area for the installation of a new LNG plant. And there’s road construction and there’s stupid/ selfish people. we needed some stuff so we made a target run and then on to the Rio ditch. I had several areas to try, but I was certainly hoping my hottest intell would pay off. I did not want to have to go to the city Tuesday afternoon nor Wednesday morning, but I would have until we both had Rios. I think Dave had one before I had a fly picked out to try. We celebrated the success for a minute and then I started fishing hard. My first one was a colored up male. 😍then I got a smaller one. we both caught several Rios and Green Sunfish etc. but it’s not just about the fish, it’s also the natural beauty of the fishing spots and communing with nature. So, we actually caught them too quickly and I wasn’t ready to fight the Belle Chase traffic so we drove to another Rio spot that Dave turned into an Alligator Gar Spot, but after a few minutes with no gar in sight I called BS and pointed it towards the cabin. it was fairly late when we got back and I think raining so we settled in probably the earliest of any trip. We are a Late Dinner and crashed.

The trip is all a big sweaty blur. I had packed plenty of clothes and knew the next rental had a washer/dryer we could use, but I was starting to “sweat it” (see what I did there?) because I was going through multiple shirts and pants a day. I’m having to look back at photos to see the order stuff took Place in. So, it was hot and I was frustrated and knew that I wanted to go try for Rios, but before we did that I wanted to fish heavy stuff on bottom in the waterway in feony of the camp. Lots of pilings and structure that I hoped would hold Sheepshead and Black Drum. it took Dave a few minutes to catch not one, but two hardhead catfish. I caught nothing. But, I’m a little like Ruth Bader Ginsberg when it comes to fishing, I persisted. we dropped further down still trying for benthic beasts when we saw feeding activity on the surface. It took a few hot minutes as we changed flys until we could get bit, but it was Ladyfish, being not at all Lady like. And just under them were large numbers of baby gafftops which Can get really nice sized and will sometimes take surface lures. Hardhead catfish have a real reputation for venom in their slime coat that is really unpleasant if you get poked. This little turd finned me and I did not love the experience at all. i tried heavier and larger stuff to get below the frenzy to see if something better was available, but never got a bite and the Rios were waiting so we headed in to prep for that.

So, I still have a few friends left in Louisiana. My friend Kelly Watson is a guy I check in with from time to time and he knew the area we were gonna fish in. I was pretty surprised when Kelly informed me he was meeting us at the cabin and a little concerned actually.Turns out he wanted to show us some spots to try. I have know idea why we couldn’t just have looked at Google earth, but nah we all jumped into Waldo and took off into the failing daylight. He showed us three spots running through a maze of cuts, ditches, and flats. I honestly did not think I could get back to the spot he strongly suggested for Day 1, but amazingly, we were able to find it the next morning. I put Dave up front and started push piling us around the shallow marsh pond. We saw tons and tons of bait and life, but not really a whole lot of redfish. somewhere in there I was working a tutti fruiti Clouser under a gadget float. It would chug and the fly would drift down. I was looking for a reds while working it back. I got a tug and strip set in response. Fish On! I was using a 9 weight to chunk the goofy float thingy so the guy was out matched really, but I got very anxious when I caught sight of him, but Dave deftly got him in the net and I could celebrate my Lifer/Flyfer Sheepshead. We spend a while working around with no other success. I moved us out to a deeper cut and I got a rat (mouse?) red. And in short Oder Dave got a couple of Rat Reds. Not big ones, but much better than nothing.

In the 2000’s a band called the Bravey released two albums at the same time that were different versions of the same set of songs. There was a “Sun” and a “Moon” version. I am tempted to do my of thread about Dave and Ham’s Big Adventure, but I’ll just add to this one. lots of planning and scheming and research to try to get maximum results from the trip. I reminded myself that Rio Grand Cichlid and Alligator Gar were the primary focus, but didn’t necessarily have to be caught first. I think this trip was I the planning stages for a year or more. i would have loved to make the trip in October when the air would have been drier and the overnight temps lower, but prior commitments made that impossible. the trip down is a lot easier for me. You aren’t tired yet and you are full of excitement and hope for the trip ahead. I had spent a lot (too much?) time thinking about flys to bring and Flyrods to use. I had bought some pretty Redfish flys that I was sure were gonna knock ‘em dead. I spent a fair amount of time destroying my previous fly boxes and reconstructing them into appropriate boxes for the trip. the place I choose for marshes south of New Orleans was Bayou Log Cabins. The owner is Clay Boudrioux. They were not cheap, but he was a super helpful guy and they were on the water. We launched the boat at his ramp right after we got there and pulled it out right before we left. We were able to use the trolling motor to get to the lights that we fished under at night for a Speckled Trout etc. plenty of room and well equipped dock for fisherman. it had been 50 years since I had fished for Specks under lights, but it had not changed much. Lots of action. You’ve already fished hard during the day, might as well catch a bunch of fish in the relative cool. Marty’s Clousers caught 95% of the fish I caught under the lights. I had just under 70 fish in the two nights. Dave beat the heck out of them especially on the second night, but I have no idea how many he caught.

Always so much drama for us Lifelisters! Great Job! I’m glad the persistence was rewarded.

Really nice pretty ones as always. Are there any Brookies up there yet?