Ham

Such pretty fish. Pretty good pull too and not always easy to fool.

104) Sauger Arkansas’s best place to fish for Sauger is the Arkansas River. I wasn’t really trying for one on fly today until I caught a couple on spinning so I changed boat location and put on a fly that I felt was a better Sauger choice. I was prepared to spent an hour trying, but it only took 15 minutes or so. I missed the first couple of bites, but I got a good take and a good strip set.

That’s Sad. I never had the chance to meet him, but by all accounts he was a heck of a fisherman. My sympathies for friends and family. with my work, I get a steady stream of reminders of just how temporary our presence is. That’s why I push so hard to get as many trips in as I can.

Maybe he wanted to release it, but dang.

My fish nerds say River Carpsucker

I headed down to the Arkansas River yesterday to try to get a Sauger on my flyrod. Seems like a great idea for someone that has never caught a Sauger on the Arkansas River right?I was Happy to see them running water when I got there. I didn’t put the time in to find a link online to their generation schedule. I scrambled down the rocks and through the garbage to my first stop. In just a few casts, I was losing the first of many flys that I would feed to rocks. My theory is that the sauger are gonna be tight to the rocks and when the fly swings close by they will nab it. I was there for 5 hours and I used a flyrod for more than half the timethis was the only fish I caught on fly. I might have missed a bite or two on fly or maybe not. I tried to fish worms on a drop shot. Got some bites and lost some rigs. No fish caught. But what did work was a small swimbait slow rolled along. they were full grown and just crushing it. Kinda hurt my hands when they struck the lure. The generation seemed to wax and wane which made the current seams move around and the water level dropped, but they never stopped generating. Pretty decent largemouth bass slurped the swimbait. I fished spinning long enough to make myself feel better about things. When I stopped fly fishing, I picked up a bag of garbage. When I went back to the truck after catching a few on spinning, I picked up another bag of garbage. Maybe if some bank fishermen weren’t lowlife slobs, they would not lose access to places to fish. It’s gonna take a lot more people like me and a change in the behavior of the bad actors to make a real difference. I carefully moved the truck to the other side (low clearance) and started up fly fishing again. Back eddy and reduced flow. I tried and I tried and I tried. I gave myself another spinning rod session before I left. I ditched the drop shot set up and up on a jig. I moved down the bank making a few casts with the jig and a few casts with the swimbait well, the jig worked and they quit biting the swimbait. I got this fish while tapping the jig off the rocks down and across. Jury is still out on the ID, but it was a Lifer. Next cast was another White Bass. Next cast I hooked a mystery fish. Slow heavy pull with big head shakes. I’m guessing catfish or gar. I have to guess because it gave me the slip. I decided to sweeten the jig with some worm. I did not care for the extra drag, but I felt like it might get me another weird bite. The best fish of the Arkansas River rolled up. This guy was very studly. I followed that up with losing rig after rig after rig. I was out of time for re-rigging leaders and digging out jigs. I fished the swimbait for the last 10 minutes without a bite. It should have happened, but it did not. Then I did the long drive home. I got 14 fish to hand. I missed some soft bites and some hard raps. It might not have been cold enough for the sauger to be there yet. I think was 250 miles round drive. Just under 6 hours of driving for just over 5 hours of fishing. Maybe I’ll get that Flyfer Sauger next time.

More armchair lifers to come? The Orange Throated Darter complex keeps getting split out, but I’m not sure all the LES splits are going to become recognized.

I’m only interested in fishing for fish.

Photo Upgrade for my Hybrid Striper. I had caught one very small hybrid Striper. I made a trip hoping for the photo upgrade of the hybrid Striper or a walleye or a sauger. I got my upgrade, but no walleye or sauger yet. in fact I got two upgrades Man, do those things pull hard.

If you’re gonna drop hints Jeff, you ought to be after the goose jerky.

So, I have 1 GSO8M and 1 GS76SG. I use both with a 10 lb braid and 8 lb leader to vertically fish brush piles for crappie. Usually with jigging spoons. it turned out to be a lot harder to photograph than I anticipated

I have an over abundance of options and I really don’t have water very close that sets up for jig pole fishing, but I’m always tempted to buy more of the ACC poles. I have at times felt like I was under powered with some of my B&M jig poles. I have not felt that way with the ACC. I will try to get out there and get you the model numbers in what I have. They are the only ACC sticks that I have used

103) Yellow Perch So, Yellow Perch were illegally introduced into Bill Shoals Lake. I’ve heard they are quite numerous, but I have only rarely caught them on Bull. A few years ago, I saw a Yellow Perch in the White River and tried unsuccessfully to catch him. At some point, I caught my first White River Yellow Perch down below the Buffalo River in a back Eddy above Shipp’s Ferry. I have a pattern now and I have caught them from four locations and have a few more locations to try. I set out yesterday afternoon to catch on on my fly rod. Started fishing at 1:30. I caught the Cutty at my first YP spot. (1:46 PM). That took all the pressure off. moved to my next YP spot. I got my YP! Pretty quickly too. 2:10 PM. I started swapping back and forth between fly and natural baits. You have to fish through rainbows. So we ended up catching nine yellow perch on the day. Most on red wigglers, but I think I missed other bites on my fly rod. The Yellow Perch really hug the bottom. I suspect the ones that don’t feed Brown Trout. we quit fishing at 4:00 PM. I feel like I know how to catch them better now.

102) Cutthroat trout (Snake River?) I know it’s a baby and I might try to get a larger one next week, but I got one.

Maybe? I don’t get a lot of yard passes and I have a fair amount of crazy trips already in the planning stages

I have a couple of the ACC rods. I don’t have that model. I have been happy with them and caught good numbers of fish on them. Build quality seems nice and they are very functional. Not too light action, but not too heavy either

But a bunch will be legal next Spring.

101) Striped Bass I made a trip last in February this year looking for one of these on fly. I had truck trouble on the way home which ended up in me being without a tow vehicle until May at which time the window on Stripers at this location was CLOSED. I did not forget about them and hoped they would be there before the end of the year. They were and I made the long drive down to try again. I was disciplined and dedicated to the task. I had Spotted Bass, LMB, Yellow Bass, and White Bass helping me not get too frustrated. Eventually, I got a big eat and managed to stay pinned to this schoolie Striper. i wish I had had heavy clouds or more wind or rain or something. It was kind of slow. but after catching one, I was free to play and learn the area better. I moved and tried another area and caught three more Stripers. They sure are fun.

I’m got some spots that I am very protective of. I’m just a rare visitor there.

Lol, Hop, skip, and a jump. I’ve never fished if, but with enough water during the week, it’s probably pretty good.

Shovelnose Sturgeon

Silver Carp

Yelloweye Rockfish

Mooneye I was able to figure these guys out. Easy peasy once I figured them out.

Jack Crevalle The first one a little guy off the beach in Panama City and the larger one at Destin Harbour.I sure was Happy to catch both of them, but I did think to myself after catching the second one. I don’t need any more of those. I need to catch something different. I love fishing for salty stuff, but I don’t want to ever live near a coast.