Ham

45) White Grunt never let Dave sandbag you. He will act like every fish he caught in his life was a Happy Accident (shout out to Bob Ross). @FishnDave caught like 20 of these before I got one on fly. I did end up getting 3 or 4 on fly eventually.

I’m not sure how I lost the original text, but I’ll try again. 44) Rainbow Parrotfish This might be my luckiest catch of the year. I changed flys over to a tiny little shrimp pattern. I was letting it drop down closer to the rocks. I was actually looking away at something else when the parrotfish decided to yank my arm pretty hard. Perfect size for me to catch. There were bigger ones zooming around that would have destroyed me and gotten away. Really Happy with this guy. Takes a little of the 0-5 on Tarpon away.

43) Sgt Major total surprise. These guys are tough to hook on natural bait even with small hooks. I had hoped for one, but thought it highly unlikely that I would get one. I never have to try for another on fly #winning

42) Slippery Dick Wrasseguys get tired of catching them? But I’m not there yet especially not on fly

41) Mock Blenny this was a TOTAL surprise. My fly dropped through a massive cloud of other fish and down between rocks/coral at the White Street Pier. I asked some Professional Fish Nerds for help with the Id as there are several Blenny that look very much like each other.

40) Redbreast Sunfish a targeted Flyfer! I love it when a plan comes together. They were in the suggested creek and we caught em!

Good for you guys

39) Redear Sunfish Post Barramundi (will I ever be the same ?) we stopped at a tannic creek to try to get out Flyfer Redbreast Sunfish in Fly. This little guy jumped the train.

38) Peacock Bass I like giving myself multiple opportunities to catch a species, but I am also a HUGE fan of a bird in hand. I stopped fishing for Barramundi a few minutes early to give myself a chance at Peacock Bass. I was able to sight fish a few and talk one into eating. Heck Yeah! I got a better one later.

37) Barramundi This has been a dream fish of mine, but I never expected to get one. I didn’t figure that I would ever make it to Australia and I never imagined that they would become available in the US. It is a pay to play deal and the ponds have a bunch of them, but it’s still fishing. Some days they don’t bite as well as others. Cooler weather has the larger fish negative to neutral. I eventually managed to get a few. They are an impressive fish and I know it sounds Silly, but this is a Fun deal and I recommend it to everyone and I hope to make it there again.

36) Oscar a very much desired FlyFer on this trip. I saw a pair of fish I wasn’t 100% on acting strangely. They drifted in and out of sight always at the edges of my vision. I caught up with them after a bit and I could see it was a pair guarding fly. It took a few casts, but Dad peeled off and ate. pretty decent tussle and I being paranoid Hollered and got Dave’s attention for landing assistance and got him to get the net. He was kind enough to do so. After a couple of quick pics, we sent Dad back to do his job. This is only my second Oscar ever. My other one was Much Larger.

Water is at a Good Level. Water should be a decent temp. I haven’t been, but I’m pretty confident that conditions would be good.

Sorry to hear that. RIP

I’m gonna practice Bro. Next Time!

Heat, humidity, and 18 hour days. Fishing is such a relaxing hobby.

35) Florida Gar Like their local cousins, this can be a difficult catch or an unavoidable catch. Moody and difficult to stick. We saw singles and mega groups, but they were most catchable when we were Tarpon fishing with surface flys. It was difficult to determine what was throwing a wake to check out your fly. they look like Spotted Gar, but they get MUCH larger than Spotted Gar. Chonky Boi. i expected to catch 25 or them and I probably set the hook on that many. I landed exactly two. Both of mine were consolation prizes for coming up short in The Tarpon Thunder Dome, but Hey at least I didn’t have to spin the wheel right.

I tried to defer to the next elevator, but they insisted

I got dibs on “Frick”

I appreciate y’all helping with that. I know you get a lot out I helping others.

34) African Jewelfish I was looking for Pike Killifish when we found these guys. Super excited to get the first few and grew to hate them as they robbed me of Creasted Goby and a couple more lifers by being Uber aggressive with my natural baits. Dave was smarter than me, but that’s not his fault. At least, I did plan ahead and being really small flies for smaller fish. I did get this other color version on worm also

I feel like I was more alligator aware (paranoid) than he was. There were plenty, but overall I think I saw less than expected. I fished around three gators that I think had learned to steal struggling fish from fishermen. I didn’t lose any fish and Dave didn’t tell me about losing a fish to a gator.

You will be known by the company you keep.

33) Spotted Sunfish Dave is a mysterious guy. Spotted Sunfish was his #1 target of the trip. I was pretty confident we would both get plenty and I was correct.

32) Florida Largemouth Bass Happy to have him. the tax man was hopeful

I would not put my fingers anywhere near the mouth of any Lingcod