Ham

I do not believe it was a Bonnevillie

At this point, I would be remiss if I failed to point out that the fishing was difficult, but Dave was successful. Dave was a perfect host, but I did not want him to just watch me fish. I don’t begrudge him the fish he caught. It’s frustrating to be a scrub, but it’s motivation to improve. Dave caught almost twice as many fish as I did. He caught multiple grassies (and one was a Giant) and multiple Channel Cats..My only saving Grace was the Goldeye which I would not have caught without Dave’s help. But wait, it gets worse for Ham on Sunday

Next stop was Dave’s almost famous Bullhead Hole. I got lots of chances. I lost more than I wanted to, but caught five. I was hoping to run across a Yellow Bullhead, but it would appear they were all Black Bullhead. I when probably 5/9 of the catfish I hooked and the catfish went 2/5 poking me with a fin on the release. #ouchies Toxic Avenger Bullhead. so, it’s been all Sunshine and Puppies for Saturday. I was a little later than I planned on getting back to Dave. I’m at 48 species now and feeling pretty hopeful about getting to 50 species on fly with Dave on Beatdown Creek and/or our Sunday fishing location. so with High hopes and insufficient food onboard we started fishing the creek. Last year the creek ran higher and the banks were nearly free of vegetation. The terrain was difficult, but casting was not impaired and the fish were less spooky. This year the water was lower and clearer. Heavy vegetation made casting a bear. The fish were less plentiful and more spooky. Dave was a kind and helpful host. Giving me first shots at all the best targets. Sharing what he has learned from the hard lessons taught there. He did all he could to help me get it done. My target species was a grass carp., but I had hoped for a channel cat maybe or a common carp and a faint dream of a Goldeye. so a long sad sorry of missed chances and misbehaving fish. Spooky Shortnose Gar and Evaporating Grass Carp vexed me again and again. My best grass carp chance was a big one that ate my indicator. All I wanted was a little one to eat my fly. so I caught a goofy Shortnose Gar. I got him photographed and released and as I was getting my stuff straightened out, Dave shouted for me to get my fly back where it had been that he had seen a fish Erin my fly. So I followed my guides instructions and with a little luck and some timely fly movement I got a fish to strike. It seemed decent sized and out up a Good scrap. I caught a glimpse and dared to dream that I had hooked my Lifer Goldeye. It was a stressful few seconds that seemed very much longer before I slipped the net under my Goldeye. a wise thing to have done would been to have returned to the car for food and water. But feeling the rush of excitement over my Lifer I pushed on and on long after I started feeling really poorly and long after I stopped fishing at anything near my best. I finally tapped out completely and gave into reality. I caught a White Bass and Hybrid Green Sunfish in there somewhere. After some food and water, We tried again. Hitting new water. Hole after hole. Mile after mile. I missed a Great chance at a big drum at my feet. I got another Shortnose.Gar and that was about it. I had failed. I knew that a long night of severe leg cramps lay ahead. I tried rehydrating and eating stuff high in potassium to no avail. BUT still now sitting at 49 species on fly I had hopes for Sunday.

I’ll never tell

So Day 2 started before daylight for me. Dave was being a Good husband and running his wife to the Airport. It was nice to meet her. Dave married up. So while he was busy, I went to the two Sure Thing (TM) locations that he found in Stl. I was still butt hurt from the Highway Closure at Chain of Rocks and I took it out on the willing biters. I won’t post all the pics, but let’s just say the ornamental carp are NOT quite as cunning as the wild cousins. I did notice that I mostly caught little ones. I think @FishnDavehas educated most of the Big ones. I did get some larger ones. I want to let y’all know that netting one of these guys solo on a slippery slope was not easy. I was fishing with Dave the rest of the weekend so I played by house rules. All my fishing on Saturday and Sunday would be flyrod only. I used a new fun little flyrod. I got a TFO Bug Launcher. It’s a 7 foot 4/5 weight. 2.3 oz and $90 bucks. Big Fun.somewhere along the way I caught a couple of Goldfish too.so I probably stayed about 10 minutes too long, but I left em biting so I should get a Gold Star for that. so I had added two species on fly. Sitting at 47 and feeling Pretty Good about myself. Heading to an urban water feature that has a Good number of hungry Bullheads.

Hunter Biden might be the only person that documents their bad decisions better than me.To be fair, his are much more egregious and grandiose as well as unethical and illegal, but I digress. I journeyed NE to fish with @FishnDavein The STL. We had talked about it in March and the stars aligned for a September yard pass. One of my fishing goals this year was 50 species on fly. At the time, I thought it was both outlandish and totally doable. So fast forward to now, I had gotten to 45 species and I really wanted to get to that 50 species plateau fishing with Dave. Buuuuut never being Happy with something straight forward as that, I wanted to fish the Chain of Rocks on the Illinois side. I had dreams of Shovelnose Sturgeon, Silver Chub, micros, small catfish on fly, White Bass, Yellow Bass, and Hybrid Striper. Well, the simple things are all complicated. 9/9 Jet from the house at like 0745. I had the odd feeling to hold off buying the Illinois fishing license until I got there, but I got paranoid that I would not have cell service onsite. I caved and bought the license on Friday. Y’all likely can’t really understand the ridiculous amount of overthinking and over planning I had done for the Chain of Rocks. Shovelnose Sturgeon was the primary target and I had lots of gear for that, but I also tried to over every option I could think of. It was a lot of gear and I made sure I had more than enough live bait. wellllll. the only road in was shut down for repairs until 9/15/22. Done. Over. Didn’t even get to try. Like Leo from EPF would say “you can’t make this stuff up”. I tried to regroup on the fly. The other spot I knew about for Shovelnose was 1:30 away the wrong direction. So I am determined to catch a fish in Illinois. In retrospect, I wish I had driven to below Lake Carlyle, but conditions probably weren’t right. I opted for a little further up the Mississippi River. I found an access and tried to catch something. I found a canal with a spillway. I caught a Longnose Gar on a small swimbait. Tried other stuff to no avail. I moved down to the actually river. I fought through nasty undergrowth to reach the water. I tried dragging flies around the rip rap hoping for just about anything.. no bites. Back to the mouth of that canal. I saw some fishing moving and swung a fly through them and felt a live bump and I was into something solid. I think I foul hooked a silver carp. Hook pulled after a tussle. I swapped to conventional gear. I hooked another invasive beast and about had him hooked when again the hook pulled. I decided to relocate to Melvin Price L/D. I had caught fish there before and I was hoping to do even better this time, but the water was wrong. The bite was off. I got a mini drum on fly. road construction made getting there hard and getting to Dave’s house even harder, but I did. Thus ends the fishing on Day One.

It really broke my heart thinking of the families and friends of those killed in the attacks.

I Learn something every day. I love all the variety in the Rockfish. I think they are all beautiful. #inclusive

He still can.

Thank You So Much! You saved me. Cash and Heartache

I think it followed me down the driveway because I was going without it.

I have a somewhat bedraggled Tackle Warehouse Black/Red Bag. The main zipper is broken. im on the road so I can’t check right now. Sounds like it could be mine although I can’t imagine how that could have happened

When I was a Little Guy one of my Dad's fishing buddies had one. His was like Primer Gray. A gentleman named Larry Slocum. He was a very Good Fisherman and made a point of sharing the water with the guy in the back of the boat. I did not hear it, but I would guess he has passed away.

Diesel Minnows have worked very well for me. I’m not sure why Z Man makes so many variations, but their plastic is very floppy and all the variations seem to work.

I took my Son to the swamp. I learned some painful lessons. We caught fish. He wanted more than 5 adult Bowfin. He got em. I wanted at least 25 fish. A new species for the year. A new species on flyrod for the year. I caught 33 with no new species for the year and I caught nothing on the fly rod. Weather and bugs got in the way. I really HATE mosquitoes. I caught a lot of Warmouth. Some were Full size. These little purple ones got my hopes up that I had caught a big Pirate perch.Ian got 6 Bowfinand a Black Bullheadi got some Big Bluegill.!Big Females are funi got some Nice Redearanother nice one after Ian got his five I fished for and caught one. Ian’s last bowfin of the day. The sun finally came out. lots of fun stuff to see in the swamp.

That sounds like an Awesome Day!

What colors did you try Jeff?

That’s Terrible Daryk! I certainly Hope you heal completely and quickly. A tough experience for you both. I’m sure that you are Glad that your son didn’t have the serious physical injuries that you suffered. Please let us know as you improve and get your mobility back. I’m sure that some OA guys will try to help get you and your son out fishing

@FishnDaveThat’s Awesome! Well Done Man! I know you been grinding trying to get one. Now you have a spot where you can get bunches! I would argue that your Baby one was 6 inches long, but that’s nit picking I suppose.

Ours fight like Methheads over the last rock on the kitchen table. there's no sharing a feeder.

Dang Marty!

i went with my son back to St Francis County looking for an adult snakehead. I had caught a tiny one, but wanted an adult. On the way there, Google routed us through Cross County. I made a note to fish there on the way home IF we had time.I got my adult.Ian got a couple of nice bass. We had to go to overtime, but Ian got another Snakehead too.we really didn’t have time, but I stopped and fished ditches anyway. first three fish in Cross County were Green Sunfish, but I had my sights set on Orangespotted Sunfish.I got my OSSF at my second stop. I then tried for Spotted Gar and later more snakehead. We got strikes from both, but caught neither. #52 Cross County

Please PM me the address or shoot me an email at hamneedstofish@hotmail.com

You are correct, the boxes are worth more than that, I would like to purchase the flies and the boxes if they aren't already spoken for.

Glad that you are getting out, I sure do wish the state could get McCllenans access up and going as a walk-in access only Are you catching very many cutts?