Ham

I was smelly the rest of the day

So, it’s complicated. Multiple variants of a novel virus. The effectiveness of the vaccine over the first variant may have been different than it’s effectiveness against the omicron variant. It seemed like we had much lower rates of infection with the first two variants. Omicron is MUCH easier to catch and ppl are done with being careful by in large. I’m never, ever in favor of a mandate than ppl get a vaccine or drug therapy. I would love for reliable scientific data to be so overwhelmingly positive that people want the treatment or vaccine, but it is completely wrong for the government to force people to get the vaccine. If you are an enlisted person, you signed away your rights for a lot of things. with this virus/pandemic or whatever, the information has been anything but reliable. I thought that the vaccine was supposed to prevent infects, stop/slow the spread, and maybe improve outcomes if infected. With the latest variant, it seems to be this helps your chances once infected, but does little to keep you from getting infection and little to do with slowing the spread. That scenario changes the mental calculation to decide if you want to take this vaccine.

I saw a big brown running through a group of little Brookies at the mouth of dry run creek. He would just run through the group of them over and over and over.

So, it seems like a lot of fish that predominately eat algae or detritus aren’t opposed to a little protein to the diet. It can be scuds or insect larvae or tiny crawfish. In theory, if you pick some tiny buggy looking thing and present it appropriately some oddball fish are going to eat it occasionally. now, I’m I going t be patient enough to do the right thing for a couple hours without a bite? Sadly, not likely. I probably lack the patience to grind out Pygmy sunfish because you have to drop tiny baits into small holes in vegetation over and over and over again until the stars align. I also believe that during certain times of year you get reaction strikes that are way outside the normal behavior of that fish. I wish I knew how to take advantage of that better, but I’m always trying. for example, I caught a Striped mullet on a Spinnerbait. He smacked the crap out of it and the hook was way down his gullet. Only time that’s ever happen for me and I used to fish around mullet a lot. Gizzard Shad are normally pretty shy about hitting baits, but there are windows when they will. I think it tends to be either when plankton numbers are super low and they get hungry or related to spawning ive seen Gizzard Shad following spawning White Bass around enough to make me think they maybe feeding on the eggs. I think I’ve seen common carp feeding on crappie eggs that were being deposited in a brush pile. Carp are a lot more aggressive towards baits in early spring. They seem really hangry.

I often call the Brook Trout Pretty, but expensive Brown Trout food. I love the little guys.

Fun read.

I would think with some advance conversation you could get by a resupply bag and ice delivered by Dirst Canoe. I would expect to Pay a small fee for the service and sync it up with one of the their normal runs to either Dillards Ferry or Rush Landing As I am sure you know, Rush is your last chance before the final 28 miles

I hope for you to do most of that in one day in April!!!!

Mike, In just a few months Del is going to have you knowing more than me about the lake. That’s Awesome and Good Luck!

Zig Jigs

I throw Rogues at trout more these days. I would still throw Rogues more if I was fishing Louisiana more. You don’t need the extra depth. My biggest LMB came on a Susp Rogue. The original shorter one in Clown. 11.15 on a rainy New Moon in November in Caney Lake Louisiana (before they ruined it with Grass Carp).

Well Done Jeff

1/5/22 finds me at 12 of 40 caught. i hope I can get a few this year.

" Have you caught anything in Crawford County?" I caught some fish out of Clear Creek in Chester, Arkansas. Longear Sunfish and small Smallmouth Bass,

0832 1/1/22 I got my first of the year a Knobfin Sculpin.

You are correct Sir. If I remember right, Dallas county is gonna suck. I’ll be fishing a roadside ditch most likely.

So, I randomly decided last year to catch a fish in EVERY County in Arkansas. I got fully onboard and committed to the idea and then found out that Arkansas has 75 freaking counties. Wut? I grew up fishing southern Arkansas with relatives, so I had some knocked out. I’ve always wandered around trying new places since I moved up here so that helped. And last year I was trying for lots of species so that put me in more random locations. so long story somewhat shorter I’ve already made significant progress on the 75 counties. Ideally, I’d like to get this done by 12/31/25, but realistically before I die would really be Good enough. I’m trying for it not to just be a bluegill, channel cat, and mosquito fish over and over again BUT I won’t turn my nose up at them either. I will get fancy and dress this up on my PC. I’ll do the list of 75 counties and BOLD them when completed the county and maybe also post trip reports with the weird backstory on more recent counties. I plan on keeping it fun. List of Counties: Bold indicates that I have caught a fish there Arkansas Ashley Baxter Benton Boone Bradley Calhoun Carroll Chicot Clark Clay Cleburne Cleveland Columbia Conway Craighead Crawford Crittenden Cross Dallas Desha Drew Faulkner Franklin Fulton Garland Grant Greene Hempstead Hot Springs Howard Independence Izard Jackson Jefferson Johnson Lafayette Lawrence Lee Lincoln Little River Logan Lonoke Madison Marion Miller Mississippi Monroe Montgomery Nevada Newton Ouachita Perry Phillips Pike Poinsett Polk Pope Prairie Pulaski Randolph St Francis Saline Scott Searcy Sebastian Sevier Sharp Stone Union Van Buren Washington White Woodruff Yell

I might have to try for one of those massive Redears on a flyrod

So many fish liove rent free in my head and gnaw at my soul for nourishment. Golden Shiners and Gizzard Shad have Corner Apartments.

OMG Marty What a Fish !!!!

I had intended to only have one Fishing Goal this year. My intention was for My only Goal being to Keep it Goofy. Just fish for Fun! If I somehow wanted to fish for Bluegill 365 days in a row, JUST DO THAT. Just fish the moment and not be so Goal oriented. I seemingly can't do that.; I'm wired wrong. sooooooo 1) Keep it Goofy 2) > 3000 fish 3) Get Life List to 200 Species (I am at 164 right now) I have other stuff in my head, but I am (mostly) keeping that crazy stuff to myself. I wish Everyone The Best of Luck in 2022 and I hope All Your Fishing Dreams Come True. Dream Big! Beat Yesterday!

I had a Great Year Fishing with friends and Solo. I enjoy fishing with friends more than I do fishing by myself, but I don't always have that luxury. I Got my 100 Species. (I actually got to 108 with 35 LIfers along the way) I did catch reach the 25 species on flyrod goal. I actually got 33 species on fly including Lifer Flier, Goldfish, and Koi. I also caught what is likely to be my largest Redfish that I will ever catch by Any method on a Flyrod this year. I finished with 104 trips. I would love to have fished more and had actually forgotten about this one. I FAILED to catch 2500 fish. I ended up with 2454. I gave up HUGE numbers of fish I could have caught to chase weird stuff. Catching 4000 fish in a year is outta reach for me until I retire, but I'll get things back on track with a > 3000 fish year in 2022. I failed to fish in 10 States (again). I only fished in 8 states this year, but I did manage to hit three New States. Michigan, Maryland, and Delaware. Thanks Guys!

I finished stuck in the mud at 108 species. It was a whole lot of fun! I had some real Highs and some terrible Lows. Lots of Long drives that turned out to be completely fruitless. Such Pure Joy when I got my Lifer Orange Spotted Sunfish. I'm sure a Cardiologist would not have approved of my Heart Rate about right then, but what they don't know won't hurt them. I want to once again Thank everyone that Helped me with intell, advice, education, locations, logistical support, putting me on fish, and mentally babysitting me through the process. I would not have made it to 100 species without the help of my homies. I had told @Billethead that I was pushing all my chips to the center of the table and that I would get it done this year or never. I do not ever plan to chase species so hard that I exclude other opportunities. Thanks Marty! I won't stop bugging Marty about fly fishing advice or Golden Shiner locations, but I can leave him alone a little bit about a couple of other mental rabbit holes. 2021 Might Be the Best Year Fishing I have ever had, but I'm gonna try to have a Great Fishing Season in 2022.

You had a Heck of a year Dave!

That's a heck of a deal