Ham

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

I have a 2017 Sierra. I get 20 mpg in town, 25 mpg on Hwy, and 16 mpg dragging the BassCat. mom pretty Happy with my truck. 80K miles on it now

Every year we get different conditions to deal with. This was the first year without much water. Waldo was rearing to go, but I prefer an intact hull and I do not have any welding skills. SonI stuck to yaks. Thursday floated with Eric the Great. We got a little later start than I was hoping for, but we both had things that slowed our start.water was falling out all day and we rode that falling water to Cotter. I was really aggravated by the wind, but the fish were biting pretty darn Good. 1/32 and 1/16 oz Zig Jigs mostly, but I also got a number of fish on my fly rod. Eric was catching lots of fish and I was sure he was gonna get me on numbers, but he took his food off the gas and let me catch a couple more than him. We caught a combined 100 fish. I had a couple Browns over 20 and a couple more pretty nice ones. With a light and variable wind I would have really caught em Friday I talked Jeff into yakking the same section Eric and I had floated. They bit really well Thursday and it is a pretty easy float. I knew the wind was supposed to get bad, but it started off not too bad. well, the fish Friday really, really wanted a 1/32 oz jig by that point, we were at true minimum flow levels and they get a really good look at the bigger jig. I went most of the day only catching fish on 1/32 oz. I did finally get one on fly and a couple in the heaviest water on 1/16 oz. Last couple of miles were a difficult battle and a chore to fish the 1/32 oz jig, but they were still biting it. I only could muster 39 on Friday. I lost a couple of real fatties earlier in the day, but my heaviest fish of the day came while I was standing kn the boat ramp at Cotter. That fish must really hate corn. I got to spend a few minutes with the crew on Friday night. Duane gave a very informative rundown on jerkbait fishing Taney. He's the man. He has really thought it trough and put in the time. I think he is pretty good with a jig also. I had to work Saturday and Sunday which kept me out of those miserable weather conditions.Kudos to those that endured.

Check your PM Quillback

Nice Brown

Good Day on the water with Eric. A little less wind and I would have caught a LOT more. finished the day with 53 caught. Missed a lot of bites lost a bunch I had hooked too.

Man Eric! Aim High! That app sounds awesome

Nice chart Eric. It would be nice to print that and laminate it. do keep in mind it takes longer when it has been at Min flow for a while. It's like it takes a while to fill in all the nooks and crannies. You've also get to keep in mind all the extra water from creeks and rivers running into the White. Not a huge factor this go around, but it sure can be.

It's so hard down river to know how much water you really have to play with. I'm a lot braver over gravel or sand than I am around boulders. They are just trout ; not worth tearing a boat up over

How does he avoid the Great Blue Herons?

I think you benefitted from water being released from Norfork. I'm not sure that Reds at true minimum flow from both lakes is gonna be a lot of fun. Might be Great in a Kayak though.

Y'all better have waders or yaks and a backup plan. Not looking like much water

I never want a guest to be uncomfortable when I'm running the boat. Maybe next spring I'll open her up when you're in the boat. It can go about 20 mph faster than what we were running

Eric TwinkieZone and I got out relatively early . After the rain, but not before the wind got up. We fished in the Red Bank area. Water temps were mid fifties, wind was 10-15 mph, and water had a perfect stain to it. We used old school electronics to find brush piles and then threw bouys to try to help us stay near the target areas. White caps and no spot lock kept me busy. my transducer TM adapter died last trip out so I was blind up front. This really limited me being able to spoon feed em. We swam jigs slow and steady around brush and caught a really nice bunch of fish. Eric claimed to be a complete first timer crappie fishing, but he did really well. He may be sand bagging or he might be a natural. We fished eight or so locations, but got most of our fish from two brush piles. I really think we would have caught twice as many fish from the first spot if we had half as much wind. I'm having to wait to get LiveScope, but I can still manage a few the hard way. we also got a few bonus Bluegill, a Spotted Bass, and a Baby Striper. So anyway, I have to clean 14 crappie this morning.

108) Golden Topminnow : I love it when a plan comes together. Lifer!

107) Weed Shiner : This was a Lifer for me caught on a creek I grew up fishing. It is Very true that you can't Go Home again, but I at least did get a few fish.

Golden Topminnow : Beautiful