Johnsfolly

Assuming that you are talking about my photo. I would agree this was not a long fish, maybe 14 inches or less in length.

I believe that I have caught two different logperch species/subspecies. So I would be interested in seeing those descriptions for myself, since I am not familiar with what characters differentiate the two. There are lots of recent collections and photos on Fishmap.org for the Ozark logperch in AR.

Dave just based upon a quick look at the mouth position, seeming lack of a dorsal keel, and body shape, I would consider this as a possible black. Again only a 30 sec assessment. More research and measurements needed to confirm.

Good luck buddy. Let me know where I can help. Does the fishes of AR have descriptions for the Ozark vs common logperch? You may have already caught an Ozark.

There are supposedly black buffalo below the dam. So I looked at both black and smallmouth buffalo characters. I looked at the size and position of the mouth (subterminal vs semi-sub terminal). This fish has a small mouth with thin lips and it is definitely sub-terminal (i.e., directly below and nearly parallel to the line of the snout). From what I have seen is that the black's mouth is angled from the snout, almost at a 45 degree angle and is more semi sub-terminal. Also many folks state that the black has large fleshy lips, which this fish did not. Then the length of the fish vs the height of the fish. I didn't measure to get an exact ratio of length to height, but this fish is not overtly long in comparison to the its height. The black buffalo tend to be "slimmer" than smallmouth. Some folks have mentioned that the smallmouth has a large dark eye, which this fish has. The last thing that I looked at was the obvious dorsal keel in front of the dorsal fin. The length to height ratio and the strong keel were key features with Pflieger's dichotomous key for differentiating the two species. To me the weight of evidence is that this is a smallmouth buffalo and not a black.

@JestersHK sent me this earlier. Made me laugh a lot😅😅

Anyone heading out for early bow season? The season here in MD starts tomorrow. Too hot and way too many mosquitoes from all the rain we have been having the last couple of weeks. Probably will wait until it cools down and t he bugs retreat. If you do head out let us know how you do.

the fisherman may love the fish. The lake owner is in for the money. They charge a lot to fish small sections of a lake or pond all for the opportunity to catch the same fish over and over again. Not saying that it wouldn't be fun to catch a giant fish. The mindset of pay to fish extends to even the smallest waters in the UK. Prevents guys like me that may not want to pay up to $40 per day from experiencing some good multispecies fishing in the creeks and ponds when across the pond.

Garlic sauted shrimp on top of spaghetti squash and pesto. Was delicious🙂!

US numbers of new positive cases are declining, but still between 50 and 30K cases/day since 7/31 with 27K case on the 7th. As @Seth pointed out India and Brazil are having an increasing trend in new positive cases. India has 53 to 90K case per day since July 31st, Brazil 13 to 50 K cases/day. Some countries like Spain and France are experiencing what looks to be a substantial second wave in terms of new daily positive cases with 3 to 25K / day in Spain and 1 to 7 K cases /day in France since 7/31. Both of those countries had ca. 5 and 10% mortality per positive case in the first wave whereas the US is around 3% mortality per the number of positive cases (194K deaths per 6.47 million positive cases).

Marty I was going to say I thought this was a video of you flyfishing those hybrids

I will be checking my calendar and seeing where we are with the new renters to determine if I can get out that way. I hate missing this event. Such a great time... and there are fish to catch

That's a boss for sure. I've never caught one longer than 11 inches and all well a pound or less. I want to do a western sunfish trip to catch those big boys (and girls).

I think that they are pretty cool. Love the way that they walk along the bottom.

Caught this guy out by Columbia. Powerful fish. Love catching big sunfish!

Still have my oldest and my son🙄.

When I decided that I was done being a poor grad student I took the PA state fisheries Civil service exam. I had the third highest score in the state with only two jobs open at the time. So no go in PA. I actually got a ljob offer from the MDC to work at Blind Pony Hatchery. I didn't take the job. The pay was a bit better than what I was getting as a grad assistant but I wasn't sure that I wanted to live in MO. I ended up taking a job in FL that was double my grad wages. That job eventually took me to MO. Go figure.

With nice weather a couple weekends ago we went about 3 hours south of us down into Virginia to fish a pier at a state park close to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge -Tunnel. A friend at work had mentioned that they had a great multispecies fishing trip at this park. You know that the thought of catching some new species definitely got my interest. What sold my wife on the trip was that we wouldn't need to buy a fishing license due to the reciprocity agreement between VA and MD. Our MD coastal licenses would be all that we needed. The trip required an early start and it was a bit of a challenge getting everyone in the car. We really kept it simple. Used high/low rigs with cut bait, bloodworms, and fishbites baits. It didn't take long before we started getting bites as soon as we got baits in the water. We had a great time, enjoyed the great weather and caught a bunch of fish. Livie with a double on spot. Sue with a double on spot. Sue with a double on striped searobins (a lifer for her!). Both Livie and I caught a few of these searobins as well. Was a lifer for me! Livie with a cool lifer - an inshore lizardfish. Now I was jealous. Fortunately I caught this one and one other. also a lifer for me as well. Livie loves fish that make noises. She was all giggles every time that she landed an Atlantic croaker. I caught a couple of these southern kingfish. Probably should have kept a few. All in all we had a great day. Several new life list fish for each of us and close to 120 fish total for the day. Can't wait to head down there again.

Jeff glad to hear that it was nothing more than a slight illness. We have a 150 employees at work and I don't know of a single one of our staff that has had COVID. Now the county and the area that we live has had a very low number of cases compared to other parts of the state. Now one of my staff, his father died of COVID or complications with COVID. Four other employees have had relatives or friends that have had COVID. We all wear masks when in close proximity of each other while at work and in our stores, restaurants, etc. As we know more and more data, the reality is that this virus affects some folks poorly and many others it is no worse than the flu.

FIFY

I wasn't thinking about musky on this trip. I don't like targeting them until the water temp cools in the fall.

Cut bait (shad, alewife, mendhaden, white perch, etc.) is used regularly for Chesapeake stripers as well as clams, bloodworms, and crabs - especially peeler crabs (those that are starting to molt). All of these baits catch stripers. I see no reason not to believe that they would also be eating crayfish if they were abundant.

We had to make a quick trip out to Missouri at the end of Aug to finally get our Columbia house rented. I was actually too busy and did not even wet a line in Missouri on this trip. However, we did want to get back to the lake Shelbyville spillway to try again for yellow bass, carp, and buffalo suckers. We had better weather for this trip than our last outing when we got rained off of the water. This time not only did I have a day license, but Livie and my Betterhalf did as well. I took advantage of having three people to fish by using different techniques. I had Sue start with a small trout magnet jig with a worm under a float. Livie was fishing a high/low rig with worms. I "baited the swim" aka chummed a spot with alfalfa pellets and canned corn. Then set up a rod with a Carolina rig using a 3/8 oz egg sinker, 6# PLine leader and a no 10 octopus hook baited with 2 to 3 kernels of corn. I don't have a baitrunning style reel, so I loosened the drag as low as I could to allow any fish to run with the bait. Sue had quite a few small bites, but only caught one green sunfish. It didn't take long and Livie was catching bluegill. and I was getting small taps on the corn. Then after 20 mins my reel was screaming drag as a larger fish took the corn. I got the drag set and set the hook as if it was a circle hook and the fight was on. It took a bit and I landed the first common carp of the day. I got the "carp" rod baited up again and Livie was on the rod. I went back to catching bluegill (spoiler alert we caught no yellow bass again) on the high/low rig. Livie got a strong bite on the corn, but broke off the fish. Sue was up next. I got the carp rod re-rigged and baited. I also added some more chum and dropped the bait. Less than 5 mins Sue was hooked up on another carp. She got the fish in and without a net I tried to get it landed and lost it before a photo could be taken - seems like I have done this before @Ham would know that story. This was Sue's first carp ever and no photo of the fish. Now the last time that we came to this spillway I had specifically bought a net the morning of the trip in case we caught some big carp and buffalo. One would think that I could have remembered to pack the net this time, but that would be mistaken. Livie lost another one when the hook pulled and her frustration increased. I caught another carp and convinced her that she should try again. We did find that sweetening the chum spot just as we cast the bait was the ticket to getting bit within a couple of mins. We also would strip a little line off when we saw stronger pulls and once the fish committed by swimming off with the bait we tightened the drag and set the hook. It didn't take long that Livie had on another carp. She fought this one admirably using the drag and back reeling to keep pressure on the fish as it ran. Finally we got it landed and photographed ! Livie was happier and she went back to catching more bluegill. I was on the carp rod and had one more fish scream off line. I got the fish close and saw that it was not a carp! So now I am the one afraid that we won't land the fish. Livie got a bit wet, but we did land the fish which turned out to be my first smallmouth buffalo! Though I am still looking for that first yellow bass, I was successful in getting my wife to catch her first carp and to catch my first smallmouth buffalo. As a side note, the night before Livie and I fished a small portion of the Little Wabash river. It looked like a good spot for black bullhead. We got hung more often than catching fish. Only a couple of small bluegills were the only fish landed. But I also did mange to land a spiny softshell turtle.

I doctor up any beans that I buy to my liking. So only really care about the texture of the beans. Some cheap beans have gritty beans that I don't like. Lately when I do have beans it's usually Bush's. Anyway made a braised venison shoulder roast tonight. Rubbed the roast with smoked paprika, garlic powder, and a blend of dried Italian herbs. Seared in Dutch oven with olive oil until browned on both sides. Used venison stock and Bur Oak Boone County Brown ale as braising liquid. Added whole garlic cloves and quartered local sweet onions. Cooked about 90 mins at 350. Then added half can of tomato paste, more beer and sliced carrots. Cooked about another 90 mins until tender. Served with oven roasted herb new red potatoes.

Wasn't going to bring that whole discussion up again🙄.