Johnsfolly

Look into the MDC Blue Ribbon trout stream slam. That will show you which creeks have stream bred trout. Some spots can meet your expectations of a wilderness fishing trip. A few other folks on OAF have been posting some of their catches towards their slams. Good luck and report back.

Now that 2020 is half over time to revisit again goals for 2020. Even with COVID-19 slowing things down, I got back on track somewhat. Willing to run the gauntlet of COVID across the country has helped my goals. Catch a fish in 1 new state - I have fished in Maryland, Delaware (pre- post-COVID outbreak (PRC and PSTC)), North Carolina (PC), South Carolina (PC), Missouri (PSTC), Kansas (PSTC), and Nebraska (PSTC) but it was only NE that was a new state. I only had a few hours to fish and waited nearly an hours for a monsoon to pass before fishing. I landed four green sunfish from a small lake and lost a couple of micros on that trip. Still got State #29 in the books. Catch a MD native brook trout or stripers on fly rod (BH flies) Catch 12 Lifelist species - Including: - caught 4 new life list species Added two more since March - now hallway to my 2020 goal Margined madtom from MD Caught an orangespotted sunfish in KS that was both a new lifer as well as my second new sunfish of the year! New lifer darter and/or sculpin Found and fished for Prairie Orangethroat darters in KS but no luck. Missed an opportunity for tessellated darters in MD. Getting close. American Shad - Accomplished - caught in Tar River NC Northern Kingfish or Black Drum - Caught Black Drum in SC Three new sunfish sp. - Caught flier sunfish in MD; Orangespotted sunfish in KS Two shark species including dogfish sp. Trips - White River/Norfork River - March/April - COVID Cancelled - NJ/DE for Black Drum - May/June - COVID Cancelled - Lake Erie - May - COVID Cancelled - Chincoteague Island July-Sept - spadefish trip June-Aug - Flathead/Blue catfish in Potomac or Susquehanna - Pike or Musky trip Hope that others are getting along towards whatever goals that you might have had for 2020.

You know that you just never know what may hit when fishing that magic time around 1 am on Taney. I still remember how that white sucker hit my jig and ran on me. I was thinking that was going to be that first Taney brown. Not disappointed at all when we landed that fish. I have got to get back out with you @JestersHK Especially on a night when I don't have to look like this :

We have risked COVID and been out in MO and KS to see our kids and granddaughter. Of course I am going to fish somewhere ! If you didn't know I am a multispecies angler and keep up a lifelist of species that I have caught on hook and line. As I have done more research I am beginning to work on trying to catch specific species and particularly trying to catch all species within a certain genus of fish. I have been working on the Lepomis genus which currently has 13 species. I know from my research that the orangespotted sunfish, Lepomis humilis, is common throughout KS. After @FishnDaveposted one that he caught in Iowa, I really needed to catch one. So I dug into some blogs and forum discussions about this species and found a creek in KS that looked to be a promising location and it was on the way to get to my son, who is stationed in Ft Riley. My wife puts up with my obsessions thankfully as she and my daughter were in the car as I was trying to catch an orangespotted sunfish. I will say to any one that uses Google maps that you really don't know what to expect once you get to a location in an attempt to fish. I went to a spot that looked on the map to be a slight grade spillway that emptied into the creek. Well it was a much steeper drop and coated with algae, which would have made for a very bad fall. So this spot was not going to work. Did see our first collared lizard. I went to my second spot, which was a pool below a highway bridge downstream from the spillway. The spot was a plunge pool approximately 20 by 15 feet and looked to have a depth of 3 to 4 feet. The water was very clear and there were lots and lots of fish, from largemouth bass, carp, bluegill, longear sunfish, green sunfish, micros, and even some drum. I have only seen pictures of orangespotted sunfish from the side and not from above. That made it challenging to say the least. Also the other sunfish were really aggressive. I was fishing a Trout magnet minijig with a piece of worm. Caught a green sunfish as soon as the bait hit the water. This happened over and over again. I kept casting to likely targets. If it wasn't a green sunfish, then it might have been a bluegill or longear sunfish . Don't get me wrong I love catching fish, but this was getting ridiculous. I moved to the outfall of the pool and actually saw my first orangespotted sunfish. I could tell by his coloration as well as his red eyes. Now all that I had to do was to get a bait down through the gauntlet of other sunfish, not spook the fish and get him to bite. Oh and I only saw two amongst the hoards. I tried tossing worm pieces to distract the other fish. I tried reeling up on the line and pushing the bait down to the fish. None of that worked real well. Fortunately these fish were easy to spot now that I knew what they looked like and they kept coming back to the same locations. After landing and releasing 32 other sunfish not counting those that I pulled out of the water but not setting the hook, I got the bait to the bottom, did not spook the fish and he bit!!! I got and bagged my first orangespotted sunfish!!! Success By this time my wife and daughter were out and exploring the creek downstream of the pool. I had seen some logperch and Prairie Orangethroat darters in the pool and they were looking downstream for more. They didn't find any but they let me fish downstream. I caught a common shiner and my first central stoneroller of the year, which can be a hard species to get to bite. I saw a hole further down stream that looked like it had some promise for bass or larger species. I went down and saw several bass swimming along with some larger green and bluegill sunfish. But what really caught my eye was a group of 8 to 10 large common carp, with one or two that may be 8 to 10 lbs. I tied on a 1/16 oz olive and black marabou jig and tipped it with some worm. I made a cast into the deeper part of the pool and it got smoked by a large drum. Even in a small pool this drum put up several runs before I was able to beach it and get it unhooked. I haven't estimated its size, but it might be a personal best for drum . That was the last fish I caught before heading back to the car to finish our travel to the hotel near the base. What a successful day of catching in KS. I did think about going back, but it was my daughter that pushed that issue since she wanted to catch some bigger fish. But that will be another post.

Looks like a great time for the Taney Road Warrier! Congrats to all you guys.

If I had more time we might not have been passing each other last evening going in opposite directions. Nice bows. Let us know about any browns that came out to play.

What a crappy way to travel😉!

Thats awesome and what fishing is about IMO! You know it's memorable if you get the same thrill telling the story over again.

I can't find it, but there was a great Eli Manning cartoon. Eli has his feet up on the table and he says to Peyton. "You just let me know if that Brady kid gives you anymore trouble" 🤣

Dave Nice goldfish and bullhead! Are you sight fishing the bullhead or just getting hit as you strip it back?

They are in the White River in AR. This one hit a Zig Jig above Rim shoals. I've seen them in Big Piney river in MO.

Sounds like a great time. I love watching the bobber sink🙂. Almost as good a feeling as that thump on the line IMO! That just never gets old.

Just in terms of number of fish caught, number of species, size of fish... she did 😒. I spent most of my time trying to catch a new darter species, but was unsuccessful🙄.

the guides never get any credit. Who researched the location, brought the rods, baits, told her how to fish the spot. Geesh🙄!

Rick I do think that hospitals have been mismanaged. With testing there should be no reason that some hospitals could be deemed nonCOVID hospitals so that elective surgeries can take place without fear of COVID. What is happening is that those hospitals that are not actively treating COVID patients are closing.

We have hand sanitizer in the car all the time. I wash my hands and sanitize when I get in the car. I sanitize when I leave the car and go into work. I sanitize when I leave work and head into the house. I sanitize after pulling handles, doors ,etc. More about protecting myself and my family.

Great fish Dave!! Can't wait to catch a few grass carp. Have not caught one yet. I have a buddy that gave me a location where he caught a 20+lb grass carp on strawberry carp bait after he chummed with corn soaked over night in strawberry flavoring. Don't think that I will have time in Columbia to try for those guys. Haven't heard any reports of grass carp in MD. Probably in some private ponds.

So many folks just wear the mask over their mouth like that is the only way that they would spread the virus. It is more difficult to breath when wearing. So don't wear it when you are by yourself. My daughter works in retail and folks attack her for the policies that the corporate folks have made. Too freaking bad that you can't go browse for the new video game because you don't want to wear a mask. That crap makes me very mad.

In the early days of having to wear masks in MD saw lots of folks driving by themselves wearing masks. Also a lot would be wearing gloves as well. Makes one wonder 🤔!

Someone wanted to catch a bass. Third cast hooked this guy on a baby bass fluke! This is a good moment for 2020😁! She caught bigger fish but I'll save for a different post 😉

That's awesome Mitch. All kids should know how to catch frogs and fish IMO.

I have not had a good to great duck hunt yet. Have drawn poorly and stood in frozen water to shoot at one duck if we were lucky. I know a bunch of folks not on OAF that love it. I do like eating duck. MD thinks that they are the premier waterfowl hunting destination. We see a lot of ducks and lots and lots of geese around. Lots of leased land around us gets hunted hard.. Though I don't know guys at work that hunt ducks or geese.

Cooler full of crappie says it all. Congrats!

Nice score Marty. I saw the Who back in high school. Great concert. I complained to my friend about a guy following us on the NJ turnpike. I said I wish this clown would get off my butt. My buddy turned to see an actual clown driving behind us😉. I heard a Nora Jones song on the radio on the way out to MO and said to Sue that I really like her but we didn't have a CD. Will habe to keep my eyes open.

Very nice pond bass! Congrats!