Johnsfolly

Congrats on another successful day! Sorry about the wolf fish and missing that photo. Maybe you'll catch another. If not you know that you landed one.

Great job Ham! Congrats on your first days success. Very productive in terms of numbers and species. Can't wait to see what you catch tomorrow 😉😁

Congrats!

I hope that fish don't get this smart😅

Congrats to you both! Some good eats in Billetheadville!

Good luck Buddy! As much as I want to see a giant peacock, I really want to see a payara (aka vampire fish) or wolf fish or even some crazy catfish photos. I'm not a betting man and will pass on the over/under. 😉

Airline flights are the same way. I am planning for a trip to Oklahoma City. I can fly from MD to Las Vegas or Salt Lake to get to OKC with 11 to 12 hrs of travel or go to Dallas or Houston with only 7-8 hrs of travel. 🤔

Nice Catches Jeff! We were just at freezing temps here.

That bear may have pushed close to 550 lbs or heavier before it hibernated. If it wasn't harvested before then. Up at Lacawac they had a resident female on the property. When she went into heat all kinds of male bears would show up any time day or night. We did come a 400+ lb male lounging in a service road. We just decided to go a different way😉. One year she had triplets, one female and two male cubs. The state came in and caught Mom and refitted her collar. Then caught the cubs, took measurements and tattooed them. After the males got kicked out by mom then next spring they got into a lot of our gear and just made menaces of themselves until they left that fall.

I do agree about the hunting especially deer and small game. The opportunities on bear in that area are really good. I have only hunted them twice but used to see quite a few in the summer on hikes around the blueberry swamps around Tobyhanna State Park.

Nice brown trout! I worked at Lake Lacawac while in grad school. Lacawac is about twenty minutes from the western part of Lake Wallenpaupack. What part of the lake are you staying. I always liked snow in the Poconos.

I think it was 14 deg as I pulled into the park shop parking lot. We caught a bunch of fish😉.

That's a great haul! Looks like a fish fry in the making. Thanks for the report.

1) Well my milestone was to catch my 300th confirmed fish species on hook and line. I did that when I landed this blackchin tilapia in FL back in March. I did slow down a little and did a few more just for fun fishing trips in 2025. Still drove (figuratively and literally) for more lifers throughout the year. 2) There were only a few reports of exotics being caught this year. I did a couple of NJ trips for them but did not see or catch any. 3) I fished in TX, VA, and MD a few times for redfish and did not catch any. I fished in FL and TX for either northern or gulf kingfish. My wife caught this gulf kingfish in Tampa in March. I only caught pinfish, spot and southern kingfish. On one of my NJ trips for exotics I did finally manage to catch a couple of juvenile northern kingfish to finish this goal. Still want to catch an adult. 3 &4 ) Catch a couple of swamp lifers or a new bullhead/madtom. I fished for tadpole madtoms, swamp darters, and spotted gar. I never got a madtom interested in my baits. I lost what I believe to be a swamp darter after a 5 to 6 min wait for it to bite. In TX I couldn't get a clear cast to any of the gar that I saw on that trip. This/these goals will roll up into 2026. 5) I succeeded in catching a fish of a lifetime when I landed a 7-8 ft long sand tiger shark in Deleware! As I mentioned in 2025 I wanted to surpass 300 fish species, which I did. I also wanted to land 10 lifers. I ended the year with 21 lifers. I fished in 8 states to make that happen. Some of my favorite lifers from 2025. Pike Topminnow (Killifish) - FL Gulf Toadfish (redemption for those I lost in 2024 in Galveston) - FL Fathead minnow (a target for more than a couple of years) - NJ Bridle Shiner - NJ Ironcolor shiner - NJ American Halfbeak - VA - from one of the most memorable fishing trips Longnose Killifish - TX Ladyfish - TX (have not been able to catch one in all of our FL trips) Darter goby - TX Coastal Cutthroat trout - OR (may follow @BilletHead and try for all of the cutthroat subspecies in their native waters) also my second species of trout caught in OR Prickly sculpin - OR Cabezon (marine sculpin) - OR Striped surfperch - OR

Great Report Marty! I miss fishing the C&R season at Bennett's. Couple of photos from another 3 OAF member trip to Bennett's

Congrats on a great day! Couple of studs in the mix.

My 2026 list of goals/targets has some carryover from 2025 and prior. I have a few business trips planned that I will tack on days to fish. A March trip to SD is my most exciting scheduled trip. I based my lifer target based upon getting close to ten or more lifers on that trip alone. 1) NJ / NY Lifer Exotic - 2) Redfish / Conger Eel / Flounder 3) Lifer Bullhead / madtom - snail or spotted / tadpole - 4) Skate / Ray / Shark 5) 2 Darters / sculpin 6) 25 Lifers A couple of side quests😉 Catch PB Striper / Flounder / Blackfish Catch 75 Shad Catch a Trout from 6 new MD locations

@Devan S. Congrats on the MS trout! I will likely be in OK a couple of times early next year. I will be in Stillwater. At least one of those trips I will try for an OK stocker.

Congrats on what you have accomplished throughout the year. I feel that it is better to stretch and shoot high and miss than to succeed when the bar is set too low. Good luck in 2026😁

Jeff that has to be one of the wurst Star Trek puns so far🤣

Christmas dinner was pretty simple. Glazed ham with herbed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts with pecans and shallots.

Thanks Rick and Daryl! Merry Christmas to Phil and his family and to all the OAF contributors that make this a great site!

Rhododendrons, mountain Laurel and highbush blueberries will be an issue throughout the Appalachians as you continue your quest northward. The MD wild brookie waters will be covered in a lot of spots. Same deal in Western and central PA. I remember making a deer drive in PA thru a blueberry swamp. I tripped and fell forward and never hit the ground🙄. Where will you head next?

I hate you using this term since the rod is not as old as I am😉😅

From Jigfest 2017 From Jigfest 2019