Johnsfolly

Never leave fish to find fish😁. Nice crappie!

Looks good! Hopefully you get a many years out of that paint job.

I'm a bit of a breast man my self😁. Really enjoy Irish single malts.

Nice photos @Flysmallie! Would like to see him catch a musky on a fly in MO. Though I am glad to see someone catch something on your trips 😁. Has he ever tried Henry Sever or Hazel Creek lakes in the fall?

Haven't caught many walleye. did catch my PB down at Taney with @JestersHK

I didn't mention any names😁.

Used to be the only bait and technique that I would use for bass in NY, CT and PA. Loved fishing them at night. The sound of an unseen bass sucking in a topwater is incredible. Didn't start fishing plastics and jigs until I went to college. Fish WTD baits in current and poppers in still water.

Good luck Devan! I appreciate that I have influenced the way that you want to fish. It is addictive. I used to fish for just bass, sunfish, crappie, trout and would fish the same spots the same times of year year after year. I was kind of jaded. I always kept track of different species that caught. In 2009 I read in Bassmaster of guys going to catch all of the black bass species at that time. That looked interesting. I found that the majority could be caught in Georgia. My dad lived in GA at the time. So I researched spots to fish when I went with my family to visit. Before going I caught a 17 inch smallmouth on an excaliber spit n image WTD bait in MO. I had caught a spottrd bass with that bait earlier. I used that same bait and caught a northern largemouth, shoal bass, and a redeye bass in GA. I had hoped to catch all species with that one bait but lost it in GA😢. Later that week I fished in FL and missed a couple of suwannee bass in FL that I still need to catch. I haven't gone after the guadelupe in Texas. Now they have added four more redeye species as well as the choctaw bass. So I have more work to do to catch them all. Back in MO I began a quest to catch a trout in each of the designated trout waters including the "wild" trout streams to the trout parks. Drove well over 2000 miles to get that accomplished. Goals became a big part of my fishing. Targeting multiple species began in earnest in 2014. Microfishing began in 2016 when I figured out how to catch darters in a creek in Columbia. I continue because it is a great way to catch a high number of species as well as a way to fish more creeks, ponds, lakes, etc. It allows me to bond with my daughter who likes to catch the little fish. Since 2014 I have caught 74 new life list species. With travel for work I get to fish the east coast as well as the midwest. So the tracking states with fish caught just works for me. I love the research in field guides or internet to confirm species or research areas to fish for target species. I have met a few guys that help me a lot on confirmation of species. I have some guys that won't count fin rays or lateral line scales. So they send me photos to give my opinion of what they have caught. I am willing to help where I can with folks that want to microfish or find new species.

I like catching them as well. Longest was over 24 inches, but that was in PA. Only caught them in the 11 pt in MO. Could have caught them on a Current river trip but focused on other species.

Thanks Jeff. Very intetesting read. I was going to say the same thing as SIO3. I remember that study with the two ponds. Makes management difficult.

Thanks buddy. I enjoy introducing folks to my obsession (as does DJ ). If you don't mind getting home well after dark, I could pick you up the next time I ride through your town heading down to Poplar bluff. May be the 13th of July.

Congrats on a nice bow and smallie! Always great when you figure out a new stretch of water.

Nice hybrid. Congrats! Not a bad first trip.

My friend asks about us visiting him in Vermont. With the work that I have to do by the end of the year I don't think that I will have time to get up that way and finish the last three northeast states. I really want to fish Maine. Got several marine sculpin to catch😁. Some big enough to eat.

As part of my last trip back to Missouri, I got in early to St Louis. I had seen the flooding around the Mississippi river from the air and could not believe how much water was around. I have been keeping track of the states that I have caught fish and for the 20 some years that I have lived in MO I have never caught a fish in Illinois. I had bought non-res fishing licenses twice already. First time I was staying in Pontoon Beach for the Indycar race out at Gateway. I only had two hours to fish. I lost two gar and got no other bites at Horseshoe Lake. As I was headed back to the hotel to get ready for the race, I saw a slough that had a couple of carp surfacing but I had no baits that they wanted. My next trip was a total bust with heavy rains and darkness. So I really wanted to get any fish on this trip. I went to Horseshoe lake and found out that it was a free fishing weekend. With some redworms in hand I went to catch an Illinois fish ! At horseshoe the wind was heavy at best and gale'ish at worst . That lake is very shallow and I was getting no love from any fish while have my bait blown back towards me. I moved to another location that I found on goggle maps. It turns out that the next location was a restored wetland with heavy lotus growth, limited open water, and NO FISHING!! I did pass a small lake that looked to be part of a small community and headed back to that lake. I asked a couple of guys bank fishing if it was a public lake and got the affirmative. Started fishing near a patch of lilies using a trout magnet jig and float. I got a couple of timid strikes. So switched to a worm. Missed a couple of strikes then got a good hook set on my first Illinois fish, a white crappie (Maryland has mainly black crappie and this was also the first of this species in 2019). I followed that up with a bluegill then it was time to get on the road to Columbia. So Illinois was checked off the list, the 26th state so far !

Been a while since we had any note worthy homemade meals. One was a chicken fajita dish. The ingredients were pretty standard; chicken, onions, yellow bell pepper... However what was different was the spice blend. I used cumin, dark chili powder, garlic powder, Mexican oregano, tajin seasoning, and epazote. The epazote adds a very different flavor profile to the dish. It's hard to explain the flavor. However, I feel that this is a truly Mexican addition and not your typical Tex/Mex flavor. @BilletHead that is a Lodge cast iron fajita pan .

Congrats to you guys! Lots of fishing memories made and probably need to plan a return trip to get your son that brown trout!

Sorry buddy on the warmouth. As you know I missed out by not realizing how close I was to Mingo and those bantam sunfish. I was too focused on the CA near Poplar Bluff and lost site of the forest. May haunt me until I figure out how to get back down that way.

I was in Missouri starting on the 14th and was there for a week on business - ugly business. I needed a release and started looking at options. I have a goal to catch two new sunfish and two darters this year. I have been trying to catch a brook darter in the black river and it's tributaries a couple of times already. I saw a couple of Ben Cantrell's blogs on catching a variety of sunfish species, including warmouth, dollar, and bantam sunfish near Poplar Bluff. I was going to be on my own until Sunday. So developed a plan to fish a couple of likely spots down that way to try and catch some new species. Compared to the local waters which were running brown and muddy, the creeks down around Poplar Bluff were dropping and may actually be running clear. I got on the road and headed east towards Saint Louis and then south, way south. I was going to start fishing near Poplar Bluff, then Wappello, and then a tributary of Lower Taum Sauk Lake. In one of the blogs I read about an unnamed park in Poplar Bluff with a ditch and a cold water pond. I was looking to start fishing one of the conservation areas, but found myself in McLane park. As I was driving through the park I saw a small creek and a ditch running through the park. I walked along the ditch and saw several topminnows. I got out my microrig and got after those fish with a #20 hook with a bit of chartreuse plastic. Since they were spooky I had to try to sneak up to get after these fish. I spooked several, but I finally got a solid bite and landed my first blackspotted topminnow of the year. I was done spooking these fish and went to the pond that had the cold water stream running into it. I still had my microrig. I saw schools of minnows. I made several casts and easily caught several more of the topminnows. Why did I even try to fish the ditch? I kept spooking the other minnows. I did make a couple of casts into the pond that was loaded with sunfish and a couple of smallmouth bass. I caught a longear sunfish. I looked and looked at this fish trying to wish it to be a dollar sunfish if there was flecks of color on the operculum. Just couldn't and it was just a longear. I really should have been smarter and went back to the car and got my other rod to really go after those sunfish. With the microrig I switched to piece of redworm. I ended up catching a central stoneroller that may have been one of the fish in those spooky schools of fish. I continued to fish the creek. further upstream I finally saw some darters. I know that one of the them was a definite brook darter. It was a male with very blue coloration. I tried several time to get it to eat my bait. Every time I would get the bait near the fish it would list to its side then weakly swim off. I never got it to bite my bait. I high banked fished with no luck. I slipped down to the creek and got closer but no fish. I got back up to the bank I saw a tightcut in the clay bottom of the creek. There was a sycamore that had been growing down near the creek bottom. I climbed down and stood on the root wad and above the fish. I dropped the bait and the fish were eager to grab the bait. I caught my first darter. Looking it over it was a brook darter - my first of this species! The cold water and condensation made for a poor photo. I caught a couple of females and another male from that same hole. I spent a lot of time in this creek and missed an opportunity in the pond, but had to get going to my next spot. I drove up to Wappello to fish the spillway below the lake. I put on a black and green trout magnet. I got a couple of small bites when I fished it without a float. I added a float and could almost reach the other bank. I made a cast near some standing rocks and got a strong bite but lost the fish. Cast back out and got a solid bite. I landed an unusual sunfish, my first warmouth, ever! I caught a couple of green sunfish and then had to run to the last spot. I was going to fish a spot where I had seen a different madtom species and was hoping to catch a few to get my trifecta of new species. I was going to get to the creek after dark. At one time I saw a gray animal run across the road. It was not a deer or a dog. I can only assume that it was a feral pig. I got out the microrig with worm piece and put on my headlamp. I went down to the creek. Saw what I thought was a checkered madtom, but it was a crayfish. I saw several others and lots of minnows, but no madtoms. I searched for a long stretch. I only ended up seeing one madtom. It looked to be a slender madtom and It never even sniffed my bait before it swam away. It was time to go. I drove on back to Columbia. I pulled into the hotel just after 2:30 am. I drove over 620 miles, I caught several new species for 2019 and two life list species. All in all a good day.

One of the hardest things for people to do is to set that next goal once they achieved the initial goal. Where do you go after catching that monster? A new state record? Even @duckydoty is not as mad at them as much as he once was. @JestersHK I was being somewhat serious that maybe you should go and be humbled by fishing for stream bred trout for awhile. Or target a 20 inch brown in the Current or the White to get those juices flowing again.

@ness and @ness'lady congrats! Looks like a great trip! I hope that the rest of the trip matched up with the food. I bet that some pepper on the prosciutto and melon would have complemented the saltiness of the ham and the sweetness of the melon😁.

Now etiquette is a different beast at the trout parks . I don't often wear waders at the parks since most fish can be reached effectively from the bank with the way that I fish and thus really not too much need to get into the water. Way too often have waders walk in front of me while I am fishing. I often have to resist giving them a new piercing or two . But you just can't fix stupid. I either move or just wait a while to begin fishing again.

I really don't believe that the distinction in the different baits definitions have anything to do with the Missouri trout parks. Every state that I have fished uses similar descriptions for artificial lure versus flies, etc. A lot of the destinction I believe is about catch and release. Live baits and scented baits are more prone to being swallowed deeply and could prevent safe release of the fish. Traditional flies and artificial (e.g. hard baits) are not likely to be swallowed deeply (I've seen deeply hooked hard baits but its not as likely). One could argue that releasing a fish after being caught with multiple treble hooks are as damaging or more so than a deeply hooked fish. In the Missouri trout parks, I'm inclined to believe that the zones are as much about appeasing special interests groups, e.g. fly fisherman and ir bait fisherman than potemtial C&R. I also believe that part of the intent is to minimize overlap of folks with very different fishing styles, e.g., lines out bottom fishing versus cranking baits through the water or flycasting, which could result in conflicts through tangled lines. Again these are my thoughts and have not been discussed with anyone from the MDC. @bkbying89 was this person a field agent or someone that works at MDC?

Jeff that is my interpretation as well. That a bait would not be considered as a fly it it had a plastic bait like a grub or a craw etc. I also agree that the agent would have some discretion during any enforcement situation.

I love catching bluegill. Sounds like a great time! Congrats!