FishnDave

And here was an orange Crappie": And an orange Bowfin: Orange gar: trout: Disclaimer: None of the above photos are mine... I found them on the web.

Buncha stuff! You had to be happy with this trip!

I've caught, uh... way more orange fish than anyone has a right to (goldfish and koi). But.... That is one BEAUTIFUL Smallmouth!!

Great job, @Ham !

I wasn't as successful at keeping this gull off my Pop-R.

CONGRATULATIONS, @Ham !!! That is so exciting!! I can't wait for my day, whenever it is. Probably at least a few years away yet. But I'm beyond ready now.

Grass Pickerel: Shadow Bass: I saw another carp, cast the fly just past it, brought it over its head, then let it drop down right in front of it. As the fly sank, the carp followed it down. I guessed it had eaten it, and set the hook. Yep! What a fight on 6 lb tippet! There were 2-3 kayak anglers that stopped and watched for the entire long battle! 27" Mirror Carp! What a beautiful fish! @Ham behind the lens on this one as well.

Day 2 got 14 species for me, mostly the same ones, a few omissions and a couple different ones. @Ham put on clinic after clinic on the trout. Over the 2 days, it was very rare that I'd look over at him, and he wasn't fighting or releasing yet another trout. It was amazing! I did pretty good, but not "Hamilton-good"! more Rainbow Trouts: Smallmouth Bass: Redspotted Sunfish: Striped Shiner: Hornyhead Chub:

Smallmouth Bass: Hornyhead Chub: Rainbow Trout (It has been jokingly mentioned that Sasquatch shows up in pictures just as he is... blurry. That is in not way related to anything in these pictures): I saw a melanistic (black) carp. Would have loved to catch it. But I caught another member of his pack, who ran completely across the river after getting hooked. @Ham witnessed that, and also netted the carp and took my pic!

Warmouth: Shadow Bass: There's @Ham in the picture below!

Spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday flyfishing with @Ham. Both were great days. On Monday, I managed 16 species!! Here's some of them. Knobfin Sculpin: Longear Sunfish: Creek Chub: Grass Pickerel: Redspotted Sunfish:

26.5", this ties my best flyrod bowfin:

Most paper towels seem to leave streaks. Even if you use a clean cotton towel or washcloth, there may be fabric softener or detergent residue that might cause streaks. I guess I'm not good at it either.

That's not an understatement. Each one certainly feels "hard-earned".

Not nearly as much as you might hope.

I did it! I caught the 5 I needed on Saturday, to reach 300 Lifetime Grass Carp on Fly. Also caught Freshwater Drum, a Shortnose Gar, Longear Sunfish, Hybrid Sunfish, Bluegill, Green Sunfish.

I've checked my numbers... I'm 5 fish shy of 300 Lifetime Grass Carp on Fly. 🤓 😲

The Houston Grassies haven't been introduced to the chartreuse microjig yet.... they oughta fall all over themselves trying to be the first to taste this candy! When are you going? The St Louis grassies seem to stop showing up to play around mid-October. Houston should see them active for at least a few weeks longer, I'd guess. Yes, Spotted Gar will eat microjigs. They quickly lose interest in an artificial that stops... so keep you lure moving and looking alive. I'm pretty sure both Spotted Gars I caught in Louisiana last year ate microjigs.

For the past few years, I've been using a chartreuse microjig... usually about 1/48th or 1/64th oz. Like you can sorta see in this photo: But my local fish have learned it.. now they often spook from seeing it. So, this past trip, I used a version of the Black Ops fly originated by St Louis's Christopher Vargas (sp?) of Missourflies.com. His website is no longer, but his YouTube videos are still up. Here's what my version looks like: #8 Gamakatsu SL45 bonefish hook, Turkey body feather section folded lengthwise for tail, some of Chris's special dubbing blend, tied in with a wrapped dubbing loop, green beadchain eyes. Some Grass Carp hit the fly as it was sinking, others were caught with the fly suspended about 22" under a strike indicator.

Caught 6 Grass Carp on my most recent fishing outing! Biggest measured 33". Caught 9 species total. Another fun fish was this one: