FishnDave

I wonder how many of us would choose the same place as our "hidden gem". Everyone list your spot here, so we can compare. 😜

In 1941, Ford unveiled his prototype for a car that was made almost entirely out of hemp. The car was called the “Hemp Body Car” and was designed to be lightweight, durable, and cost-effective. More so, the hemp car could run on hemp fuel or vegetable oil. Only the tubular welded frame of the car was made of steel. The car's body was estimated to be about ten times stronger than steel. Hemp fiber textile is stronger and lighter than Kevlar, while also water and fire resistant. Hemp can also be extremely durable while lightweight, making it a perfect fiber to hold up against the elements

After losing so many Alligator Gar... the one I caught STILL had to pile on the stress by getting hung up on a stout piece of vegetation about 12' from shore. Despite having just watched a good-sized gator munching it's lunch about 35' away (but on the other side of a driveway culvert)... I waded in and grabbed that gar and carried it back to shore! 💪

@Ham insisted we needed that pic to confirm our fish I.D. It was funny... that gar kept his mouth open for the longest time... until we started to take pictures of his teeth. Then he clamped up and wouldn't re-open. Got one ok pic before that. My fish didn't pose nearly as well:

Good luck! I hope the "toothpicks" don't look like this!

I hope you get 'em! The Hardheads were on/near the bottom. The Gafftopsails we caught were mostly shallower...like 3' down in 17' of water, day AND night! They were small ones, however. I would expect bigger ones to be on the bottom. I'm no expert, tho. Whether they were under dock lights at night or in faster current areas during the day...they seemed to like being around faster predators, and probably were picking up scraps from the savage Spotted Seatrouts and Ladyfish feeding frenzies.

In addition to gulls, herons, ibises, bitters, egrets, marsh hens, pelicans, osprey, etc.... I saw a Crested Caracara on top of a roadside utility pole. I didn't get a pic, so this is one from the web: We also saw...what I think may be called... Indian Blanket flowers?

Great trip! @Ham did a lot of research pre-trip to find us great spots to fish and places to stay! Here's some "other stuff" we saw. Mediterranean Geckos: We accidentally caught Blue Crabs: Accidentally foul-hooked Mullet: BIG Golden Orb Weaver spider: 'Gators: Toad: Some sort of cetacean (whale/dolphin/porpoise):

We headed west across the state to finish out the last few days of the trip. Here we largely fished canals and ditches from shore. @Ham caught a nice Flounder! We mostly caught more Redfish, Ladyfish, another Spotted Gar, as well as some smaller prettier Black Drum, and small Alligator Gar. Spotted Gar: Alligator Gar:

We hit a few freshwater spots. I caught Hybrid Sunfish, Warmouth, Rio Grande Cichlids, Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, and a Largemouth Bass.

In a salty roadside ditch, we actually caught more Redfish than we did in the marsh! Also some more Ladyfish, Atlantic Croaker, a Spotted Gar, some Gulf Killifish, and Hamilton caught his 2nd Sheepshead on fly for the trip (the first was in the marsh).

In a deeper channel near where we stayed, we also caught Hardhead Catfish and Ladyfish:

We spent some time in the salt marshes, looking for Redfish, Black Drum, and anything else that would hit.

@Ham and I just spent the better part of a week in south Louisiana, flyfishing. Sun, heat and sweat were endured, multiple days of rain and being soaked didn't slow us down. We fished saltwater, brackish, and freshwater spots. (My) main targets were Alligator Gar (to finish out the 5 U.S. gar species on fly), and Rio Grande Cichlid (because... they're pretty. ). Other species were very welcome catches as well. I want to give a huge KUDOS to @Ham for genuinely helping me catch an Alligator Gar. He had no problems catching them. I lost fish after fish for at least 3 days. He actually STOPPED FISHING for long periods of time to allow me to try to catch one. Really appreciate that. It finally DID happen! Hamilton can share his pics here if he chooses...and I hope he does. Here's some of the fish I caught and maybe other pics I took. Here we are the first evening, being shown some spots in the salt marsh to try the following day, by Ham's buddy Kelly. That's me up front. We hadn't thrown our fishing stuff in the boat yet. Here we are fishing dock lights at night. We caught a bunch of Spotted Seatrout, Sand Seatrout, and little Gafftopsail Catfish:

FIFY Also.... The most rain I recall and experienced, personally, was 16.94" of rain in a 24-hr period near Aurora (western suburb of Chicago), Illinois, in July 1996.

"An invasive species is an organism that causes ecological or economic harm in a new environment where it is not native." You could have a non-native species that does no ecological or economic harm, and therefore is not considered "invasive". Seems pretty subjective. What about introducing a non-native fish species to eat mosquito larvae, for example. Mosquitos are native. The introduced species is damaging the mosquito ecology directly, and possible damaging other species that normally feed on the previously abundant mosquito larva. So isn't that introduced fish species INVASIVE? I forget the specifics now, but recall reading about an insect that was brought to the US to deal with some perceived problem. In its native area, that insect didn't overpopulate because there was a fungal spore that kept its population in check. When they brought this insect to the US, they didn't bring the spore with it, so it's population exploded un-checked. Humans are the worst (whether intentionally or unintentionally) at introducing species where they weren't previously. In the end, we all live on this planet.

I think this happens to about everyone I know, including me. We all worry about it, but maybe we shouldn't get too worked up over it. How about we all just agree that it happens because our brains are so FULL OF KNOWLEDGE, some of the words spill over the edges of our brimming memories and must be corralled again when we need them. @rpsRandy, your stories are very well written, thank you for sharing them.

Beautiful!

Missouri River trib. Lunker indeed! 😁 Or at least a Master Angler.

16.25" Goldeye: A couple Grass Carp:

Freshwater Drum:

Hybrid Sunfish: Possibly another Emerald Shiner:

I wasn't expecting the micro opportunity, so I happened to be using the 8wt because of the other species I was fishing for. Could easily have used the 9, tho. 😜 Y'know... some anglers like to see how big of a fish they can catch on light line. I think they'd be pretty proud of a 10:1 ratio... a 20 pound fish on 2 lb test, for example. My best is probably a 35 lb fish on 8 lb test... 4.375:1. A ratio is a ratio. With the mosquitofish, the ratio went the other way. I didn't weigh the mosquito fish, but I looked up average weights for mosquitofish, and its about 1 GRAM! 1 gram is .0022 lbs and I was using 12 lb tippet! So... if my calculations are accurate... I just totally rocked a 1:5455 ratio! 🥇 🏆

Channel Catfish: Eyetail Bowfin: Common Carp: