FishnDave

Fished in the drizzle on Saturday. Went looking for baby musky. Did not succeed in catching any. Instead, I caught a bass. Went to another lake, caught a Rainbow Trout and a Redear Sunfish. Tried a third lake. Caught a largemouth bass, bluegills, a White Crappie, and a jumbo Golden Shiner.

For interested fly tyers wanting to create something that looks like 2024's hatch...it turns out there is sort of a mix of 2 species in this hatch. Here's some pics: Magicicada neotredecim: and Magicicada tredecim:

This could be a FUN time for big topwater flies! I was in Iowa during their most recent 17-Year Cicada brood hatch. It was very cool!

Oh? um...then do NOT read the "Sad But True" thread! 😜 Could be a business opportunity... design a mount for the Livescope transducer and display for wading purposes! You could make 10's of dollars!

Maybe they got a "burning sensation"? Before my wife and I got married, we shared an apartment. Saw some unusual evening activity around one of the apartment complex's dumpsters. A car drove in, tossed something in the dumpster, and hurriedly drove away. Curious at the sketchy behavior, we went to see what they'd thrown in the dumpster. It was a grocery sack of sex toys and porn videos. Exactly your question, @Al Agnew, why would they throw all that away? And go out of their way to make sure it wasn't in THEIR OWN TRASH? @fishinwrench Yeah, Cap't Crunch does it me too.

Can we discuss when Fly Anglers are going to catch up and start strapping Live Scope Sonar to their waders? 😏

Fruity Pebbles SMELLS really good! Might've been just me.... but that cereal always made the top of my tongue and roof of my mouth feel coated in grease after I ate it. Anybody else get that from it?

I did also managed to catch another Mooneye, this time in Missouri! I saw a fish sipping off the surface like a trout, I spooked it when I cast over it. Then there were fish dimpling the surface all around. I went subsurface due to the fly I already had one...suspended a microjig under an indicator. I tossed near a spot where a fish or two were hitting the surface. Didn't take long. Indicator down. Mooneye caught! Somehow, that spooked everything in the area. I stuck around for probably another hour and never saw any more surface activity, and didn't get any more strikes suburface either. They are a fun, interesting fish! They are not great fighters...maybe the bigger ones are. They can reach 20 inches, but in Missouri their max length is reportedly about 13". I caught one many years ago in northern Illinois, Rock River, on spinning gear. It was enormous! The 35mm film pic did not turn out, sadly.

I told @Ham of my weekend fishing plan. He offered up an interesting alternative for a new species that didn't require me driving for 5 hours! Caught 2023 Flyrod species #84 on Saturday. And Lifetime flyrod species #113. Mottled Sculpin! Caught 8 of 'em. Hamilton verified the catches. There were only 2 species of sculpin in this creek, and these were not the Banded Sculpins. Honestly, I still can't tell the Mottleds from the Ozarks from the Knobfins. They look and behave very similarly. Its all about WHERE they are. Thanks for all the intel, Hamilton!

Great job on a sunny day! 👍😍

Shucks...that's MY super-secret spot! 😲😲 😄

I've seen multiple anglers catch Mudpuppies while walleye/sauger fishing the upper Mississippi River in Minnesota. I'd love to see a wild Hellbender someday! Just found this... Hellbender or Mudpuppy: http://ohioamphibians.com/salamanders/Is_it_a_Hellbender_or_Mudpuppy.html

While visiting our son at college, I managed to get away to fish for a couple hours. 37 degrees air temp. stained water. Caught 17-20(ish) stocker Rainbow Trout, a Black Crappie, and a Bluegill. Lost a few fish that felt bigger.

Not much fishing left in my schedule for 2023. So, here's some results as we approach the checkered flag: -83 Species caught on Fly in 2023 -I started the year with 83 (same number!!) species on my fly rod lifetime list. I added 29 new species, so I'm now at 112 Lifetime Fly Rod species. -Caught 4 of the 5 gar species on fly this year. Spotted and Florida were new ones for me. Still need to get Alligator Gar. -Caught Spotted Sunfish and Redbreast Sunfish for the first times ever. Just need Northern Sunfish to complete the 13 "original" Lepomis sunfish species. -Hamilton put me on plenty of "new to me" fish this year...including Flier and Mooneye, Shadow Bass and Ozark Bass. -Caught Tarpon and Barramundi on fly this year. -Ended with 118 Bowfin on fly for 2023. -Caught new Flyrod PB's of Walleye (27"), Longnose Gar (47.5"), Spotted Tilapia (12"), Eyetail Bowfin (26.5"), Shortnose Gar (29.5"), Chain Pickerel (didn't measure), and others. -Typically unusual species for me....I'm very thankful to have caught surprising numbers of Redspotted Sunfish and Warmouth this year. For me....2023 has been a flat-out crazy GREAT year for multispecies fishing! Huge thanks to @Ham for all the good times fishing together this year!

@Quillback @Ham Those suckers and pikeminnow would be a fun challenge on fly too!

How's this going? Not all you've caught are in BOLD on the first post of this thread, yet. 31.5 days left?

Took a family vacation to Aruba. We had a great time! Had scheduled a 1/2 day solo guided flyfishing trip with Laurenz Van Mook of https://www.flyandspinfishingaruba.com/ I had not ever caught a tarpon, so was hoping to get one added to my flyrod list. Large ones are rare in Aruba, but there are some baby ones. That's all I wanted! I caught one, lost one, and missed a couple more bites. We looked for bonefish, only saw a couple, and the only cast I made to one landed too close, resulting in the fish getting spooked. I also had a Bar Jack on, but lost it...and then caught a small Blue Runner. The Tarpon and Blue Runner were flyrod fish #82 and #83 for 2023!

Is this a barter system? How many rocks would it take for you to clean a deer? Everyone's got a price, I've heard. What if they were to arrange for you to go fishing? 😉

I've caught Bigmouth, Smallmouth, and Black Buffalos on flies. Not impossible to catch, but typically VERY difficult. Whereas a Common Carp, and even Grass Carp in some areas, will react and move to eat a fly... Buffalos often ignore a fly altogether. I've put flies near them and usually see absolutely zero reaction from the fish. If you can get the fly PERFECTLY into their path, sometimes they will eat it as they are vacuuming their way across the bottom. But also, you can continue to be completely amazed as @Ham gets them (and silver carp too!) to aggressively feast on a giant articulated streamer. 😲

This is the most recent article, but not the first I've seen, regarding sampling and aging populations of native Buffalo species. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/century-old-buffalofish-are-still-living-in-their-prime/ar-AA1jHTMX?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=130cf8b4a3db4cfc809c34b5f0ff0aab&ei=33 "The smallmouth buffalofish the researchers found in the lake ranged from 11 to 101 years old; the black buffalofish were 106 to 108 years old; and the bigmouth buffalofish were 85 to 105 years old. What makes the fishes’ longevity even more remarkable is that they aren’t native to Arizona waters, Lackmann says—the three species were introduced to the state in 1918, likely from Iowa." This suggests Black Buffalo have not successfully reproduced (at this particular lake) ever, Bigmouth Buffalo have not successfully reproduced in 85 years, and Smallmouth Buffalo have not successfully reproduced in 11 years. They weren't native at this lake, so its not terribly surprising they are struggling to propogate, I suppose. Other studies within their native ranges have shown similarly old individuals within their populations.... at least in excess of 85 years, as I recall... and few young specimens. I've seen them spawn. Its not that they don't lay many eggs.... Their were tiny orange eggs scattered everywhere! And other fish following them around eating the eggs.

Clearly, there are three types of people. Those that can count, and those that can't count. 😏

That's nothing. I got skunked (once) while fishing. I somehow managed to pick myself up and forced myself to go fishing AGAIN!! 😲