FishnDave

Great review! #unpredictablefishing

The magical wizard of fishing, who has earned such nicknames as "Dumbledore" and "Gandalf" and "Merlin" and "Ham". 😄

I might be able to help out with both of those. I exceeded my "100 Bowfin on Fly" goal back in April. It took considerably less than 1 year, but it bridged 2022 and 2023. Somebody... talked me into getting 100 on fly in one calendar year...so now I'm trying to do that. I need 9 more. Its gotten extremely tough lately. It isn't easy, and often barely even fun. I've certainly paid my dues many times over, I feel. I'm hoping they'll cooperate better as the water cools some into Fall here....

Elk droppings poisoning the waterways. 2.5 times more elk now than 10 years ago. 🤔😅

I feel like @snagged in outlet 3 misses the days when he got to fish for something besides trout. So, for his benefit, I went out and captured some of his absolute favorites: Grass Carp: Common Carp: Bigmouth Buffalo: Bowfin:

Good thing I did! You must have missed it when I posted the same pic on Monday under the 2023 Flyfishing Fish Pics thread. 😄 I know how much you enjoy the fish pictures.

This is the 2nd post I've seen in the past few minutes that said they weren't able to post pics as usual....thought I'd test to see if it works for me... Looks like it does. I'm just posting a URL link to a photo of mine stored on an outside photo-storing site (gifyu.com).

Sounds awful and miserable! No thanks! I've occasionally wondered if the tournament anglers would be better at their job if they DID fish for other species...bluegills, muskies, catfish, etc...to have a better understanding of the entire food chain and ecosystem that their tournament target species live in? Maybe not, but wouldn't more knowledge help? Folks fishing for other species often catch bass, for example, so wouldn't knowing those other methods help when fishing gets tough on the standard lures and tactics? Seems like it would.

While I'd love to be making a living doing something I enjoy and am going to do anyway... it always seemed to me the best way to ruin the enjoyment of fishing was to be a pro tournament angler or guide. Even 2023 NBA champ Nikola Jokic mentioned something true in an interview. Following his team's Finals win, he was excited for the end of the season... to go do things he enjoyed... because no matter how fun something is, nobody likes it nearly as much when its their "job".

I don't think I could do more than maybe just a couple of their hooksets a day without injuring my back!

And fishes harder, I'd reckon.

Saw other stuff while fishing...eagles, hummingbirds, goldfinches, white herons, great blue herons, frogs, turtles, snakes, butterflies, flowers...a B-29 that flew over twice. I just got an iPhone 14 (Pro?) with the 3 cameras on the back... had a tough time getting it to focus on some of the close-up stuff.

Lightly rained a good part of Saturday in StL. Between that and the cooler temps, I hoped the fish would be active and hungry the next day. Maybe if I was any good at flyfishing, I'd have caught more. 😁 I only caught 12 fish...but 8 species. Here's some: Freshwater Drum: 29" Shortnose Gar: Common Carp: Largemouth Bass: A smaller Shortnose Gar: Yellow Bullhead: A spot-free Channel Catfish: A Warmouth: And some Bowfin:

Super rare for me to have more than a single hook on the fly rods...but back before I decided to switch, doubles happened. No smallies that way, though, that I recall. So both you guys definitely got one up on me!

Beauties! 😍

Nice trip! Both are Smallmouth.

It was over 20 years ago...I don't recall screaming at all. Nor do I remember if the water around me suddenly got warmer. This past weekend I was fishing below an unfamiliar dam. Very very close to it, in fact. I wasn't aware they blew a really loud horn when the flows were about to change. It happened twice in the few hours I was there. Startled me big time, both times!

I was wading back upstream after fishing one evening on a Smallmouth Bass stream in north central Illinois. Extremely dark out, must have been no moon that night. Anyway, I hear some quick rustling in the brush on the top of the drop-off on my left, then a huge splash in the water. I'm sure it was a beaver, but it took much too long for my brain to decide it was anything other than a big alligator. I knew it couldn't be a gator, but it sure SOUNDED like one! 🥺 Ugh.

I've seen some of that on IG, and I'm torn... If somebody gets new gear, it's fair to give an appraisal of it. That might help somebody else that is looking for new gear. Other times, it seems individuals either are, or are trying to be, brand reps for certain companies. Its usually pretty obvious when they are doing that. I don't care for it. But I can't really blame someone for trying to monetize their social media in whatever way they can...to help fund the affliction we all share.

As a youngster, I spent summers working in cornfields/bean fields all day. Hottest day I recall was 112 F. Didn't bother me then. Does now. I've had a few instances in the past 10 years while fishing that heat got to me to the point I threw up! Some of those days were only in the upper 80's! Could have been the cigars I was smoking back then, too... either way, not fun. I DO think age might have something to do with not being able to handle the heat as well these days. I try to avoid that now. I can usually tell when I'm getting overheated...my nose will start to run. Why? This past weekend I managed about 3 hours of fishing in the afternoon before I had to throw in the towel. Drinking water didn't make me feel better. Other anglers left at the same time I did, complaining of the same issues, and they looked to be in their mid-20's.

Awesome! Not bad for just 51 minutes after your first post!