The Push for 100

[laker67]

Haven't seen a yellow bullhead since I was a kid. I used to catch them on grasshoppers at a local pond. You are just around the corner from that 100 mark. Keep em coming.

[Ham]

I’ve stubbed my toe on multiple trips to different watersheds. The weather has not been very friendly to me

[Ham]

78) Northern Rock Bass (Ambloplites rupestris)  Little Guy, but the only one I caught on three wet, cold days on Big Piney.

sadly, this was the only new for the year species for the trip. I caught 10 species, but only one of my 30 something species that I had hoped to catch. That’s fishing. 

[FishnDave]

Trade you a gizzard shad card for the checkered madtom?

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, FishnDave said:

Trade you a gizzard shad card for the checkered madtom?

Love to see you catch some madtoms on a flyrod. That would be awesome!

[FishnDave]

15 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Love to see you catch some madtoms on a flyrod. That would be awesome!

I'm sure it could be done.  Finding them is the biggest challenge.  I've caught black and yellow bullheads and channel cats on flies... why not madtoms?  The last time I remember catching madtoms was probably a little over 30 years ago.

[Johnsfolly]

17 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

Finding them is the biggest challenge.  I've caught black and yellow bullheads and channel cats on flies... why not madtoms? 

Many are less than 4 to 5 inches in length or a lot smaller like this slender madtom that Livie caught by hand.

I have caught most of mine at night. They are annoyed by the lights. so I catch them on the edge of the light. I have caught a couple of them during the day, but that was by putting the bait up under the rock that I saw them hiding.

 

[FishnDave]

Those are pretty small.  I probably wouldn't be catching those on the flies I use.  I used to catch small ones by hand when I was a youngster...walk rocky riffles and see them dart under a rock.  Hit that rock with another...it stuns them, and you can lift up the rock and catch them.  The ones I caught while fishing were bigger.  5"-9", And since some were that big, those bigger ones may have been stonecats, but their tales looked more like madtom tails.  Anyway...30+ years ago, no pictures to look back on.  They absolutely were not bullheads.  

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, FishnDave said:

And since some were that big, those bigger ones may have been stonecats,

Stonecats are the largest madtom species in the Noturus genus. So 5 to 9" is within their size range for sure. That checkered madtom is a big one as well, possibly the second largest species in that genus.

Here's a margined madtom with that classic tail and adipose fin.

[Daryk Campbell Sr]

On 11/1/2020 at 5:31 AM, Ham said:

77) Yellow Bullhead (. I caught this fish about 5 minutes after the Checkered Madtom. I was on top of the world right about then.

it was kinda weird. They was not much of an initial bite and they nothing, but when I lifted gently, it felt heavy. Hook sets are free so I set and it was fish on. Almost no fight at all. Very odd. 

I used to catch these in my local fishing ponds as a kid.  I will live happily ever after if I never catch another.   They have no fight, dont grow large, they stink, and 90-95 percent of the time they swallow the hook.  We called them "yellow belly"  cats.