Fly Fishing Species 2023

[Ham]

17) Longear Sunfish

[Ham]

18) Northern Snakehead

kinda proud of this one

[Ham]

19) Cardinal Shiner

It required some patience and a couple of fly changes before I could hook and hold one

[Quillback]

Snakehead - Did you eat it?

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

19) Cardinal Shiner

It required some patience and a couple of fly changes before I could hook and hold one

Nice Fly catch. I've caught ones like that one, but really want to catch a spawning male to see why they are called cardinal shiners.

[Ham]

Yes Jeff, we eat the snakehead. I call them ditch walleye. Long fillet. White, firm meat. Very mild flavor. Basically you taste the way you cook it. Beer batter, grill, or corn meal batter. It’s Good, but claims it’s the best fish you’ll ever eat seem overstated to me. 

[Ham]

Yeah John, I’ve never caught a pretty one. 

[Quillback]

55 minutes ago, Ham said:

Yes Jeff, we eat the snakehead. I call them ditch walleye. Long fillet. White, firm meat. Very mild flavor. Basically you taste the way you cook it. Beer batter, grill, or corn meal batter. It’s Good, but claims it’s the best fish you’ll ever eat seem overstated to me. 

I was curious how they tasted.  Ditch walleye, that's a good one.  Are they getting numerous in Arkansas?

[Ham]

11 minutes ago, Quillback said:

I was curious how they tasted.  Ditch walleye, that's a good one.  Are they getting numerous in Arkansas?

So 4 years I reached out to AGFC to ask about where to fish for them and I was told it was a waste of time because it was a needle in a haystack trying to find them. Last year I asked again and was given some suggestions as to where to try. 
basically, they might be in any ditch or Creek or bayou or slough that’s is connected to the lower Little Red River, lower White River, Cache River, or St Francis River. IMO, populations are expanding rapidly. Now that they are in the St Francis, they are gonna do so well. 
they are a frustrating fish, but I’m having fun figuring them out. 

[Johnsfolly]

2 hours ago, Ham said:

Yeah John, I’ve never caught a pretty one. 

I've caught a couple in mid-April from the Spring river a few years back and they weren't colored up at that time. From an INAT search it looks like in MO that mid-May to June may be the best time to target them in spawning colors.

 

Edit - Looks like MouserK on INAT was finding spawning males in the very SW corner of MO in mid-April