Al Agnew Posted October 28 Share Posted October 28 The other day I finally sat down and tried to figure out my "life list" of fish caught on hook and line. What prompted it was a Facebook post where the poster listed 50 different North American freshwater species and asked how many of them people had caught. My score was 43. He responded with saying he'd caught 41, but diversity in locations fished had a lot to do with him catching so many different species. Well, I've not only fished in a lot of places, but I've fished for a heck of a long time. So it stands to reason that I've caught a pretty good bunch of different fish species. I know the micro-fishing guys seek to add to their life lists of species caught. I don't micro-fish...unless you count when I was a little kid and fished with bits of worm and tiny hooks trying to catch the minnows my grandpa kept in his concrete tank (he was a big crappie fisherman and trapped his own bait). He always had several different species from creek chubs to shiners to stonerollers, and I'd fish for them and imagine I was catching the tarpon and trout that I read about in Grandpa's outdoor magazines. But I've caught a lot of different species, some of them very small, by accident, either snagging them or while fly fishing with small flies. And I'm counting snagged fish, so sue me. In fact, I'm also counting the chestnut lamprey, which I've only "caught" because they were attached to fish I hooked. Heck, I'd probably count the minnows in bass's stomachs if I ever cut open one and found a different species! So I grabbed my newest edition of the Peterson Guide to North American Freshwater Fish, and paged through it, counting every fish I'm sure I've caught. I've caught 77 different species of North American freshwater fish. Plus 6 saltwater species, 4 African species, and 3 Australian species. Just for fun, here is my list: chestnut lamprey longnose gar bowfin mooneye goldeye American eel gizzard shad grass carp common carp silver carp goldfish northern pikeminnow Sacremento pikeminnow creek chub fallfish hornyhead chub largescale stoneroller central stoneroller striped shiner bleeding shiner duskystripe shiner smallmouth buffalo quillback white sucker mountain sucker western creek chubsucker northern hogsucker shorthead redhorse golden redhorse river redhorse channel catfish blue catfish yellow bullhead flathead catfish grass pickerel chain pickerel northern pike muskellunge mountain whitefish Arctic grayling lake trout brook trout Arctic char dolly varden brown trout sockeye salmon chum salmon chinook salmon coho salmon pink salmon cutthroat trout (includes westslope, Yellowstone, and fine-spotted subspecies) rainbow trout (includes coastal/steelhead and Kern subspecies or races as well as generic rainbows) northern studfish striped bass white bass black crappie white crappie rock bass shadow bass Ozark bass Roanoke bass largemouth bass smallmouth bass (this presumably includes Neosho and Ouachita species/subspecies/races) spotted bass redeye bass warmouth green sunfish bluegill redear sunfish pumpkinseed longear sunfish orangespotted sunfish walleye sauger yellow perch logperch freshwater drum I'm not going to name the saltwater and foreign species, partly because I'm not completely sure of my IDs. Terrierman, Daryk Campbell Sr, Johnsfolly and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnsfolly Posted October 28 Share Posted October 28 Thanks Al. It's interesting to me that there are twenty two fish in your list that I haven't caught yet. Mostly those are more western species. Daryk Campbell Sr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryk Campbell Sr Posted October 28 Share Posted October 28 Your list, your rules. It's pretty rye opening when you realize what you have done. I've done lists mentally, and one day I'll write them down. I still enjoy tug, no matter what it's from. Johnsfolly and BilletHead 2 Money is just ink and paper, worthless until it switches hands, and worthless again until the next transaction. (me) I am the master of my unspoken words, and the slave to those that should have remained unsaid. (unknown) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishnDave Posted October 28 Share Posted October 28 That's a great list, Al! You've caught plenty that aren't on my list yet. 👍 I had an all-tackle lifelist somewhere. I haven't kept that updated for many years, so I really don't know what that would look like now, but it did include some pretty cool species from Hawaii, Florida, etc. I have kept good records on my Flyfishing Lifelist. Just for the 2024 year, I'm at 84 species.... But Fly Lifetime (Flyfetime), I'm at 143 species... 123 Freshwater, 20 Saltwater. I know a few guys that have more/way more than me... but I'm pretty happy with my list. Still have some species I'd like to catch on fly... such as Lake Trout and Sacramento Perch. (There's more, of course.) Johnsfolly and BilletHead 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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