Intrusive Thoughts : Can a leopard change its spots?

[Ham]

63) Blackstripe Top MinnowHonest to God, they get in the way. 

[Quillback]

Studfish - Yet another species I did not know existed.  When you catch one, you can honestly say: "This fish is a STUD!"  

[Ham]

64) Yellow Bullhead

I’ve been trying for a long while for one of these. @FishnDave catches them all the dang time.

I was targeting them in a tiny little spot that I drove to specifically to catch one. Full write up coming. 

[FishnDave]

Way to go!  

[Ham]

65) Channel Catfish

Big Boy. Very exciting fight. Pulled the yak around. I was worried about him finding a snag or pulling off. The hook was buried to the bend. He wasn’t ever coming off. 

[Ham]

66) Western Mosquito Fish

Lots of interest from the minnows, but really tough to time the hookset with the bite. 

[Ham]

67) Highland Stoneroller 

I’m Not a Huge fan of failure. I was pretty frustrated that I wasn’t able to get it done the other day.

well, I had gotten pretty Hot and miserable at the new place. I decided to cut and run and try for Red Shiners again. And maybe I would have a few minutes left after that. 
The spot I wanted to try is a creek that runs into the Arkansas River. The Arkansas River was less of a dumpster fire that last time I saw it, but still pretty bad. 
So, I was about as far up as I could manage up the creek. I round the corner and a your lady is sitting there amongst a lot of stuff reading something. I announced myself as far away from her as I could be and she about jumped out of her skin. Something was Super sketchy about the whole deal. She couldn’t wait to be away from me and said “that’s my stuff, it’s not garbage”. I tried to assure her I was just there to fish. That killed the vibe though. I caught a few Bluegill and a yellow bass. No shiners availed themselves. As I was leaving, an older guy showed up with a castnet to wreck the place. Also a Big Bummer. 
On to the Stoneroller spot I went. I had dubbed some bright materials on a size 24. Stuff I can see that makes the fly look bigger than it is to get attention with the small hook. 
my bigger boys where still where I left them, but no less paranoid. They milled around, but too uneasy to just eat the fly. I present to a large group of smaller SR and you would have thought they had not fed in days. Fighting over the fly, but none were big enough. I walked along and found a group of a little larger sub adults. A couple dozen fish fighting over it. I had a couple of swings and misses, but finally got the timing right and got one with the fly in its mouth. 
9 th Flyfer of the year. The goal was 10, but at this point, I am hoping for at least 4 more. 

[Ham]

68) Walleye

I was targeting them specifically when I caught it, but I did not plan on trying for them today.

I went looking for Logperch and mid search a thunderstorm ran me off. I had gotten some bites from Whitetail Shiners and seen some really Big ones, but I had not caught any yet. I hadn’t starting looking for Bigeye Shiners yet either, but I was forced to depart.

I tried for Ozark Darters, but only saw tiny ones. Weather caught me there too.

so, I took a break for lunch and got supplies to work on Waldo’s trailer. While I was doing that, I thought about taking a shot at walleye. When they open the spillways on Bull Shoals, TRL, and Norfork, they stock warm water species like walleye into the rivers below the lake. I’m all about taking advantage of that. 
A Little but of a hike to get to my spot, but that’s ok. I rigged up a sparkle minnow with a mini jig dropper.

I missed the first bite which felt really firm. No idea what it was. But I did not miss the second bite which was a really Heavy thump. Fish on! I played it carefully to shore (no net) and eased it into the shallows. Very relived to get it to hand. This was one I was hoping for, but not completely counting on. Woo Freaking Hoo! 

[Ham]

69) Whitetail Shiner from Bryant Creek

[Ham]

70) Orangespotted Sunfish

What a pain in the butt this little guy was. It took a lot of fly changes and a lot of time to get this guy on fly. 
I certainly put in the sweat equity on this one.