Look At These Little Beauties!

[KingFisher007]

Went fishing a couple days ago and managed to get a few green sunfish but then the nice man I met down there (at Bella Vista Lake)caught something I thought I would never see..look at these beauties!

and this one is a little smaller..

[Crippled Caddis]

Kingfisher wrote:

<Went fishing a couple days ago and managed to get a few green sunfish but then the nice man I met down there (at Bella Vista Lake)caught something I thought I would never see..look at these beauties!>

Nice! That's what I was talking about on your opening thread when you introduced yourself! You'll find them in every stream you cross in NW Ark. from tiny rills that you can step across without straining the crotch of your pants up to----well---lakes. They are so pugnacious that their arrogant courage is either admirable or amusingly ridiculous depending on YOUR perspective. Just why one would keep large exotics when we have such gorgeous fish is quite beyond my understanding!

Let me make a suggestion. Either Google up the forum for the Guadalupe chapter of Trout Unlimited or go to the Fiberglass flyrod board and ask 'bulldog 1935', Ron McAlpin. how to get to the GRTU board because there you will find a LOT of pics of some of the myriad local strains of the Longear which Ron, a Longear admirer living in the hills of central Texas in 'Greater Metropolitan Bulverde' (joke;o)), has collected over the years. The unique aquifer system of the Texas Hill Country produces some of the most beautiful and colorful native fish in North America including our only natice Cichlid and Ron, as both a flyfisher and afficianado of the unique beauty of the fish, is one of the leading connosuers and photographers of the specie whose work he regularly posts on various fora.

The wide range of color and marking variations of the Longears that Ron has posted will both surprise and delight you. HTH, CC

[KingFisher007]

Thank you! I found the forum and what awesome pics!..cannot believe how crystal clear the water is in texas either! ..I saw quite a few lovely fish and yes, it beats me why people are not going the way of native either..they are great looking fish and I find them most intelligent and extremely hardy and disease resistant. I will be going out again this weekend to see what other goodies I can find hehe!

[drew03cmc]

Gorgeous fish! We have ONE stream in the Topeka, Lawrence area that holds longears and it is closed for the winter. darn. I guess I will have to post pictures after I get a really really short glass rod and enough courage to fish it.

[Crippled Caddis]

Drew wrote:

< I guess I will have to post pictures after I get a really really short glass rod and enough courage to fish it.>

Just come down to N. central Arkansas and I can loan you rods starting at 5' and put you on a half dozen streams with Longears near the house starting with the river at the foot of the hill I live on. There's no shortage of colorful panfish in our streams including the Shadow Bass, a member of the Rock Bass family unique to the Ozarks.

[zander]

The prettiest longear I ever saw was in the White River near Calico Rock, Arkansas. I didn't catch it but I could see him so clearly in the gin clear water deep down in a hole.

[Crippled Caddis]

Most flyfisherman (and I am certainly guilty on all counts) are 'Salmo-centric' and cavelierly ignore the diverse bounty of specie diversity in our Ozark streams to the detriment of our own fishing pleasure. Just why I fail to pay deserved attention to the virtually inconcievable options available other than trout I have no adequate, satisfactory or even reasonable explanation.

My 'home river', the Spring River of North central Arkansas, and its' South Fork tributary that I live on with almost 1,000' of frontage offer so much more than trout! In point of fact the viable trout waters on the Spring span only about 15 miles of the river yet the remaining, far greater length, holds such diverse species as all three major branches of the Black Bass family as well as almost every major specie of the panfish family native to the Southern USA along with a few species unique to the region. World-class Walleye are in the river from springhead to where it joins the Black. (with possible world record size fish according to members of the electro survey teams) Hybridized 'Tiger Musky' of epic proportions swim it's waters along with a vast assemblage of catfish and 'roughfish'. Anyone who has ever hooked a big Yellow Sucker while fishing for trout can attest to the fact that they were thrilled beyond belief by the fight that led them to hope that they had a record trout on the end of their line until they were inexplicably let down when they could actually identify what was on the end of their leader. Disappointed? By a strong, determined fish that simply doesn't understand the meaning of quit? For goodness sake---he even resembles a Bonefish!

Carp reminiscent of Atomic attack subs swim the river and if you hang one on trout tackle you can usually kiss your terminal tackle goodbye. Yet nothing that swims our waters commands less respect in the lexicon of our fishing culture.

We are blessed almost beyond belief when the totality of our fishing opportunities are considered in their full panorama yet how many of us avail ourselves of all the possibilities there for the taking? CC

[Danoinark]

My My CC, a splendid tribute to our native species.

I find my mindset as a troutcentric typically, but I try never to ignore the offerings of our wonderful warm water streams. There really is nothing like lazily wading one of them on a warm spring or fall day with a handful of poppers, targeting big gills or bass.

Dano

[KingFisher007]

Yeah...it is really astounding at just what is around us in the water..never know what your gonna get. Up in Connecticut where I am from originally, we had pumpkinseed sunfish but you were guaranteed with each cast to get a green sunfish instead, since the river I was closest too was overrun with them the last few years, and there was a population explosion. Was extremely difficult to catch anything other than that. I very rarely, if ever, saw beautiful sunfish other then the one I originally had up until I came across these little guys. Totally blew me away. So now it's my mission to scope out the most beautiful fish I can find hehe and start constructing a panfish photo album of our beautiful natives, as well as keep a few of the stunners for myself!