June 15, 2024

 Drove an hour and visited a place I had not been to before.  Always exciting to learn a new place!  It was Mississippi River floodplain lowland swamp type of place.  A fisheries biologist told me Pirate Perch and Grass Pickerel had been sampled here, along with Spotted Gar, Bowfin, and other stuff I enjoy catching.  So... off I went.

Driving in, there was abundant wildlife.  I saw deer, a raccoon, turtles, snakes, a lizard (I think...super rare in this area!), Redheaded Woodpeckers, Indigo Buntings, Goldfinches, Cardinals, herons, buzzards... really fun to see!

I stopped at a number of spots.  Some were too shallow, or weed choked, or otherwise unfishable.  Others were interesting.  Most had tiny minnows (Western Mosquitofish / gambusia).  Some had bigger fish!

I did not manage to catch Pirate Perch (which apparently feed at night and hide in deep cover during the day), nor Grass Pickerel.

I DID catch Eyetail Bowfin, some gar (possibly spotted x shortnose hybrids?), Warmouth, Green Sunfish, some very feisty Largemouth Bass, Bluegills, and Black Crappies.

One of the Warmouth I caught was absolutely GORGEOUS!  One of the prettiest ones I've caught, for sure.  And after fishing other spots, I returned to the spot later in the day and caught another Warmouth... that turned out to be the same one from 6 hours earlier!  No, the water wasn't clear enough to see the fish, so it was pretty random, I felt.  Very cool, though!

Here's that Warmouth:

Warmouth on fly

This was when I caught it the 2nd time, 6 hours later:

For comparison, below are a couple other Warmouth I caught the same day.  Less colorful, but I like them all.  Such a cool species!

And some of the other fish:

Black Crappie

Bluegill

This Bowfin measured 25"...not my biggest ever, but maybe the 2nd biggest:

Eyetail Bowfin on fly

This smaller one had black fins which was pretty neat:

Some of the bigger bass:

Largemouth Bass on fly

All the gar were nice ones.  I only measured one, and it was 29.5"!

May 19, 2024

 Before leaving Arkansas on Sunday, I decided to try for some species I don't normally get near home.  My buddy that I fished with the previous day for Snakeheads fish with me.  He knows so many good fishing spots! :)

We stopped at 3 places.  At the first spot, I caught a Creek Chub, Green Sunfish, and Rainbow Trout, then lost a sculpin.  We relocated downstream 100 yards or so, and I caught a few more Green Sunfish, a Banded Sculpin (Flyfer!), 3 Redspotted Sunfish, 7 Grass Pickerel, and a Knobfin Sculpin.

Banded Sculpin

Banded Sculpin

Redspotted Sunfish

Grass Pickerel

Grass Pickerel

Knobfin Sculpin

As we headed to another location, we made a quick stop at a small creek, hoping for chances at some Darter species.  We didn't manage any darters, but I did get a Flyfer (fly-lifer) of a Redfin Shiner.  Also caught some Bloody Shiners.

Redfin Shiner

Bloody Shiners

 

At our last spot, we fished a swamp that was flooded and muddied up from recent rains.  I beached but lost a Spotted Gar, but caught a Warmouth and 2 Fliers.

Warmouth

Flier

Flier

Zebra Swallowtail

I ended the day by 12:30pm (to start my drive home), with 11 species, 27 fish.  I've now so far caught 51 fish species in 2024.

June 9, 2023

 Headed down to Southern MO / Northern AR on Friday.  Wanted to add a few species to my 2023 Fly Rod List.  Some fish I'd already caught this year, too.

I got a Western Dollar Sunfish:

Bluegill:

A really dark-colored Redspotted Sunfish:

Other more "normal" ones:

Knobfin Sculpin:

And a bunch of Warmouth that showed how different they can look:

I also caught a Longear Sunfish: