Species: Scrawled Cowfish (Acanthostracion quadricornis) Location: Tampa, Florida Date: July 13, 2018 After adding a species early on shrimp, I got another one to take a bit of squid, and it was something out of science fiction. Something with “quadricorn” in its Latin name is bound to be strange, but the Scrawled Cowfish is probably the…
Read moreSpecies #153 — Spottail Pinfish
Species: Spottail Pinfish (Diplodus holbrookii) Location: Tampa, Florida Date: July 13, 2018 I first “met” Ryan Crutchfield on Instagram before I’d even started species hunting. Our social circles overlapped, and I found myself following a guy on Instagram who posted some out of the ordinary fish pictures. Sure, the tarpon, snook, redfish, and bass pics I…
Read moreSpecies #152 — White Grunt
Species: White Grunt (Haemulon plumierii) Location: Tampa, Florida Date: July 13, 2018 I spent two solid days at ICAST with Fishbrain. From meeting Roland Martin and April Vokey to sitting next to Scott Martin during breakfast, I couldn’t have been happier. It as about as much fun as you can have while not fishing. You can…
Read moreSpecies #151 — Golden Topminnow
Species: Golden Topminnow (Fundulus chrysotus) Location: Orlando, Florida Date: July 10, 2018 After checking off Golden Shiner, I tried to catch the tiny little pike-like fish that roamed just under the surface, darting this way and that to investigate everything on its turf. The telltale red-tipped tail told me it was another Golden Topminnow, and I’d…
Read moreSpecies #150 — Golden Shiner
Species: Golden Shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas) Location: Orlando, Florida Date: July 10, 2018 A school of Golden Shiners pestered me for almost an hour at the Lake Fran Urban Wetlands. I knew what they were, and I knew I’d never caught one, but for the life of me, I just couldn’t get one to bite. They were…
Read moreSpecies #149 — Walking Catfish
Species: Walking Catfish (Clarias batrachus) Location: Orlando, Florida Date: July 10, 2018 I remember reading about Walking Catfish in one of the dozen or so outdoor magazines I subscribed to growing up. Yes, I spent virtually all of my disposable income in junior high and high school on magazines, but that’s beside the point. At the…
Read moreSpecies #148 — Longnose Gar
Species: Longnose Gar (Lepisosteus osseus) Location: Orlando, Florida Date: July 9, 2018 Admittedly, tarpon was my favorite catch in Florida, and the biggest prize for me as an angler, but the Longnose Gar I caught was a close second. Read about it here. #SpeciesQuest // #CaughtOvgard Read the next entry in #SpeciesQuest here: Species #149 —…
Read moreSpecies #147 — Atlantic Spadefish
Species: Atlantic Spadefish (Chaetodipterus faber) Location: Titusville, Florida Date: July 8, 2018 Every time a fish bites a baited hook, the reality is that they may be digging their own grave. I have no qualms with keeping fish, especially since seafood is my favorite. When given the opportunity to catch plentiful, good-eating fish, I’ve been known to…
Read moreSpecies #145 — Common Snook
Species: Common Snook (Centropomus undecimalis) Location: Titusville, Florida Date: July 9, 2018 It wasn’t a tarpon. It wasn’t a Ladyfish, either. It was something lighter in color with a big mouth. It was a snook. Snook are awesome. For years, they’ve been near the top of my target list, but they always seemed so unrealistic. Every video…
Read moreSpecies #146 — Atlantic Tarpon
Species: Atlantic Tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) Location: Titusville, Florida Date: July 8, 2018 I already wrote this one. You can find it below. Ask any angler for a list of their 10 dream species, and Atlantic Tarpon will be on it. Megalops atlanticus entered my dream species list the moment I first watched these silver slabs of muscle erupt…
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