Species: Guadalupe Roundnose Minnow (Dionda nigrotaeniata) Location: New Braunfels, Texas Date: August 25, 2018 So there I was, not catching Gray Redhorse when I finally decided to call it quits. I had a long drive back, and I wanted to grab a decent dinner before returning to base that night. I had some homework I’d…
Species: Blacktail Shiner (Cyprinella venusta) Location: New Braunfels, Texas Date: August 25, 2018 The fragile Texas Shiner came first, but after that, I caught nothing but Blacktail Shiners for the next hour. Cyprinellas are always agressive, and Blacktails are pretty ubiquitous in the south. I’ve caught them from Texas to Florida since, and their large…
Species: Texas Shiner (Notropis amabilis) Location: New Braunfels, Texas Date: August 25, 2018 After slaying the Redspotted Sunfish in the artificially cooled whitewater river flowing through New Braunfels, I opted for a more natural setting. I still had a number of potential species, but I’d become especially enamored with the Gray Redhorse. As I arrived…
Species: Redspotted Sunfish (Lepomis miniatus) Location: New Braunfels, Texas Date: August 25, 2018 I was infatuated with Redspotted Sunfish before I’d ever seen one in person. It was during 2018 that my #SpeciesQuest really came alive. Though my first road trip had come the prior summer, I only had a few days in transit to…
Species: Variegated Platy (Xiphophorus variatus) Location: Austin, Texas Date: August 17, 2018 “This is my home!” “What do you want?” “Those fish are mine!” After the first homeless person accosted me in the little Austin park, I should’ve probably left. I was paying for parking, it was hot, I was hoping to grab a decent…
Species: Mexican Tetra (Astyanax mexicanus) Location: San Antonio, Texas Date: August 17, 2018 Several weeks before I finally caught one of these fish, I ran into Mexican Tetras in New Mexico’s Pecos River. I could clearly identify them, and I was frustrated by their relative difficulty in the shallow, clear water. After an undisclosed and…
Species: Guadalupe River (Micropterus treculii) Location: Guadalupe River Trib, Central Texas Date: August 14, 2018 I caught tons of bass in Texas. I got some respectable Largemouths, what was (at the time) my largest Smallmouth, and a few Spots. Every time I landed a bass, I was not-so-secretly hoping it was a Guadalupe Bass, the…
Species: Longear Sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) Location: Brackenridge Park, San Antonio, Texas Date: August 14, 2018 These fish are so awesome that I already wrote a story saying how awesome they are. But since you’re here, you might as well look as all of the phenotypes of this gorgeous fish I’ve caught. Read the original story by…
Species: Inland Silverside (Menidia beryllina) Location: Lake Abilene, Texas Date: August 11, 2018 In hopes of finding an exotic gambusia species, we also tried fishing several of the ditches, channels, and canals around Abilene. It was about as terrible as you’d think. I already wrote this story, but let me just add that at the…
Species: Pecos Pupfish (Cyprinodon pecosensis) Location: Roswell, New Mexico Date: August 10, 2018 Alien. That’s exactly what you expect Roswell, New Mexico to be. And honestly, it is alien. The large town is surrounded by some of the strangest landscape I’ve ever seen with a mixture of sweeping sand dunes, sage flats, scab rock, muddy…
