Species: Red Shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis) Location: Rio Hondo, Roswell, New Mexico Date: August 10, 2018 Every angler has those moments he or she would go back and change. Keep a little more line tension, set the hook harder, loosen the drag. Most of these regrets are tied to trophy fish that any angler would be…
Species: Longnose Dace (Rhinichthys cataractae) Location: Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico Date: August 9, 2018 I didn’t pace this trip very well. I spent a week in California, a day in Arizona, and two in New Mexico before making it down to Texas. I spent a whole day driving from Phoenix to Roswell, and it wasn’t…
Species: Longfin Dace (Agosia chrysogaster) Location: Peoria, Arizona Date: August 8, 2018 I did an absurd amount of driving that first day, and I ended up picking up a handful of random micros in the space from San Diego to Phoenix. My last win of the day came when I met up with Chris Moore….
Species: Porthole Livebearer (Poeciliopsis gracilis) Location: Undisclosed Location, American Southwest Date: August 8, 2018 I didn’t end up pursuing a career as a fish biologist. From the time I was little, it was my dream. The reality was I graduated from high school in 2008, the year The Great Recession peaked, and by the time…
Species: Desert Pupfish (Cyprinodon macularius) Location: Undisclosed Location, American Southwest Date: August 8, 2018 Since the inception of Lifelist Fishing, its early leaders shared one common rule: publicly pretend protected fish don’t exist. If the reasoning were “Avoid protected fishes at all costs,” I’d be totally fine with that. I’m all about conservation and doing…
Species: Koi (Cyprinus rubrofuscus) Location: Oregon Date: November 24, 2017 This was an interesting one. I caught several Koi on my trip to Arizona in 2017, but at the time, I didn’t realize they were a separate species from Common Carp; I just assumed they were an ornamental variety like Mirror or Leather Carp. In fact, I…
Species: Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) Location: Santa Ana River, CA Date: August 3, 2018 I haven’t written a #SpeciesQuest post in almost a year. My last one published in July while I was on my Fishing Across America trip, and I spent the time not fishing working on my book of the same now. This means I’m…
Species: Freshwater Drum (Aplodinotus grunniens) Location: Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada Date: July 17, 2018 I’ve always been a little different. I was blessed with some great individual friends, but I was never in a clique, nor was I the cool kid. I felt like I hit my stride just off of everyone around me, the flam…
Species: Shorthead Redhorse (Moxostoma macrolepidotum) Location: Caledonia, Ontario, Canada Date: July 16, 2018 I live in Oregon, a place where half of our native suckers are threatened or endangered, and the other half can be difficult to locate and catch. Apart from Largescale Sucker, none of the sucker species we have are caught very often. Oh…
Species: Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Date: July 16, 2018 The north is a tough place. If the elements don’t kill you, there’s always the next power-hungry leader, plague, or toothy beast waiting in line to give it their best shot. Though civilizations north of the equator have more or less dominated the…
