Species: Coastal Shiner (Lepomis auritus) Location: Little Wekiva River, Florida Date: July 8, 2018 One of my favorite professors in college used to say “If you haven’t ____________, you haven’t lived.” He honestly had a lot of great catch phrases, but this was my favorite — especially as it relates to fishing. If you haven’t waited chest-deep…
Species: Seminole Killifish (Fundulus seminolis) Location: Urban Park, Orlando, Florida Date: July 8, 2018 My first killifish would prove to be one of the largest found in North America, but in order to catch it, I had to do some legwork. I was told they could be found all over Orlando, and though I ended up catching…
Species: Dollar Sunfish (Lepomis marginatus) Location: Lake Fran Urban Wetlands, Orlando, FL Date: July 7, 2018 You don’t need to go to McDonald’s to find the Dollar Menu because Dollar Sunfish are on the menu for damn near every fish in the Southeastern United States. In Florida, this means bass and gar and Bowfin, as well as…
Species: Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) Location: Lake Fran Urban Wetlands, Orlando, FL Date: July 7, 2018 Perhaps the least impressive fish on my Lifelist is the Eastern Mosquitofish. Within 30 seconds of putting on a micro rig and targeting them in Central Florida, I caught one. I caught half a dozen of them in no time…
Species: Umpqua Pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus umpquae) Location: Umpqua River, Oregon Date: June 25, 2018 Odds are, you’ve heard of the Umpqua River. After all, it’s home to Oregon’s only real Striper fishery (though it’s still not great). Fish likely don’t even spawn but every few years, so the fish there are there in limited numbers. But the fish…
Species: Smoothhead Sculpin (Artedius lateralis) Location: Oregon Coast Date: June 20, 2018 Freshwater sculpins, especially the Cottus species, are among the most difficult-to-identify fish around. Marine sculpins aren’t quite as tough, especially with the odd Rosylip Sculpin or Buffalo Sculpin kicking around, but there are a lot of them with blurred edges. One such fish is the…
Species: Fluffy Sculpin (Oligocottus snyderi) Location: Oregon Coast Date: June 20, 2018 Do you believe in love at first sight? I’m not sure I did, but then I looked at a picture of a Fluffy Sculpin, the most beautiful little fish you ever did see. To further sell me on it, God made sure it comes in…
Species: Rosylip Sculpin (Ascelichthys rhodorus) Location: Oregon Coast Date: June 20, 2018 The nearshore saltwater species diversity in Oregon is pretty low. Excluding micros, there are only about 20 species you can catch from shore with any sort of realistic possibility. This sounds high, but when compared to southern California, Florida, or even the similarly temperate Puget…
Species: Redside Shiner (Richardsonius balteatus) Location: Corvallis, Oregon Date: June 16, 2018 After school got out, I loaded my car and drove up to visit my brother, Gabe. I knew it would be the last summer he lived in Corvallis with his roommates, the guys who had been surrogate brothers to me in the dozens of times…
Species: Speckled Dace (Rhinichthys osculus) Location: Link River, Klamath Falls, OR Date: December 15, 2015 As of right now, this is one species. Likely, the Klamath Speckled Dace, Rhinichthys osculus klamathensis, will soon be classified as a separate species. It, like a number of Oregon endemics, hasn’t seen a lot of attention in the past 100 years, so it’s…
