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…
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…
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 —…
Species: Bowfin (Amia calva) Location: Orlando, Florida Date: July 8, 2018 My seventh and final new species of the day made for a grand finale. This was my third-best day for new species, taking the Bronze to Croatia’s Gold and California’s Silver. The final species was one of my top targets, the Bowfin. Along with tarpon and…
Species: Florida Gar (Lepisosteus platyrhincus) Location: Lake Fran Urban Wetlands, Orlando, FL Date: July 7, 2018 Gar are so cool, man. These fish can gulp air, will take most lures as well as bait, flies, and topwaters. I once had a four-foot Longnose Gar hit a Whopper Plopper three times during the retrieve. Not to mention, gar…
Species: Vermiculated Sailfin Catfish (Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus) Location: Lake Fran Urban Wetlands, Orlando, FL Date: July 7, 2018 My first night in Florida amounted to me being terrified for my life as I tried night fishing for Florida Gar and Bowfin. A gun went off within 50 yards of where I was standing, and I lost it. Read…
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: Mountain Whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) Location: Deschutes River, Oregon Date: June 21, 2018 The fish most Central Oregon anglers can’t avoid avoided me for decades. Probably because I didn’t know much about them. If you want to catch one, you should know the facts. All of these are 100% true. Whitefish Facts 1) My first Mountain Whitefish…
Species: Dixie Chub (Semotilus thoreauianus) Location: Atlanta, Georgia Date: April 22, 2018 Hotlanta. Apart from some phenomenal tourist attractions such as the Civil Rights Museum and Coca Cola Headquarters, the mediocre attractions such as the Chik-Fil-A College Football Hall of Fame, and the blissfully above average Southern Food, Atlanta isn’t the best city. It lives up the…
Species: Shortnose Sucker (Chasmistes brevirostris) Location: Undisclosed Location Date: January 12, 2018 A few people told me I shouldn’t write about this one, and I both understand and respect their reasoning; however, I think I should write about this precisely because nobody else wants to talk about it. We have a species at risk of extinction…
