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: Threespine Stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) Location: Undisclosed Creek, Southern California Date: August 8, 2018 When you think of the most naturally widespread freshwater fish on earth, you probably think of bass, carp, or trout. That’s a reasonable assumption, but it’s wrong. Those three fish have been introduced worldwide to become the most prevalent, but the fish…
Species: Yellowfin Croaker (Umbrina roncador) Location: Torrey Pines State Park, California Date: August 7, 2018 Even though the last post included the same link, I’m posting it here again. Read it here. Please consider subscribing to my weekly column and access my past columns for as low as $1 per month by clicking “Become a Patron”…
Species: Spotfin Croaker (Roncador stearnsii) Location: Torrey Pines State Park, California Date: August 7, 2018 I haven’t been published in many big, national magazines, but there was a brief stint where I wrote for Game & Fish before they consolidated their writer pool and fired the previous editor I’d worked for. Kinda disappointing, but I made…
Species: Diamond Turbot (Hypsopsetta guttulata) Location: Del Mar Lagoon, California Date: August 6, 2018 Do you ever read an unfamiliar word and sound it out in your head, ultimately arriving at a pronunciation you like? Well, with fish and fishing, it’s commonplace. Seeing strange fish names is the nature of the beast. As you read more…
Species: Rock Wrasse (Halichoeres semicinctus) Location: Mission Point Park, California Date: August 6, 2018 I was sent to Mission Point Park by a friend, fully expecting to add a few softball species to my list. We’d hit the water hard the day before, and the stingray had hit my foot harder. I figured that meant some…
