Species: Spotted Sand Bass (Paralabrax maculatofasciatus) Location: San Diego Bay, California Date: August 4, 2018 Those bonefish weren’t the only catch of the day. The fish I caught most of that day (and on my whole trip to San Diego, for that matter) was the Spotted Sand Bass. These feisty fish also fight insanely hard for…
Species: Cortez Bonefish (Albula gilberti) Location: San Diego Bay, California Date: August 4, 2018 So I’m in the Air National Guard. I’m in the Medical Services Corps and work as a Medical Readiness Officer. You know the whole pandemic business we’re living through? Well a part of my job includes contingency planning for such crises. In…
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: Spottail Pinfish (Diplodus holbrookii) Location: Tampa, Florida Date: July 13, 2018 I first “met” Ryan Crutchfield on Instagram before I’d even started species hunting. Our social circles overlapped, and I found myself following a guy on Instagram who posted some out of the ordinary fish pictures. Sure, the tarpon, snook, redfish, and bass pics I…
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…
Species: Garibaldi (Hypsypops rubicundus) Location: Dana Point Marina, Dana Point, CA Date: August 9, 2017 *climbs onto soapbox* California. It’s a…special place full of…special people. Proposition 65 In case you weren’t aware, lead is harmful. Good ‘ol Pb has all manner of damaging effects to humans, and for this reason, it has been banned in most household goods, including…
Species: Largemouth Blenny (Labrisomus xanti) Location: Dana Point Marina, Dana Point, CA Date: August 9, 2017 Sculpins are awesome. Greenling are awesome. Blennies, which sort of look like a cross between the two, are also awesome. Few fish will try to bite you, but blennies, found in warmer temperate and tropical waters all over the world, are one…
Species: Salema (Xenistius californiensis) Location: Dana Point Marina, Dana Point, CA Date: August 9, 2017 If an advertising team were to market the Salema, they’d describe it as a bite-sized, “Tropical Flavors” version of the Striped Bass. It truly looks like a tiny striper with slightly more vivid coloration. It even feeds like one on a tiny scale,…
Species: Pacific Bonito (Sarda lineolata) Location: Dana Point, California Date: August 2, 2017 Apart from my immediate family (parents and brothers), I don’t get to fish with family much. I often offer, but few people take me up on it, and that’s okay. But when I finally convince a family member to go with me, it’s always…
Species: Hardhead Catfish (Ariopsis felis) Location: Graffiti Bridge, Pensacola, FL Date: August 1, 2017 Channel Catfish are the bane of the Freshwater Species Hunter’s existence across much of the United States and Canada, but Hardhead Catfish fill this role in the saltwater and brackish environments of the Gulf of Mexico. By day, Pinfish will ravage your bait….
