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: 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: 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: Tidepool Sculpin (Oligocottus maculosus) Location: Newport, Oregon Date: December 22, 2017 After discovering microfishing in the Willamette a few days earlier, I took my time staying with my brother, Gabe, during Christmas Break to expand my microfishing horizon. After finding about as much success fishing from the pier as I’ve found dating in my late 20s, I…
Species: Chiselmouth (Acrocheilus alutaceus) Location: Newport, Oregon Date: December 22, 2017 Trout fishing, specifically walking and casting the shoreline with spinning gear, remains my favorite type of fishing. I also love fishing for bass with topwaters, chasing staging crappie and sunfish with ultralight tackle, tossing streamers for hungry perch It’s pretty rare to catch any sort of…
Species: Torrent Sculpin (Cottus rhotheus) Location: Corvallis, Oregon Date: December 18, 2017 This is post 3-of-4 that will just link to an article after providing some basic identification tips. Torrent Sculpin is the easiest sculpin species to identify in the Willamette River Basin. At least, in my opinion. Not only do they behave differently (they’re very skittish and…
Species: Prickly Sculpin (Cottus asper) Location: Corvallis, Oregon Date: December 18, 2017 Here’s another post that will just link to a story I’ve already written. Ideally, I’ll catch another Prickly Sculpin soon, so I can put it side-by-side with my Reticulate Sculpin to help with identification. Sadly, my only photo of a Prickly Sculpin (above), is terrible. I…
Species: Reticulate Sculpin (Cottus perplexus) Location: Corvallis, Oregon Date: December 18, 2017 I try to provide content on my blog independent of what I publish in newspapers and magazines, but if I’ve already told a story well, there’s no point retelling it. This is post 1-of-4 that will just link to an article after providing some basic identification…
Species: Slender Sculpin (Cottus tenuis) Location: Link River, Klamath Falls, OR Date: December 15, 2015 Some #SpeciesHunters only worry about fish caught in the mouth on hook and line. Disclaimer: I’m not one of them. There are numerous ways to fish, and snagging a fish, catching one by hand, shooting it with a bow, or spearfishing are…
