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: 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: 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…
Species: Koi (Cyprinus rubrofuscus) Location: Oregon Date: November 24, 2017 This was an interesting one. I caught several Koi on my trip to Arizona in 2017, but at the time, I didn’t realize they were a separate species from Common Carp; I just assumed they were an ornamental variety like Mirror or Leather Carp. In fact, I…
Species: California Grunion (Leuresthes tenuis) Location: Mission Bay, California Date: August 5, 2018 There are very few opportunities to catch true micros that sit up in the water column in the salt, but when you find them, they’re typically quite easy. The silversides swarming in Mission Bay were the exception to this rule. For almost an…
Species: California Scorpionfish (Scorpaena guttata) Location: Mission Bay, California Date: August 5, 2018 After parting ways with Ben Cantrell, I decided to keep fishing. Sure, my maimed foot was still aching from the interaction with the stingray almost 12 hours earlier, but it didn’t stop me from trying Mission Bay at sunset. There were thousands of…
Species: Barred Sand Bass (Paralabrax nebulifer) Location: Del Mar Lagoon, Del Mar, California Date: August 5, 2018 The tidepools, lagoons, and other brackish ecosystems along the Pacific Coast are very unique places. Though the Atlantic Coast equivalents are home to hordes of anglers chasing Stripers, Redfish, Tarpon, Snook, and other game fish, that culture is not…
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: Rainbow Darter (Etheostoma caeruleum) Location: Smokes Creek, Buffalo, New York Date: July 18, 2018 “Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high Take a look, it’s in a book, A Reading Rainbow! I can go anywhere Friends to know, and ways to grow A Reading Rainbow! I can be anything Take a look,…
