2 Species Tallied

Today's ice adventure on Presque Isle Bay allowed me to add two new 2015 species, bringing the tally seven. I actually caught four kinds of fish today, but I'd already caught largemouth bass and bluegills this year. New additions to this year's list were pumpkinseed and yellow perch. I came within inches of adding black crappie to the list as well, but the one I nearly caught broke off about the time its nose hit the hole. It wasn't sufficiently in control for me to feel like it could be counted. I also had a break-off from something bigger and stronger that I never got a look at. I'll never know what that one was!

Five in the Books

My 2014 fish list got a nice kick start during last week's ice fishing adventures in Pennsylvania, with five species tallied. The bright-colored pumpkinseeds were probably my favorite addition simply because that's not a kind of fish I always encounter. None last year, I know. The others -- bluegill, black crappie, yellow perch and rainbow trout -- were all on last year's list and are all species I normally stumble across over the course of the year.

Next weekend's plans take me to Alabama's Black Belt Region, where a largemouth bass and maybe another species are two are likely to be added to the 2014 list. (Trip, which begins on Thursday afternoon, is actually a "Cast & Blast" event, but ducks or deer don't go on the fish list.) Word has it that a seriously big bass is a definite possibility in small lakes I will be fishing, so stay tuned!