Species 27 & 28

The sun hadn't fully broken the horizon on morning one of my recent Rend Lake trip when my species tally for 2014 grew. My first white crappie of the morning (one in photo is probably about the sixth or seventh) was species No. 27 for this year, according to my records. Not long after, I caught the first of several yellow bass, which was No. 28.

It's odd for me to add a white crappie so late in the year. That normally occurs early in the spring. It just happens that everywhere I've crappie fished this year, black crappie have been the main attraction.

Black crappie actually made the list really early this year. I caught my first one (actually my first several) in January, through the ice in Pennsylvania. I recorded five species from that trip to start this year's list, but I'm not really sure of the first-catch order. My first fish of this year was either a black crappie or a bluegill.

My next trip is to the Tennessee River in North Alabama. If we do any tailwater drifting, I could catch a freshwater drum or a buffalo, either of which would be add to the 2014 list. I think I've already caught most of the sport fish we'd be likely to encounter, but that's a diverse fishery, so you never know. Between that an early ice trip to Minnesota, it seems at least somewhat likely that I'll be able to bump the tally to 30 before the year ends and it becomes time to begin a new list.

22 Species in 2013

North Carolina's Nantahala River accounted for rainbow,
brown and brook trout on the list, with all three coming on a cold
January day.

I suppose it's probably safe to sum up my 2013 fish species list. I may sneak out to a pond or creek before Tuesday, but I don't see myself wetting a line in any places where I'd be likely to add to this year's list of species caught.

Assuming that's correct and assuming I didn't miss any, I ended up catching 22 different kinds of fish in 2013. That's down from 30 in 2012, but I think that was an unusual year in terms of opportunities to travel farther from home and fish for different species than I normally encounter.

I always list the first of any given kind of fish that I catch each year and include the location, state and month. In terms of states, Louisiana accounted for the most listings (four, all salt), but Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Pennsylvania each added three, so places were pretty nicely distributed. May was the top month, with six new listings.

Interestingly, one of my favorite single fish on this year' list (if not my favorite) was somewhat of a confused listing. I caught a crappie this spring in Tennessee that very much looked like a black crappie, not only by its darkness but by a lack of distinguishable bands. However, it came from a place that normally produces white crappie and a friend counted the fin rays and said that was indeed a white crappie. It didn't matter on the list because I caught several other crappie of both varieties this year. I just thought it was interesting.

With two ice excursions on the books for early 2014 and a couple of other possible early trips in the works I hope to get next year's list off to a quick start. But first I might need to catch a few more pond bass or bluegills!