Five New Species Catches

Looking back at my 2016 fish species list (which ended at a tally of 38), something noteworthy to me is that I caught five species that I had never caught before. I always like catching new species, and to me five seems like quite a few in a year, considering how much as I have always fished and all the places I've gotten to fish over the years.

I've actually mentioned a few of the species and posted photos of them in my most recent couple of blogs. Two were part of my back bass crawdad slam (Guadalupe bass and Suwannee bass), and another was my first snook, which I caught just last month while fishing in Jacksonville.

The other two were a butterfly peacock bass, which I caught in South Florida, and the lizard fish pictured above, which came from North Carolina. I had caught peacock bass before on two different trips to Brazil, but not butterfly peacocks. I'd never even seen a lizard fish and didn't know such a thing existed. The guys I was with told me the one I caught was a big one. I just know it was delightfully ugly and I really enjoyed catching it and adding it to my all-time species list.

Favorite 2016 Fishing Accomplishment: Crawfish Bass Slam

Guadalupe bass, Guadalupe River, Texas, Teeny Wee-Crawfish

2016 provided many amazing fishing opportunities, including chances to fish in a few states where I had never fished before and a few new species catches. I'll have to think more about specific favorite destinations and specific catches, but my favorite fishing accomplishment of the year is easy, and the story began in February with the bass pictured above. It's a Guadalupe bass, a black bass species found only in select Texas waters, and I caught it from the Guadalupe River in a state park of the same name. I only caught one and it wasn't very large, but I was thrilled because it was a species I'd never before had the opportunity to catch.

Suwannee bass, Santa Fe River, Florida, Deep Wee-Crawfish

In March, I got the chance to fish for Suwannee bass in Florida's Santa Fe River and to catch a few on Deep Wee-Crawfish. Having then caught two black bass species I'd never caught before by March and having caught both on Rebel Crawfish, I wondered how far I could carry that in a year. To shorten the story, I ended up catching seven species, which at one time would have been considered  true black bass slam, all on the Rebel Crawfish. Biologists have fairly recently defined a couple of other bass that are very similar to spotted bass a distinctive species in select watersheds, but the seven I caught represent what traditionally has been seen as a slam.

Interestingly, the last one I caught, which came late in the summer, was a shoal bass, and it came from the section of the Chattahoochee River that is less than 1/2 hour from my house. See photos below for species three through seven, each with a caption telling the species, location and kind of Rebel Crawfish.

Largemouth bass, Ouachita River, Arkansas, Middle Wee-Crawfish

Smallmouth bass, Ouachita River, Arkansas, Middle Wee-Crawfish

Spotted bass, Ouachita River, Arkansas, Middle Wee-Crawfish

Coosa redeye bass, Chattooga River, South Carolina, Deep Teeny Wee-Crawfish

Shoal bass, Chattahoochee River, Georgia, Wee-Crawfish

Fish Species Firsts

Twice in this year's travels I've gotten opportunities to target and catch localized black bass species that I had never caught (or seen in person, for that matter) before. In Texas, a couple of months ago, I caught a Guadalupe bass, which looks a lot like the Coosa redeye bass we have in some of the rivers around here. Last week in Florida, I got to add a Suwannee bass to my lifetime list. Both were caught on Rebel Crawfish.

As you can see in the photo above, Suwannee bass look a lot like smallmouth bass, and they act like smallmouths, too. They definitely favor current, they hang out around rock, and they feed heavily on crawfish. Different from smallmouths, Suwannee bass have turquoise coloration on their cheeks and undersides, their eyes tend to be a bit bugged out, and they are notably smaller (record is less than 4 pounds). Oh, and they live in Florida and a couple of rivers in South Georgia.

While in Florida, I also got to catch my first butterfly peacock bass. I'd caught peacocks previously on two different trips to Brazil, but none were butterfly peacocks, which is the kind that lives in the canals of South Florida. The butterflies are beautiful colored and brutally strong, just like their larger cousins.