First Fish of 2019

I'm not sure which is worse: that I didn't catch my first fish of 2019 until the about the third week of January or that it took a two more weeks to finally mention it in a blog post. Both are true, so I suppose it doesn't matter.

Fish No. 1 for me this year was the redfish pictured above, caught on a Bozka Salt Runner from Florida's Nassau River while I was fishing with Chris Holleman. It was in a high marsh area along the edge of the main river that you have to get into (and back out of) while the tide is pretty high or you'll be there till the next high tide! We managed to catch a couple of reds from that area and got out while we could. The same trip, which included time in the boat with Chris and with Nathan Johnson and Tim Mann, produced some more redfish, quite a few speckled trout and a few largemouth bass, although I didn't catch any of the bass, thus leaving my 2019 species list tally at two.

Next on the agenda is Santee Cooper, followed by Lake Guntersville, so it would seem I should start to get some freshwater species on this year's list. I would say, "reports to follow," but based on my recent blogging history and how it has compared to my intentions, I probably shouldn't state that as a fact quite yet.

Little Red Trout Stop

Remnants from overnight rains and an approaching bigger system caused me to question my idea of a travel detour to the Little Red River on the way home from Fort Smith last week. However, a window of only sprinkles appeared that it would last through the morning, and the swing wasn't that far off my travel path.

Upon arriving, I found completely low water. That makes for easy wading it but can make the fishing tougher, especially with artificial lures. A bit more flow definitely makes tailwater trout more aggressive and causes them to hold in predictable positions. The low flows eliminated ideas I'd had about throwing large minnow bait for the Little Red's famous big browns, but I remained hopeful that stocker rainbows (and maybe a brown or two) would show interest in smaller hard-bait offerings.

Story shortened, they did. It took a bit of looking to find the best spot, and I experimented a bit with lures and colors before finding what they wanted most on that morning, but once I figured it out, the action was good. I lost count, but I'd guess I ended up catching between 15 and 20 trout in a few hours before beginning my travel toward home. All except one were rainbows. Most were fresh stocker size. A few were a bit longer and stouter and looked like they'd been in the river longer. I also caught one brown trout and had one slightly bigger brown (maybe 16 inches) roll on top and throw the hook.

My best lure, by far, was a Rebel TD47 Tracdown Ghost Minnow in a Brown Trout color pattern, worked steadily with just an occasional twitch to trigger strikes. That's not surprising. The Ghost Minnow has a slender profile creates a subtlety that's good for fussy fish and it can be swam close to the bottom. The Brown Trout color and tends to produce well on dark days.

It was a fun few hours in the stream, and the 2018 fish list is officially underway, with rainbow trout and brown trout being the first two listings. I'd actually done a bit fishing in bass waters the day before I visited the Little Red, but I didn't catch anything that day. My next stop is also to a trout stream, so maybe I can add brook trout!

Fishless Week One

I was tempted to sneak out on New Year's morning to visit our nearest Delayed Harvest trout stream, just to see if I could coax a trout into biting. However, the new year brought the start of a mighty cold snap (here and almost everywhere, it seems). With a morning low in the teens on Jan. 1, such an outing truly would have been only for the novelty of a quick first catch, and I wasn't really convinced the fish would want to bite.

So I stayed home, and such has been the basic story for the entire first week of the 2018. We've had temperatures as low as 9 degrees, which is getting down there pretty good for Georgia, and it has only been creeping above freezing for a few hours at a time most days. It's 15 degrees right now. Consequently, it has seemed like a good week to work in the computer.

Thankfully, the current nationwide cold snap seems to be nearing its end. Plus, my plans for next week look like they should include some time on the water. I'm Arkansas-bound and have assorted fishing gear packed. The main purpose for my travel is to visit my company's main office in Fort Smith, but the plan as of now is to combine my travels with a content-collection outing (which means fishing). Basically, when my office visit is done, I'll start fishing my way home. No specific plans, but plenty of ideas, so I have stuff for various kinds of fishing crammed into my car and I'll most likely tote the kayak.

So my hope is definitely that by the end of week two, I'll no longer be fishless in 2018!

This Year's Fish List

Well, I went back and updated my fish list, best I could. I could only think of seven additional species from the second half of the year. Diminishing returns are common with my annual list because I only list first catches of any given species. Still, I most likely missed one or two obscure panfish or pier catches. So it goes when you don't keep up with stuff when you should.

It may be a little premature for summing up the year as it is certainly possible that I'll find water at least one more time before Sunday. If I do, though, chances are pretty good that the catch will only include fish already on this list -- most likely rainbow, brook or brown trout. And if I'm wrong, I can always make an update. List includes one marginal listing, obvious by the fact that I called it a mystery fish. I don't even remember what it was, but I obviously recognized it as something I didn't recognize that was clearly distinctive from other fish on the list. And Pier 60, where I caught it, was a favored destination when I was growing up, so I'm familiar with a lot what is commonly caught out there.

Tally was 40. Florida was by far the top producing state last year. March topped the month tally. Enough discussion, though. Here's the list:

Rainbow Trout, Norfork River, Arkansas, January

Brown Trout, White River, Arkansas, January

White Bass, Colorado River, Texas, February

Largemouth Bass, Colorado River, Texas, February

Speckled Trout, Texas Bayou, Texas, February

Flounder, Texas Bayou, Texas, February

Peacock Bass, Lake Ida, Florida, February

Bluegill, Tenococ Fishing Area, Florida, February

Hardhead Catfish, Charlotte Harbor, Florida, February

Ladyfish, Charlotte Harbor, Florida, February

Butterfish, Big Pier 60, Florida, March

Pinfish, Big Pier 60, Florida, March

Stingray, Big Pier 60, Florida, March

Mystery fish, Big Pier 60, Florida, March

Warmouth, Rodman Tailwater, Florida, March

Spotted Sunfish, Rodman Tailwater, Florida, March

Killifish, Rodman Tailwater, Florida, March

Redbreast Sunfish, Santa Fe River, Florida, March

Striped Mullet, Santa Fe River, Florida, March

Mudfish, Santa Fe River, Florida, March

Smallmouth Bass, Tennessee River, Alabama, March

Shoal Bass, Flint River, Georgia, May

Longear Sunfish, Flint River, Georgia, May

Walleye, Lake Erie, Ohio, May

Drum, Lake Erie, Ohio, May

White Perch, Lake Erie, Ohio, May

Channel Catfish, Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee, May

White Crappie, Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee, May

Yellow Perch, Lake Rabun, Georgia, May

Sucker, Main Stream, Maine, June

Chain pickerel, Pushaw Lake, Maine, June

Chub, brook in Maine, Maine, June

Brook trout, brook in Maine, Maine, June

Redfish, Mobile Bay, Alabama, September

Yellowtail, Gulf Shores Pier, Alabama, September

Spotted bass, Lake Ouachita, Arkansas, October

Skipjack, Kentucky Lake, Kentucky, October

Blue Catfish, Lake Moultrie, South Carolina, November

Black Crappie, VIP Adventures, South Carolina, November

Striped Bass, Lake Guntersville, Alabama, December

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!