Ben Goes West

[BenCantrell]

Day 1 - 7/19/2017 - Peoria, IL to Iola, KS
High of 93.

Missouri River @ St. Joseph casino.  Got a tip from a fisheries guy in MO that this would be a good place to try for sicklefin chub, sturgeon chub, shoal chub, blue sucker, and pallid sturgeon.  The bite was very slow, did not catch any of my targets.



While I waited I dip netted this juvenile longnose gar.



My only catches were two small blue cats.



I tried one more spot on the Missouri River and focused on micros.  I caught this unidentified shiner.  Odds are it's something I've caught before though.




Day 2 - 7/20 - Iola, KS to Ardmore, OK
High of 100.

Fall River in KS.  Targets were pealip redhorse, suckermouth minnow, and channel darter.  My first stop was an old dam with a lot of fish hanging out below it.



I threw a spinner for a while for fun, even though I knew it wouldn't get me any new species.  Lots of white bass, and this one might be the biggest I've ever caught.



Catfish were hitting the spinner too, which is always a fun surprise. Here's a small blue cat.



And a similarly sized channel cat.



I switched to bottom fishing so I could hopefully get my redhorse.  The stretch of river downstream of the dam looked good.



There was a huge pod of buffalo hanging out here though, and that was all I caught.



As I hiked back to my car I saw a big longnose gar hanging out in the shallows.  I took the sinker off my line and flipped my nightcrawler out to him.  He snatched it as it sank, and I slowly gave him line as he worked it towards his mouth.  Once I saw the worm disappear, I tightened my line and reeled him in.



Gar always look like they're happy, haha.



My second spot was the same river, but a very shallow stretch that had a lot of micros.  I was hoping for suckermouth minnow or channel darter, but I ended up getting stuff I already had.  This one is a bluntnose shiner.



And this one is a red shiner.



The third and last spot was a bit of a disaster.  I had a cooler full of ice, and I planned to fill it with carp and buffalo to use as alligator gar bait the next day.  I had caught 4 or 5 nice buffalo in the morning, but I assumed I could catch more in the afternoon, so I had let them go.  I chummed a nice pool with corn and set out two rods.  Three times I had big carp on, one of them would likely have been a PR, probably in the 15 lb range.  I got it up to my net, but it slipped out instead of in, and my leader snapped.  The other two broke my leader before I saw them, but they definitely fought like carp.  Eventually I had to admit defeat so I could get to my motel in Oklahoma.  Before I left I got out my micro rod and caught this colorful longear sunfish.




Day 3 - 7/21 - Ardmore, OK to Lawton, OK
High of 98.

The long awaited alligator gar day on the OK/TX border.  My friend Gerry decided to join me on a whim, so we made the hike to the spot on the Red River together first thing in the morning.



It was brutally hot, and we wouldn't have access to the car for 8 or 9 hours, so we packed tons of water and juices.  We each rigged up two rods for alligator gar and then fished smaller rods for "critters".



Shortly after setting up I got a strong run on one of my rods.  It pulled my bait about 100 yards downstream and then changed direction for the opposite shore.  I waited several minutes to set the hook after it stopped moving, but unfortunately it had already dropped the bait.  Video link below.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/64436841@N04/36093882000/in/album-72157686877680555/

Our only catches were the day were blue cats, freshwater drum, and turtles.



I honestly thought I had a gator gar taking my bait out later in the afternoon.  However, it turned out to be this angry bastard.  He hooked himself on the foot somehow, maybe trying to push the bait away as he pulled at it with his mouth.



The hike back to the car was rough.  About a mile and a quarter through thick brush carrying all of our gear.  Both of us were in rough shape by the end of it, and I'm honestly glad we didn't have to call for medical help.  When my shirt dried out it was covered in white patches of salt that came off in flakes.




Day 4 - 7/22 - Lawton, OK to Santa Rosa, NM
High of 103.

Southwest corner of OK.  Our goal today was Red River pupfish, plains killifish, and other micros in tributaries of the Red River.  We had trouble finding access at the first two spots, but we were able to get down to the water at Sandy Creek, our third stop.



I was hoping for clear water with visible micros, but it was cloudy and tough to find fish.  My only catch was this juvenile red shiner.



On the hike back to the car we found this western ratsnake soaking in the heat.



We were worried we wouldn't find our targets, but to our surprise the Red River itself was exactly what we wanted.  It was actually smaller than the tributaries flowing into it.  It looked like a desolate wasteland with a small creek winding back and forth through the red sand.



The white patches are salt.  I've read that some of the spring fed creeks in the area are saltier than the ocean.



The water was the temperature of a hot tub, but to our surprise it was full of fish!  This photo shows a school of Red River pupfish.



I had to sit still for a while, but eventually I caught one. Lifer #1!



There were schools of shiners as well, most of which were Red River shiners.  Lifer #2!  The black speckles on their sides are one of their ID traits.



Some of the shiners lacked the speckles, so I wonder if they might be something else.  Not sure at this point.



I did see a couple of the plains killifish, which would have been a neat catch, but other fish were always more aggressive than them.  Here's a western mosquitofish.



Before we left I tried taking some underwater photos, but they didn't turn out well.  If you look closely, in the upper right is a pupfish, and the rest of the fish are shiners.



We drove across the panhandle of Texas and then stopped at a creek a little ways across the New Mexico border.  Unfortunately, it was dry.



Random shot of a grasshopper on hood of my car.  New Mexico has a lot of grasshoppers for some reason.



Our last spot was the Canadian River.  We climbed over several barbed wire fences to reach it, but before we could fish it started raining pretty hard.  It got surprisingly cold, and we took shelter under the bridge.  We were concerned about flash floods, so we hiked out before it got any worse.




Day 5 - 7/23 - Santa Rosa, NM to Cuba, NM
High of 93.

El Rito Creek in Santa Rosa.  We were looking for two micros at this spot: an undescribed species of roundnose minnow and rainwater killifish.



Other than a few rainbow trout, we didn't see any small fish in the creek, so we focused on the spring fed pond above it.



This turned out to be the right move, because we were able to find both of our targets.  The roundnose minnows were easy to catch if you could find large individuals, but the rainwater killifish were too small to hook.  The roundnose minnows from this drainage don't have a scientific name yet.  Lifer #3!



Our second stop was the Pecos River.  It was reddish brown and opaque, but I was confident we could find our target, flathead chub.



I fished the lower half of the riffle and caught a flathead chub after a few minutes.  Lifer #4!



Other catches were small channel cats.



And this common carp.



Our third stop was also the Pecos River, but further upstream in the foothills of the mountains.  The water here was more clear and cold.



The target was Rio Grande chub, and they were easy to find anywhere the water slowed down a bit.  My first one came from near the bridge pilings on the right side of this photo.



New Mexico was turning out to be a very productive state for new species!  Lifer #5!



At this point Gerry and I parted ways, because he needed to head to Albuquerque to catch a flight.  I continued north and west into the mountains.  The temperature quickly dropped and became quite pleasant.  I stopped at a mountain stream to fish for longnose dace and Rio Grande suckers.



The longnose dace were incredibly easy.  Lifer #6!  In fact, I was worried that they would be all I caught.



After about 15 of the dace, I finally pulled out something different, a Rio Grande sucker.  Lifer #7!



Here's a shot of his adorable sucker lips.  If I remember correctly, I was using a size #22 hook.



Next I stopped at Fenton Lake to try for Rio Grande cutthroat trout.  It was a bit of a tourist trap (there were some lodges nearby), but it was really beautiful.



I threw a couple different lures, but didn't catch any trout.  I saw micros in the shallow water near shore, and my consolation prize ended up being a spawning male fathead minnow.  Lifer #8!



My GPS was not happy with the route I chose, because it kept telling me to make a U-turn and take a longer route.  I think the stretch of road I took is closed after dark, and perhaps closed during the winter.  I'm really glad I took it though, the scenery was great.



My last spot for the day was a creek that is supposed to have wild Rio Grande cutthroat trout.  I thought my odds were pretty good.



However, the stretch I fished (about 100 yards) was nothing but brown trout.  Not exaggerating, I stopped after I caught 30 of them.  The cutthroats must be further up the mountain where the gradient increases.




Day 6 - 7/24 - Cuba, NM to Flagstaff, AZ
High of 90.

Happy 32nd birthday to me!  My plan for this day was very simple: fish the San Juan River in northwest New Mexico for flannelmouth and bluehead suckers.  I tried several spots in several different towns heading from east to west.



Each of the spots I tried looked good, but I wasn't getting any bites.



The third spot was the honey hole.  A sharp bend in the river carved out a deep hole with very little current.



I caught 4 flannelmouth suckers at this spot, and they were all quite big.  Lifer #9!



Flannelmouths win the prize for having the creepiest lips of all the sucker family.



Mmmm, here's a closeup of those juicy lips.



I didn't want to arrive in Flagstaff too late, so I didn't fish any of the other spots on my plan.  However, I did stop to check them out and at least snap a few pics for future reference.  The San Juan is an odd river.  Most of it is shallow with exposed rocks.  It's no wonder the suckers are stacked up in the deep holes.




Day 7 - 7/25 - Flagstaff, AZ to San Diego, CA
High of 102.

I was able to meet up with several other species anglers on my last day.  The first guy, Cody from Flagstaff, drove with me all the way to Phoenix.  He took me to his speckled dace spot along the way.



The speckled dace were everywhere.  Lifer #10!  Cody and his girlfriend caught a few rainbow trout as well.



They are good peoples.



Our next spot was shared with us by a guy in Phoenix.  It's a stream that's being managed for native species.  It may not look like much, but it was actually a great spot.



Here we caught Gila chubs, which used to be an endangered species, but were recently combined with roundtail chub and headwater chub into one species.  Lifer #9!  The decision seems awfully suspicious, because now they no longer have to protect them since roundtail chub is not endangered.  Nonetheless, I want to make sure to say that we released all Gila chubs we caught unharmed.



This stream also had lots of speckled dace.



Before we left I got out my dip net to see if the creek might also have longfin dace, another species we were looking for.  To our surprise I pulled up several of these instead, spikedace, which are federally endangered.  They were and incidental catch and were released unharmed after taking a quick photo.



The last fishing spot of the trip was the Gila River in Phoenix.  The water there is warm enough to support exotic aquarium fish.  Here we met up with Jon, who already knew Cody, and Chris, who gave us the previous spot.  Chris also brought his two sons, so we had quite a crowd of species anglers.



This was an easy spot for tilapia and cichlids.  I quickly caught a redbelly tilapia.  Lifer #11!



Followed by a Rio Grande / Texas cichlid.  Lifer #12!



And blue tilapia.



We also saw really big plecos and a school of sailfin mollies of some kind, but they refused to bite.  Mid-afternoon I had to pack up and continue west so I could make it to San Diego.  It was a pretty boring drive, but I made it!  The past couple weeks I've been getting settled in.  Haven't had a chance to go fishing yet, but I'm eager to get out so I can catch my lifer corbina while they're still biting.

Good job making it to the end!

[xjchad]

Great report Ben, Thank you!
I love seeing all the different species and different colors and patterns!
Looks like such a fun trip, except for the alligator gar day, you looked wrecked!  Glad you guys made it out!

[Pinoyfisher]

Damn, you caught a ton of tiny fish! Lol!! I'm not even sure I could thread a line onto one of those tiny hooks!

[Latimeria]

I had to read that through twice.  Great report and Fish Porn, Ben!

I wish I would have thought about more about a species list when I was a kid.  I caught tons of small brook and stream fish with tiny salmon egg hooks when I would go camping with my family.  At that age, I would fish for the little stuff and probably have 20+ more species to add, but I did not have the foresight at those younger years.  Oh well, but it is great to see you just racking up the species.  My 270 is just a drop in the bucket these days when 20 years ago, that was quite the accomplishment.  lol

We have a lot more fish to add to your list now that you reside out here.

Great trip, but you only score less for not getting an alligator gar!!!!  LOL

[Eric H]

Your life list is just nuts.

What is your current total of species?

Also, is there a documented record of the guy with the highest total?

[BenCantrell]

Lol, thanks.  I'm at 457.  Photo album is on Flickr.  The album has a few more because of hybrids and subspecies.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/64436841@N04/albums/72157668216842322

Steve Wozniak has over 1700, but he doesn't post the full list online for the world to see.  He started his blog around 950, so everything after that is pretty well documented.

https://1000fish.wordpress.com/

Eli (some of you know him) just passed 1000 this past month.

https://obsessiveangling.wordpress.com/species-lifelist/complete-species-list/

[Eric H]

Just nuts....

Maybe one of these days you will have caught all the fish in the world

[mdcesq]

Outstanding post, Ben. Excellent photos too. I think that hopper shot is the best pic I'ver ever seen of one. It looks unreal, like plastic or metal. Cool sunfish as well.

I wish I would have thought about more about a species list when I was a kid.  I caught tons of small brook and stream fish with tiny salmon egg hooks when I would go camping with my family.  At that age, I would fish for the little stuff and probably have 20+ more species to add, but I did not have the foresight at those younger years.

I've thought about the same thing, Tom. Caught so many fish when I was a kid but never even thought to keep track. We didn't even really take pictures of fish back then. Maybe a picture of the boat and everyone sitting around with soda cans and rods in their hands. But with the fish we just thumped them or let them go, and went on fishing.

[1morecast]

Wow, great post and thanks for sharing that trip. I have no doubt you'll catch a bean while your out here in San Diego. They have been more common then surf perch lately. Let me know when your going out and maybe we can meet up.