200 Before 30

[jrodda]

Just booked a panga ride in Puerto Vallarta in January. Week long trip with my lady, gonna do some shore fishing as well, see what kind of weird sh!t I can scratch together, and have a nice time in paradise.

Decided a good goal for me right now would be to try to hit 200 species by the time I'm 30 (by July 2025). At 117 or something right now, 83 to go. So I'm trying to consider some good vacation spots that I can spend a week at, once a year or so, and rack up a huge variety in short amounts of time. So far my list is looking like:

- Puerto Vallarta MX
- Hawai'i
- South Florida (most likely Fort Lauderdale/Miami to triple up on football and get in touch with my lady's Cuban roots)

I've mostly milked SoCal and also knocked out another good 30 species or so in South Texas. I'm sure places like Australia/Indo Pacific could also hold a treasure trove if I were willing to roam a ton and hire a handful of guides, but I'm aiming for semi-affordable trips in the next few years with mostly shore fishing and maybe one guided trip thrown in.

What do you think, Ben? Tom? Most fruitful places you've been?

[sasquatch]

Florida will give you most bang for your buck in my completely uninformed opinion.

[Latimeria]

- Puerto Vallarta MX
- Hawai'i
- South Florida (most likely Fort Lauderdale/Miami to triple up on football and get in touch with my lady's Cuban roots)

What do you think, Ben? Tom? Most fruitful places you've been?

Florida has the most bang for the buck especially with all of the invasives down there.  otherwise, the three places you listed seem perfect to get your 200.  With that said, I've never been to PV or Hawaii. Both on my bucket list for sure and that sounds fun!

[xjchad]

Good luck Jeremy!  You shouldn't have a problem reaching your goal!
All three places sound fun to me!
I'd love to visit Australia some day for the fishing and reptiles!

I always thought that species fishing would be fun, but I don't  know how to start or an easy way to keep track and identify them.
Do you count all the ones you can remember from the past, or start counting when you officially start?
How do you identify and keep record of them?

[BenCantrell]

It's pretty easy to rack up the new ones in FL. There are a few famous spots among species anglers that would be worth checking out. Anglins Pier in Ft Lauderdale comes to mind, but check if it's still closed due to damage. Other piers north or south of there should be good. The Keys is really easy fishing. The Channel 5 fishing bridge has tons of species.

[BenCantrell]

Or come visit me in Sebastian and we'll catch a bunch of sharks. We have blacktip, blacknose, spinner, lemon, bull, nurse, bonnethead, and Atlantic sharpnose.

[jrodda]

Good luck Jeremy!  You shouldn't have a problem reaching your goal!
All three places sound fun to me!
I'd love to visit Australia some day for the fishing and reptiles!

I always thought that species fishing would be fun, but I don't  know how to start or an easy way to keep track and identify them.
Do you count all the ones you can remember from the past, or start counting when you officially start?
How do you identify and keep record of them?

How did I almost forget about the reptiles of Australia?? Yeah I'd love to poke around the outback for lizards and whatnot. Their fish look alien-like down there as well. Can't wait to get a solid month to explore that place.

I use an excel sheet to keep track.



I take account of every fish I can remember in my life so long as I can trust the memory. My memories are damn near photographic when it comes to fish since I've always been passionate about identifying them so I trust I've accounted for all of them in my life, though it's nice to have a pic.

Ben, I most certainly was considering coming up your way since I'm sure you could put me on a ton of new species. And I just noticed Sebastian isn't too far outside of town from where I'm considering, so it should be doable to throw in a day over there.

[xjchad]

Jeremy, thanks!  That looks like a great, easy way to keep track!

[KogaHead]

Scripps Aquarium

[Tim524]

Nice goal, it will keep you focused and and it's a great feeling when accomplished Oh, to be thirty again, my hip was just starting the abuse of thinking I was still 21

[BenCantrell]

I use an excel sheet to keep track.

I would move it to a Google spreadsheet so it's backed up, and you can access it from your phone or share it with other people.

[xjchad]

I use an excel sheet to keep track.

I would move it to a Google spreadsheet so it's backed up, and you can access it from your phone or share it with other people.

Ah, good idea as well, Thanks!

[Latimeria]

That's a great idea.  Mine's on an old copy of Word and I don't have a back up.