Lifer hunting with a kindred spirit

On Saturday, I made a new friend, a retired professor who has traveled extensively and fished in many great places around the world. He is up to 628 species before Friday. He lives in Guelph and he was delighted to not only found my blog, but also to find that there is a species hunter locally who is simply passionate about catch all fish species.

Although he has an impressive list, he has just started to catch more species locally. We decided to help him find some local micro species east of Toronto.

We were able to add Northern Redbelly Dace, Blacknose Dace and Brook Stickleback, which were the targets we've set out to catch. There was a chance at Johnny Darter and Fathead Minnow, but they evaded George this time.

However...while poking around for Johnny Darters, I hooked into a darter that I've not seen or caught previously. It was an Iowa Darter (Etheostoma exile)! George was able to catch one too!

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We also saw TWO Northern Redbelly Dace that were golden in colour. These were not juvenile goldfish or koi. They are Northern Redbelly Dace with a strange colour morph. Seeing one is rare, seeing two is astronomically remote!!!

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I also saw a Tadpole Madtom and possibly a Mottled Sculpin while search for Johnny Darter (sans rod). This time, they were lucky I didn't have my rod. But now I know where to find them! ;)

As we were lying down on our belly fishing 7 feet above a culvert for 1" long fish, George said that most people will not understand why any would fish for such insignificant fish. It certainly take a kindred spirit to appreciate the effort put into hunting all these species of fish.

At the end of the day, George finished at 632 species and I finished at 394 species. Happy day! :thumbup:

@MuskieBait I can appreciate your passion for hunting all fish species. That's what I think is great about fishing... everyone can fish in their own way, and enjoy themselves doing so. Some are bass tournament guys, some people go for whatever bites, others the elusive and big fish hunters. That's what makes us unique, and gets us out and searching for the next bite!