Fishing Lifelist

IMAGE	SPECIES	CAUGHT	BIGGEST	LOCATIONS	IMAGE 2
	Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus	1,415	9"	Minnesota; Wisconsin; Louisiana
	Freshwater Drum Aplodinotus grunniens	405	7 lbs	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Northern Rock Bass Ambloplites rupestris	328	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Brown Trout Salmo trutta	291	20"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides	254	20" 5 lbs	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	White Bass Morone chrysops	205	16"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Northern Pike Esox lucius	184	33.5" 10 lbs	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Black Crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus	180	13"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Green Sunfish Lepomis cyanellus	176	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu	165	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Pumpkinseed sunfish Lepomis gibbosus	164	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Yellow Perch Perca flavescens	138	12"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus	135	6 lbs	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Creek Chub Semotilus atromaculatus	93	-	Minnesota
	Walleye Sander vitreus	83	25" 5 lbs	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Shorthead Redhorse Sucker Moxostoma macrolepidotum	80	20"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Eurasian Ruffe Gymnocephalus cernuus	70	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	White Sucker Catostomus commersoni	62	19"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Mooneye Hiodon tergisus	56	15"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Sauger Sander canadensis	56	15"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Bowfin Amia calva	55	28" 8.5 lbs	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss	48	26"	Minnesota
	Golden Redhorse Sucker Moxostoma erythrurum	48	17"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Common Carp Cyprinus carpio	42	30" 15 lbs	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Silver Redhorse Sucker Moxostoma anisurum	41	23"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis	37	10.5"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Black Bullhead Ameiurus melas	37	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Weeping Toado Torquigener pleurogramma	33	-	AUSTRALIA
	White Crappie Pomoxis annularis	17	11"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Yellow Bullhead Ameiurus natalis	16	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Gobbleguts Apogon rueppellii	13	-	AUSTRALIA
	Flathead Catfish Pylodictis olivaris	12	42" 30 lbs	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Golden Shiner Notemigonus crysoleucas	11	-	Minnesota
	Mekong Catfish Pangasius gigas	11	50 lbs	THAILAND
	Banded Wrasse Halichoeres notospilus	9	-	MEXICO
	Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus	9	23" 6 lbs	Louisiana
	Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens	8	28"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Northern Hog Sucker Hypentelium nigricans	8	16"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Silver Chub Macrhybopsis storeriana	7	-	Minnesota
	Western School Whiting Sillago vittata	7	-	AUSTRALIA
	Common Shiner Luxilus cornutus	6	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Western Blacknose Dace Rhinichthys obtusus	5	-	Minnesota
	Striped Catfish Pangasius hypophthalmus	5	23 lbs	THAILAND
	Longear Sunfish Lepomis megalotis	4	-	Louisiana
	Smallmouth Buffalo Ictiobus bubalus	3	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Mottled Sculpin Cottus bairdi	3	-	Minnesota
	River Redhorse Sucker Moxostoma carinatum	3	22"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Silver Trevally Pseudocaranx dentex	3	-	AUSTRALIA
	Giant Mexican Needlefish Tylosurus crocodiles	2	-	MEXICO
	Beaubrummel Major Stegastes flavilatus	2	-	MEXICO
	Spinster Wrasse Halichoeres nicholsi	2	-	MEXICO
	Fishgod Blenny Malacoctenus ebisui	2	-	MEXICO
	Cortez Rainbow Wrasse Thalassoma lucasanum Male and Female	2	-	MEXICO
	Mexican Night Sergeant Abudefduf declivifrons	2	-	MEXICO
	Stonecat Noturus flavus	2	-	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Greater Redhorse Sucker Moxostoma valenciennesi	2	22"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Burbot Lota lota	2	20.5"	Minnesota; Wisconsin
	Warmouth Lepomis gulosus	2	-	Louisiana
	Clown Hawkfish Cirrhitus rivulatus	1	-	MEXICO
	Tinsel Squirrelfish Sargocentron suborbitalis	1	-	MEXICO
	Green Jack Carangoides caballus	1	-	MEXICO
	Panamic Sergeant Major Abudefduf troschelii	1	-	MEXICO
	Logperch Percina caprodes	1	-	Minnesota
	Longnose Gar Lepisosteus osseus	1	33"	Wisconsin
	Brown Bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus	1	-	Minnesota
	Longnose Sucker Catostomus catostomus	1	-	Minnesota
	Spotted Gar Lepisosteus oculatus	1	-	Louisiana
	Blackspotted Topminnow Fundulus olivaceus	1	-	Louisiana
	Dhufish Glaucosoma hebraicum	1	-	AUSTRALIA
	Yellowtail Scad Trachurus novaezelandiae	1	-	AUSTRALIA
	Silver Toadfish Lagocephalus sceleratus	1	-	AUSTRALIA
	Western Butterfish Pentapodus vitta	1	-	AUSTRALIA
	Quillback Carpsucker Carpiodes cyprinus	1	-	Minnesota
	73 species	5076 fish	50 lbs	967 fishing days

Mexfish.com is an excellent resource for identifying fish caught in and around Mexico. Click on the common name of my Mexican-caught fishes to view a Mexfish.com species account that I found helpful.

Roughfish.com is another fantastic resource and online community for information about angling for non-traditional game fish suck as redhorse, buffalo, gar, bowfin, eelpout, sturgeon and much much more in the United States and Canada. I owe much of my knowledge about native fishes to the people who make this site what it is.

Only landed fish that are fair-hooked (in the mouth) and caught by angling are included in this life list. A lamprey attached to a caught fish does not count on the life list. I've pulled in two such fish with chestnut lampreys attached (white sucker and northern rock bass). However, to make lampreys eligible for the life list I will count it in the unlikely event that a lamprey should attach itself to my bait while I am fishing it. Fish shall be counted only if the hook is embedded within the mouth and given that I did not intentionally snag the fish in the mouth (i.e. by sight-fishing the hook into its mouth) - this is why I count the quillback carpsucker I caught on a ripstick and why I would count a paddlefish if it was blindly caught with hook point embedded in mouth. Gar fishing with hookless rope lures is acceptable and fish caught will count on the life list.

A hybrid fish is counted under the parent species which it most closely resembles, based on my own judgement, unless I have not caught either parent specie. In this case I would count the fish in the total fish count, but I would not include it in a specific species count until one of the parent species was caught. For example, a bluegill X pumpkinseed cross would probably count as a pumpkinseed because it looks more like a pumpkinseed than a bluegill; a muskellunge X northern pike cross (tiger musky) would count as a northern pike until I have caught a musky, then I would move the number over to the musky row and take it away from the pike row since tiger muskies look more like muskies than pike. The same logic would apply to splake (brook trout X lake trout).

Each row in the table is color-coded by where I caught the fish rather than by the original or native range of the species (eg. brown trout, carp, ruffe). Fish caught in state border waters are included in both states in the location column. The list is in descending order by the number of each species caught. When there is a tie the order of species with the same number caught goes from most recently caught on top to least recently caught on the bottom.

While angling I've also caught some turtle species: painted turtle, snapping turtle, alligator snapping turtle, soft-shelled turtle, musk turtle. I've also caught clams.

I do my best to accurately identify each fish, but it can be tricky sometimes. If you see any mistakes or have comments in general you may e-mail me at leis0073@d.umn.edu. Thank you for visiting my site and I hope you enjoyed it!