Life listing and micro fishing. A thread by KATALEKEEPER.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

KATALEKEEPER

Dovii
MFK Member
Nov 18, 2020
783
695
105
Brooklyn, Ny
Life listing and micro fishing. A thread by KATALEKEEPER.


This is a thread about micro fishing, and lifelisting. Who would have figured? These are both a niche in the fishing hobby, and both have been gaining popularity in the last few years in the US, although micro fishing or tanago, as it is known in japan, has been a pastime with many dedicated fans in japan since the 1600’s. This thread will be divided into 2 sections, one about micro fishing, and one about life listing. If this thread is popular, I will consider doing one about LRF, and maybe rough fishing. It would make me very happy to receive and respond to PM’s, and comments!

Life listing.

This section may be smaller than the micro fishing section, but I hope it will be equally as interesting. The best definition for life listing that I could think of was this. “The pursuit of as many fish species as possible for an angler”. There is no set definition, and because of that people do it in different ways. For example some anglers count snagged fish, or fish caught in nets. Most anglers only count fish caught in the mouth with a hook, or in the head area. Most anglers also do not count hybrids. Most life listing competitions will abide by these rules. A lot of life listers catalouge their catches, hence the “list” part of the name. Again, how you do this is up to you. It is a freshwater, saltwater, and brackish water thing. Any fish counts, and yes eels do too. You can use any bait or lure to catch these fish, and any rod or reel. Fish from boats, shore, and pay lakes are usually all counted. Most anglers count fish from guided trips too. This is a community, and if you are interested, check out roughfish.com, or 1000 fish blogs. Many lifelisters have gone to extreme measures to catch as many species as possible. It is a bit of a competitive sport. As of now steve wozniak, who runs the aforementioned 1000 fish blogs has the most species. Somewhere in the 1800’s. Some even go as far as to plan vacations just to add more species to the list. Wherever lifelisting takes you, is up to you! Good luck!

The author has 92 species on his list.





Micro fishing


Micro fishing was started in the 1600’s by japanese fishermen seeking to catch bitterling for sport and food. It has gradually evolved in japan into a kind of “contest” where the goal is to catch a biterling that can fit on a one yen coin. Bitterling and pond smelt are still valued as food, and this is the only way to catch them. The hook is minuscule, smaller than a fingernail - with a needle sharp point. Beware - the point often gets stuck in clothes, and in flesh and it's very very hard to get out.
.
A-WIX_fU7l_W-XyHzZiYj6zJ2Mak9lqy9l1GKbDBc50brP12BFMFrvRW4DxNUnjE2m0PPOj7vDEkFkLpzPwRnoiTcRkGZlqsueZkOFCmSjiX4TTaIOZbZH1X3rP1YRVva3KA7MSs


In america tanago hooks are used mainly by lifelisters, as it turns out - a lot of fish are small! The bait most favored by most micro fishermen is small red worms, and a paste similar to dough which is “smeared” on the hook. There is only one importer in the US of which I am aware of who sells micro fishing hooks. Based in New york city I present to you! - tenkarabum! Believe me, the author is NOT sponsored by tenkarabum. But - a loyal fan! I assure you tenkarabum will take care of all your niche fishing needs! They sell micro fishing bobbers, micro tackle boxes, micro split shot (non leaded of course), and micro fishing rods! A note of caution - micro fishing rods are meant ONLY for micro fish, and WILL break on anything over 5-6 inches. It has happened before and will happen again. The rods are expensive though, and you can just as easily use the end of a regular rod or a stick.

Important websites for micro fishing

Tenkarabum

Microfishing . com

Rough fish . com

Kakapon sapon (yt)
 
Lol I think these are the smallest hooks I've found so far available at Scheels. They are ment for trout fishing but could easily be used for micro fishing I would think. Ik I micro fish from time to time, mainly as a way of testing what food sources are available in a body of water. Lol makes big game fishing allot easier if ya know what exactly they are all eating on a daily basis. That and it's a fun way to kill time along with discovering new species that ya never knew even lived there. Hell I never knew that mosquito fish could even tolerate winter temps let alone live in the mid west, untill I caught a few here in the creek. Same with all these different species of darters, lol still no clue on what species I've caught but still fun to catch em.

20150809_102131.jpg
 
Lol I think these are the smallest hooks I've found so far available at Scheels. They are ment for trout fishing but could easily be used for micro fishing I would think. Ik I micro fish from time to time, mainly as a way of testing what food sources are available in a body of water. Lol makes big game fishing allot easier if ya know what exactly they are all eating on a daily basis. That and it's a fun way to kill time along with discovering new species that ya never knew even lived there. Hell I never knew that mosquito fish could even tolerate winter temps let alone live in the mid west, untill I caught a few here in the creek. Same with all these different species of darters, lol still no clue on what species I've caught but still fun to catch em.

View attachment 1444859
I’ve got mosquito fish over here in NY all year lol. I never thought about it as a way of finding a food source tho. Smart!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Magnus_Bane
What an interesting thread! I am an avid birder, and like most birders I keep a life list of species seen...but I have also been for many years keeping a list of fish species caught by angling. I have never met another angler who did the same thing, and most of them look at me a little funny when I mention it. Must admit, it never really occurred to me to use "micro-hooks" or to actively pursue tiny species like Mosquitofish; most of my catches have been typical gamefish or panfish species. I will have to look into this further.
 
Cool thread. I always thought of micro fishing to catch more species. But I don’t think there is a rod that’ll make catching them fun, as I prefer feeling the fight. Would be cool to catch some smaller shiners and darters. Smallest fighting fish I caught was a 2 inch smallmouth on a small spinner, fought harder than 4-5 inch bluegills.
 
Interesting. Back in the day when I was mad keen on fishing a friend and I used to even go in winter. Our usual summer targets were in semi hibernation so we used to "bit bash" as we called it. Winter fish tended to be roach, skimmer bream and perch. And the small ones would plague you but because the big fish weren't active we welcomed the plague of tiny fish. We'd have a wager between us just for a couple of pints afterwards when we went to thaw out in the pub. We'd set up our flimsiest quiver tip rods, fish with a tiny float, half ounce bottoms with size 28 hooks, real lightweight gear. And I must admit it was great fun.
 
What an interesting thread! I am an avid birder, and like most birders I keep a life list of species seen...but I have also been for many years keeping a list of fish species caught by angling. I have never met another angler who did the same thing, and most of them look at me a little funny when I mention it. Must admit, it never really occurred to me to use "micro-hooks" or to actively pursue tiny species like Mosquitofish; most of my catches have been typical gamefish or panfish species. I will have to look into this further.
yeah there arent that many. The biggest community is online for sure!
 
Cool thread. I always thought of micro fishing to catch more species. But I don’t think there is a rod that’ll make catching them fun, as I prefer feeling the fight. Would be cool to catch some smaller shiners and darters. Smallest fighting fish I caught was a 2 inch smallmouth on a small spinner, fought harder than 4-5 inch bluegills.
lol. Its actually really hard to catch some darters. They are one of the hardest micro species to catch. Its not unknown for people to spend a couple of hours on one fish, trying to catch it.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com