Strange Fish Nation

I don't do well with idleness.  So when I find myself with a few days and nothing on the agenda I  make up tasks.  I should probably learn how to play golf.

But of late I've been continuing my odd geocache series: Strange Fish.  The gimmick is that I will catch something odd then put a geocache near the site.  Catch meets Cache if you will.  The limitations of this concept are manifest.

Geocaches tend to cluster in areas of beauty and recreation.  And since you can't place them too close to an existing one that means most of the lakes and rivers nearby are already covered.  At least the public places like parks.  You can't just go either fishing or geocaching on random private property.

And the number of peculiar species of fish that both exist and can be caught by hook and line from shore is limited.  So I have to plan these campaigns.

Casting about, before actually casting about, I noticed that a community over to the east had few geocaches and some tempting places to fish.  In particular a spillway below an impoundment dam.  Some odd things either go over the dam or swim up the stream.....

It was a delightful day for fishing.  And, while this was no place to actually catch any respectable fish, there was on hand a little band of Strange Fishermen.  And women.  And children.  My kinda folks.  I'm only showing the shirtless patriarch of this extended and somewhat confusing family group.  He was having a good old time.  I of course asked him what he was catching.  "Bullheads!" he said with enthusiasm.  And he was keeping them, tossing one after another into a fish basket.  Now I've eaten bullhead and its not bad.  But hardly anybody bothers with them.  These guys were about 5 inches long and come equipped with venomous spines and a bad attitude.  But while I was there he caught 30 of them.  One of the kids named each one.  Sometimes the name would be given before the fish bit.  "Here comes ELVIS!!" he'd holler....  My kind of fishermen.  Although unlike shirtless dad I don't fish with a beer and a pack of cigs by my side.

Eventually I did catch something worthy of a Strange Fish entry.  Oh, nothing fancy, it's just a sunfish variant called Pumpkin Seed.  But interesting enough in its own way.  In a world full of voracious predators they insolently go here and there with ridiculous bright coloration.  Oh, and they are a pesky invasive species in Europe.  Thanks for the starlings and Eurasian milfoil.  Here, have a cute little fishie...

Time to fashion a special cache container.  Elongated fish are pretty easy to craft but these little flat guys defy easy container fabrication.  So I went with something a bit different.  Made of workshop stuff, waterproof and with a picture of a "Punk" on it. 

The place I'm considering for the hide involves nooks and crannies.  So having a bit of a visible "handle" in the form of a bobber might help.