I am a 13 year old lifelist angler from southeastern Michigan. I Love the outdoors, and my favorite outdoor activity is fishing. I enjoy fishing in different places and seeing what I can catch, and I use inaturalist to keep track of all the fish I catch (unless I am catching a million bluegill or pinfish and I am tired of taking a picture of all of them).When I was really young, I would go to a local lake with my dad and catch some bluegill and crappie for dinner, and we would catch some other fish too, like largemouth and smallmouth bass, rock bass, and yellow perch. As I got older I got the opportunity to try more styles of fishing, like walleye jigging the rivers, mainly the St. Clair, Detroit, and Saginaw rivers, and also setting out big rods with live bait for channel cats, smallmouth bass, bowfin, walleye, and sheepshead. Later I began to learn more about the fish, and I wanted to try to catch even more types of fish, whenever I could.

I joined iNaturalist in June 2023 because I caught some cool looking sunfish and I wanted to know what they were. With the help of other people on inaturalist I learned what they were. They ended up being a Pumpkinseed x Bluegill, a Pumpkinseed, a Northern Sunfish, and 2 Greengill Sunfishes. At the time I had no idea what a Greengill or a Northern Sunfish was! And I also didnt know that a lot of the pumpkinseeds I was catching were actually hybrids! That was when I wanted to learn more about the different kinds of fish in Michigan, the United States, and eventually, North America. That is what sparked my interest for Lifelist Angling, and Identifying North American fishes. As I learned about these fish I caught some really cool fish that live in my area - Spotfin Shiner, Hornyhead Chub, Common Logperch, Northern Sunfish, Warmouth, Western Blacknose Dace, blah blah blah. My current fishing life list is in iNaturalist. It includes all of the fish hat I have caught in my life. I am working on adding to it as often as I can. I like fishing with lures a lot because it feels extra rewarding when you land a fish without needing bait. Some of my favorites include Casting Spoons, In Line Spinners, Curly Tail Grubs, Tubes, Shrimp Jigs, Twitchbaits, Trout Magnets, Hard Swimbaits, Poppers, Pompano Jigs, and Jerkbaits. This year I am going to give Micro fishing a try. I am interesting in learning about all of the smaller, lesser known fish species that can be found here in Michigan.

Fishing Life List
https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/4426644-qfc79s-Fishing-Life-List
All fish on this list were caught with rod and reel, except the Spottail Shiner and the Blackstripe Topminnow.

My interest in the different kinds of fish led me into learning how to identify North American fish, so I am pretty good at Identifying them by now. At least most of the time. I do tend to make some misidentifications, but I am always getting better. I recently took care of the issue of Lepomis Megalotis Observations in texas where Lepomis Aqilensis exists instead. Fish I am most familiar with when it comes to identification include Groupers, Mullets, Snappers, Grunts, Sunfishes (Freshwater), Crappies, Porgies, Perches, Pikes, Saltwater Catfish, Kingcroakers, Drums, Jacks, Creek Chubs, Bluefish, Weakfishes, Tenpounders, Pompanos, and Mackerels. The majority of the saltwater fish I listed I am more familiar with in the Atlantic ocean. I am not as good with pacific fish.

Despite how much I am into fish and fishing, I also enjoy birding. When I go to a place that is not my home area, I am constantly on the lookout for birds that I do not typically see. I recently got into bird photography, and I usually post the pictures I take on iNaturalist (if I feel like it). I usually dont do bird Identification as much as fish since it is much faster paced, and more observation are piling in every second. Usually I limit it down to my area and the people that I follow. However if you ever need an Identification for a north american fish or bird, feel free to tag me and I will help at the best of my ability, and if I make a mistake, I will fix it.

Birding Life List
https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/4426839-qfc79s-Birding-Life-List

Check out some of my guides to identifying confusing fish!

Identifying Scomberomorus Mackerel of Florida
https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/18951

Distinguishing 8 commonly caught Lutjanus Snappers in the Gulf of Mexico
https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/18921

How to Identify The 14 Types of "Bluegill"
https://www.inaturalist.org/guides/18748

I am also a huge detroit lions fan🦁🏈

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