One definite change that has happened in my own fly fishing over the past few years, is that I’d rather look for native bass than try to find a trout where they might not even supposed to be. There is just something about these localized bass and panfish species and the places they call home.
There’s a growing awareness and interest in these “Native Sons” and it’s been neat to see other anglers and in this case, an artist, highlight these very special and lesser known fishes.
Hank Hershey of Hank’s Fish Art has taken a deep dive into ‘Micropterus‘ and is working his way through the lineup with a series of bass portraits which are a lot of fun and highlight their subtle and not so differences of war paint and fin flare.
Hank wrote… “I’ve recently launched a series of Micropterus illustrations that highlight the diversity of the Redeye Bass in Alabama and Georgia. Technically Tennessee too, but if it were up to me the Conasauga River would have a 12 foot barbed wire fence around the entire basin.
Some day I’ll actually have a website with all this stuff available, but for now I’m a full time PhD student, so I’ll just bite off little chunks when my budget allows.”