By Nick Simonson
There’s an encounter each spring that reminds me of how lucky we are to have ugly fish.
They don’t glisten in gold like walleyes, sparkle with silver like a white bass, or even bring up the base of the podium like a smallmouth bass bedecked in bronze. Instead, they fight hard, provide fast action, and often remind us of the basics of angling and where many of us got our start.
These not so pretty fish also reinforce the idea that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. Whether it’s a carp that casually inhaled a crawler-tipped jig while working a break for walleyes, or a school of bullheads swarming a slipfloat on the warm surface water of a small lake, these interactions make me thankful for ugly fish, even when most other times they’re a nuisance.