2023 Fishing Thread

[Ballstater98]

And sometimes when you take them fishing you dont have time to catch.

Years ago when the kids were little, we took them to a hotspot. One of those places you almost cant help but catch. I literally caught 2 fish in the span of 90 minutes. Because I spent the rest of my time either baiting or removing things from hooks.

It was me, Mrs Monkey, and the two little monkeys. And I was the only one who could bait or remove. Literally every 90 seconds I was having to either bait or remove a fish from somebody else's hook. Sometimes I'd remove one fish and replace a worm, only to turn around and have to remove somebody else's fish. Lather rinse repeat All evening.

Man, that was a great day.

Sadly, the last time we went right before covid, fishing sucked. The native species were being run off by Gobis and if you did catch anything, that was all you caught. (Lake Erie)

Fingers crossed when we go back in August its better.

Lake Cumberland next month on a houseboat trip. Fingers crossed. Especially no gar.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Lake Cumberland next month on a houseboat trip. Fingers crossed. Especially no gar.

I want to do that sometime. Wife isnt fond of boats. Cant even get her on my 12' Lund. So she will sit by the ramp with a book while the kids and I fish.

She did say we could get a pontoon if we had the money. So maybe...

Who do you recommend for the rental?

 

[Ballstater98]

I want to do that sometime. Wife isnt fond of boats. Cant even get her on my 12' Lund. So she will sit by the ramp with a book while the kids and I fish.

She did say we could get a pontoon if we had the money. So maybe...

Who do you recommend for the rental?

We launch an 80'er out of Beaver Creek on Lake Cumberland. We've used them several times. There are several options thougn. Roughing it...trash compactor on board if that tells you anything. Bunch of buddies families. Drag a couple boats for skiing and a couple jet skies to tie off. Park the houseboat 1 time and have fun. Moving that thing and tying it off day one is a pita. Find a Cove and park it.

 

[profjeremy]

Took my kids to Lake Lemon today and we didn’t expect much, given the overcast, drizzly weather… but while my son and I each caught one little rock bass apiece, of course my daughter catches 5 fish, including this 5-6ish pound catfish!

 

[firecadet613]

Went to Chinook last night after dinner. Caught a couple panfish, a couple crappie, a largemouth, and a catfish. The last two were about 10", the others a little bigger than my hand.

I also found the nests for a couple. As my evening was wearing down I saw a lot of motion on the surface over in the shallows. I carefully maneuvered over there, and could see the big round "nests" where they had made an indentation. After observing from a distance, (they sat there watching me from beside the nests) I carefully moved away. Pretty cool. Never found those before. Only heard about them.


A great night.

It's that time of year. Saturday night our bluegill were very active and spawning the night away...

 

[two70]

Keep every one of those green sunfish in that last pic. Use em to fertilize your garden. Aggravating little mush fleshed things.

I'm curious, where does stuff like this even start?

 

[ISP 5353]

Bluegills and bass have been very active in the ponds. Grandkids have been slaying them. Lots of fly rod fun!

 

[patience0830]

I'm curious, where does stuff like this even start?

Experience. They breed like rabbits, attack anything that gets near them, and really are mushy compared to bluegill, bass, and crappie caught on the same day and cleaned at the same time. And they make good fertilizer for sweet corn.

 

[bwframe]

Experience. They breed like rabbits, attack anything that gets near them, and really are mushy compared to bluegill, bass, and crappie caught on the same day and cleaned at the same time. And they make good fertilizer for sweet corn.

They make good fish bone broth also. Very health use of tiny pan fish you want rid of.

Guts go in the the fly traps around the garden. Hard parts strained while preparing broth then go in the compost.

All good stuff.

 

[two70]

Experience. They breed like rabbits, attack anything that gets near them, and really are mushy compared to bluegill, bass, and crappie caught on the same day and cleaned at the same time. And they make good fertilizer for sweet corn.

I've filleted 1000s of them along with all the other common centrarchids and several of the less common ones. I've never once found a significant difference in texture in the meat between the species, let alone one to be mushy in the slightest. Any differences are slight enough to make distinguishing them difficult once the skin is off and completely indistinguishable once cooked.

Additionally, the three most common sunfish species, bluegill, green, and longear, all hybridize so readily that most individuals will not be pure examples of their particular species when they share the same habitat. Greens aren't noticeably more prolific than other sunfish either and don't appear to have smaller than normal "sneaker" and "satellite" males making up the majority of their population like poorly managed bluegill do.

 

[Jaybird1980]

Got out for a couple hours last night. It was rough with the boaters out in full force. Only nice one I got, it will make a good lunch.

 

[hooky]

Got out for a couple hours last night. It was rough with the boaters out in full force. Only nice one I got, it will make a good lunch.

View attachment 282885

Maxinkukee?

 

[yetti462]

Gonna try gar. I shot it with a 9mm, slug recovered and in pic. Hardest dang fish I've ever cleaned. Will report on wether it was worth the effort.

 

[Michigan Slim]

Gonna try gar. I shot it with a 9mm, slug recovered and in pic. Hardest dang fish I've ever cleaned. Will report on wether it was worth the effort.

Backstrap is all that's worth it.

 

[patience0830]

I've filleted 1000s of them along with all the other common centrarchids and several of the less common ones. I've never once found a significant difference in texture in the meat between the species, let alone one to be mushy in the slightest. Any differences are slight enough to make distinguishing them difficult once the skin is off and completely indistinguishable once cooked.

Additionally, the three most common sunfish species, bluegill, green, and longear, all hybridize so readily that most individuals will not be pure examples of their particular species when they share the same habitat. Greens aren't noticeably more prolific than other sunfish either and don't appear to have smaller than normal "sneaker" and "satellite" males making up the majority of their population like poorly managed bluegill do.

Glad you like them. Eat them all. Your info runs contrary to my experience. Foul little beasties.

 

[hooky]

I've filleted 1000s of them along with all the other common centrarchids and several of the less common ones. I've never once found a significant difference in texture in the meat between the species, let alone one to be mushy in the slightest. Any differences are slight enough to make distinguishing them difficult once the skin is off and completely indistinguishable once cooked.

That's been my experience too. I can't tell the difference once the filet is in the bowl or when cooked.

Crappie and LMB have some mushiness in the warmer months IME.

 

[bwframe]

Gonna try gar. I shot it with a 9mm, slug recovered and in pic. Hardest dang fish I've ever cleaned. Will report on wether it was worth the effort.

Waiting for the rest of the story on this. Including the pistol work.

 

[yetti462]

Waiting for the rest of the story on this. Including the pistol work.

I was spraying weeds in my food plot, checked on my boy fishing the creek. Boy to dad, " gar are schooled up in deep hole. Shot one for me!"

My bow fishing rig was no where close , but the hellcat was. The gar at the surface are easy, plunked a 3'* gar that sank like a rock. The one retrieved was an easy shot. Need fmj ammo for water penetration.

Will fry gar tomorrow, and see if it's good.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I was spraying weeds in my food plot, checked on my boy fishing the creek. Boy to dad, " gar are schooled up in deep hole. Shot one for me!"

My bow fishing rig was no where close , but the hellcat was. The gar at the surface are easy, plunked a 3'* gar that sank like a rock. The one retrieved was an easy shot. Need fmj ammo for water penetration.

Will fry gar tomorrow, and see if it's good.

I remember trying to catch gar down at Dale Hollow once. They didn't look like the one you got though. The snout wasn't as narrow. I rigged up a cricket with a bobber and no weight just so I could cast the cricket kind of like a dry fly. They would hit just behind it, but I never could catch one. They were good sized too. Probably 3'-4'.

 

[two70]

I remember trying to catch gar down at Dale Hollow once. They didn't look like the one you got though. The snout wasn't as narrow. I rigged up a cricket with a bobber and no weight just so I could cast the cricket kind of like a dry fly. They would hit just behind it, but I never could catch one. They were good sized too. Probably 3'-4'.

Probably a short nose gar. The trick to catching gar is to use a piece of nylon rope frayed out on one end and the other either tied in a knot of melted into a glob. You work it like a jerk bait near the surface. If they strike anywhere close to it the nylon strands get caught in their teeth, no hook needed.