fishing reports

Buck- how long is that grub? Do you use it for crappies? I’ve been looking for a little bugger profile swim bait to weed out some of the smaller crappies. Thanks!
 
That is a 3" Berkley ripple shad on 1/8 oz jig. I use it for walleyes in the river and crappies mainly. Big crappies will inhale it. It has some fantastic action.
 
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Fished some Crow River backwater over the weekend. It’s a gravel pit that was just pumped a few years ago and I walked around in the bottom of it and saw almost no fish. Obviously the river filled it back up. Everything was snapping but walleyes. 1/8 oz jig and 3” Berkeley ripple shad caught all these. The white crappie was about 15”.
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Those are some healthy fish. That white is a slab! Put it up on her bedroom wall?
 
Those are some healthy fish. That white is a slab! Put it up on her bedroom wall?


All fish were released. We will get him next year when he is 16-17". It sure is fun to watch a 4 year old fish with a 6'6" rod. She hooked a few decent size northerns and bass that gave her all she could handle. She wants nothing to do with her FROZEN pole anymore and she wants to hold every fish she catches.
 
Latest "first saltwater trip of the year" I've made since moving to North Florida eighteen years ago. Blessedly it turned out decent and few things made it memorable.

First off, back history on the guest I took out -- best fishing buddy I've had for the past 5 years.

My wife is a doc and with almost 20 years manufacturing management experience, I left a management positon with General Dynamics (plant made tank components) to help her manage her practice. Seemingly overnight we grew from 3 employees to 16, and along the way we started offering year-long job opportunities to local college grads needing work hours for acceptance into post-grad medical studies.

Wife's in derm, so we likely employed a dozen young female grads before we had a male show interest. He sends me his resume and doing a bit of online sleuthing I see he's big into fishing. Almost instantly he playfully flirts with the otherwise entire female staff but in a way that makes him more of a puppy dog to them than a lecherous threat. As for his sit-down interview, we go through all the formal stuff and he's as qualified of a candidate as we've had. Then I bring up hobbies, we get to talking fishing, and the interview almost perfect mirrors this...

Literally as his FIRST week working with us winds down I offer him a saltwater trip and he boats the record cobe at that time.

Joe's Cobe.jpg

So fast forward to this weekend, and he's graduating from med school -- officially a Doc now, set to begin a Family Practice residency in June. CRAZY how time flies.

For old time sake we give the cobes a try and boat 4, but with each about an inch shy of being keepers. So instead of putting them on ice, we tag and release them with hopes they'll be recaught down the road and their travel better understood.

Joe Cobia 2.jpg

Joe Cobia 1.jpg

First really memorable thing about the trip was slowly driving by a crab trap buoy and spotting a tripletail on it. Neither of us had ever seen one / caught one. Managed to land one -- some folks call them "dinosaur fish" and they really do have a prehistoric look to them! Like the cobia, just short so didn't get to keep it.

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At day's end finally manage to put a mess of these on ice. :emoji_thumbsup:

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On the earlier "dinosaur fish" note, heart racing moment of the day turned out to be caused by somewhat of a "dinosaur bird"... one of our lines with a baitfish on the back of the boat took off screaming like a kingfish had it (or like a tuna-screaming run on Wicked Tuna), we're scanning all directions for the line and see THIS flying by us and blessedly dropping the bait as it does. Frigate bird, first I'd seen that close... looked like some crazy cross between a GIANT seagull, bald eagle, and wide-winged pterodactyl.

Frigate 4 (C).jpg

Sight at days end reminded me why I try to go whenever I can... balm for my soul.

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I got this one a week ago Sunday. I was out in the rain fishing dirty water that was on the rise but not muddy yet. 24” on the nose and the second biggest brown trout I’ve ever caught.

It’s been really tough with the state shutdown. Everyone is out fishing and sporting good store shelves are extremely picked over. Getting my hands on my go to lures has been tough.

I’ve mainly been fishing bigger water with lower trout abundance because it doesn’t get near the amount of fishing pressure that the more “traditional” streams are getting.

The average size on the couple mile section that I’ve been frequenting has been great. A buddy and I have caught several brown trout from 3-5#. He even got into a 23” walleye on this section that he said was 5#. He said it was thicker than anything he’s ever seen in a walleye.

I’m going to keep fishing this same section until the water warms up and the pressure is reduced on other streams I like to fish. With all the moisture we’ve been getting the weeds are starting to grow and the mosquitoes will be out in full force. Once that happens I’ll have almost everything to myself.

Tight lines


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Do you have any problems with the white crappie in the lake?I have always heard they reproduce too fast but am interested in putting them in a marshy lake as something that you can catch something when you go out.I don't have a large number of bass but am pretty sure there are cats of some sort.I haven't found anywhere that sold whites yet,they all sell black crappie
 
Latest "first saltwater trip of the year" I've made since moving to North Florida eighteen years ago. Blessedly it turned out decent and few things made it memorable.

First off, back history on the guest I took out -- best fishing buddy I've had for the past 5 years.

My wife is a doc and with almost 20 years manufacturing management experience, I left a management positon with General Dynamics (plant made tank components) to help her manage her practice. Seemingly overnight we grew from 3 employees to 16, and along the way we started offering year-long job opportunities to local college grads needing work hours for acceptance into post-grad medical studies.

Wife's in derm, so we likely employed a dozen young female grads before we had a male show interest. He sends me his resume and doing a bit of online sleuthing I see he's big into fishing. Almost instantly he playfully flirts with the otherwise entire female staff but in a way that makes him more of a puppy dog to them than a lecherous threat. As for his sit-down interview, we go through all the formal stuff and he's as qualified of a candidate as we've had. Then I bring up hobbies, we get to talking fishing, and the interview almost perfect mirrors this...

Literally as his FIRST week working with us winds down I offer him a saltwater trip and he boats the record cobe at that time.

View attachment 29938

So fast forward to this weekend, and he's graduating from med school -- officially a Doc now, set to begin a Family Practice residency in June. CRAZY how time flies.

For old time sake we give the cobes a try and boat 4, but with each about an inch shy of being keepers. So instead of putting them on ice, we tag and release them with hopes they'll be recaught down the road and their travel better understood.

View attachment 29941

View attachment 29942

First really memorable thing about the trip was slowly driving by a crab trap buoy and spotting a tripletail on it. Neither of us had ever seen one / caught one. Managed to land one -- some folks call them "dinosaur fish" and they really do have a prehistoric look to them! Like the cobia, just short so didn't get to keep it.

View attachment 29943

View attachment 29944

At day's end finally manage to put a mess of these on ice. :emoji_thumbsup:

View attachment 29947

On the earlier "dinosaur fish" note, heart racing moment of the day turned out to be caused by somewhat of a "dinosaur bird"... one of our lines with a baitfish on the back of the boat took off screaming like a kingfish had it (or like a tuna-screaming run on Wicked Tuna), we're scanning all directions for the line and see THIS flying by us and blessedly dropping the bait as it does. Frigate bird, first I'd seen that close... looked like some crazy cross between a GIANT seagull, bald eagle, and wide-winged pterodactyl.

View attachment 29948

Sight at days end reminded me why I try to go whenever I can... balm for my soul.

View attachment 29949
Nice fish!


Small world, I work right next to General Dynamics at the Chemical plant in Lima.
 
Nice catch! That looks like a big one.
 
Dang, Bill, that looked fun.
 
So about a week ago my son and I passed a boat being towed in. His comment was something along the lines of “Bet they feel like losers.

I told him if you’re in or around boats long enough you’re going to need a tow.
Glad he was with me when the battery took a crap 5 miles out.

made me look like a wise man. (And a loser) :emoji_stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

3A273A2E-D31B-49CB-AC0B-B4941AEE9F63.png
 
So about a week ago my son and I passed a boat being towed in. His comment was something along the lines of “Bet they feel like losers.

I told him if you’re in or around boats long enough you’re going to need a tow.
Glad he was with me when the battery took a crap 5 miles out.

made me look like a wise man. (And a loser) :emoji_stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

View attachment 30113

Been there myself, never fun sitting in your boat attached to someone's else's line. Then again I have towed a few folks myself. All part of the joy of boat ownership which I am currently glad i am without :emoji_wink:
 
Perch are active in the local lake. Will go down and catch myself dinner one of these days when the yard/garden work isn't so pressing.20200613_145042.jpg20200327_165950.jpg
 
Youngest son hammered the bass on a sub division pond in town over the weekend.

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Fished our pond with the oldest son yesterday and he pulled in the first bass ever out of it.

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I was up at the hunting land in Cass county for the weekend. I worked in the woods Thur, Fri, Sat from about 6am-6pm, then I would take the 12 foot boat down the road and paddle out to a couple of my spots. First night I paddled out and had a storm pop right over the top of me. Nothing on radar, but I got rained on for about 5 mins. Enough to soak me. The radar was clear, but at the first rumble of thunder I paddled for the landing. A few bolts of lightening, some rain and then it was all over. The flags and clouds were moving opposite directions. I found my limit of 10-12" crappies in an area about 20'x 20' in 8 feet of water after the rain stopped. They bit great just as the sun was going down. 1/8 oz pink jig and 3" white berkley ripple shad.

I really like fishing this way when I am alone. I can load the boat and be headed down the road in 2-3 mins when I hit the landing. Heave the boat into the truck box, fasten with one ratchet strap and head on down the road.
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Found this secluded mountain lake not far from home. It's a serious hike to get up there, but the trout are active amd plentiful. Took home enough for a meal.

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