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any fisherman here?

Started by sandsawmill14, May 01, 2017, 11:07:32 PM

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WV Sawmiller

   I went out and took up my lines this morning. Will not put any more out till after 4th of July as too much traffic on the lake next few days. Young friend from my son's church wanted to see how to put out limblines so he met me at the landing at 0630. We had 7 fish on the lines that probably weighed a 45 lbs total. Biggest was a 19 lb 6 oz flathead. Young fellow took off one 5 lb channel cat then reached with the same hand to untie the hook and the fish flopped free back in to the lake. I guess I forgot to tell him we were not practicing Catch and Release fishing on this trip. I brought back 2 channel cats about 8 lbs total to give to an old neighbor. Adam took the others, including the big flathead, back with him and was happy to get them. While I was cleaning the 2 I brought home my neighbor's younger brother stopped by to watch and talk and I gave them to him. He and the 3rd brother will have a good feed on them. I had 3 on the lines last night weighed about 10 lbs total so I will take him a mess from them. Anyway, was a good fast trip with about 120 lbs of catfish in 36 hours plus a wonderful couple of hours with my son and 2 of my granddaughters.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

kiko

Being able to share the food seems to be as enjoyable as the fishing !   

WV Sawmiller

Kiko,

   I give away a lot more fish than I keep. I used to fish and give them away to people on the bank or at the boat landing, sometimes out on the lake, if they would take them. When catfishing I usually bring them home, clean/fillet them then give them to old neighbors who can't fish or to various churches in the community to have fish fries.

   I can remember many times being at the boat landing at the end of the day when fishing had been poor and seeing several boats come in and offer their catch to somebody loading up their boat or fishing on the bank. Many times people were too proud or embarrassed to admit they had not caught enough for a feed but none of us had enough fish for one person or family to really justify cleaning them but by the time we consolidated our catch one person went home with a very nice mess of fish and 3-4 others went home happy they did not have to clean anything.

   I remember several years ago I had gotten to the end of my planned fishing route and a man and his young son were drifting along not having much luck and I offered him my catch. I had 30-35 decent crappie and he was thrilled. I guess it was his weekend for custody of his son and they were camping there at the park beside the lake had planned a fish fry but did not have enough fish for a feed till I asked them. We were both happy with the results.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Briankinley2004

 

  

 

Went over the 4th weekend. Got our limit of snapper every day. Caught Mahi-Mahi most days and got a nice 61" wahoo as well. Caught cobia every day. The dock shot posted here was typical of every day. Going back again this weekend if weather cooperates

WV Sawmiller

   I went and caught bait and put out about 50 lines about dark. Had 8 catfish that weighed 39 lbs. Looks like they dressed out a little over 23 lbs which is lower return percent than I have sometimes gotten in the past.

   Bait was easier to catch this morning and I have plenty to bait up tonight. Easy to catch on hook and line and fly rod works well too.



 
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Savannahdan

You just made me think about the times many years ago that I would fish a small lake that was fed by the Mississippi River.  I would use fly rods with popping bugs.  It didn't take long to catch over 100 sunfish/bluegills and at times I would have 2 or 3 bugs at the end of the line.  Also caught quite a few gar doing it.  Sometimes when I just wanted to have fun and catch gar I would tie on a strip of red nylon cloth.  It was a lot cheaper than popping bugs and their teeth were made for holding onto the cloth.  I'll be taking a couple of grandkids fishing this Wednesday morning.  I'm sure we'll get into some mud fish.  Nasty mean and nasty teeth.
Husqvarna 3120XP, Makita DCS7901 Chainsaw, 30" & 56" Granberg Chain Saw Mill, Logosol M8 Farmers Mill

WV Sawmiller

SDan,

   I can remember fishing for gars at the eddies where the oxbow lakes met the main river channel. You'd see them feeding on the surface and could put a piece of cut bait or live bream under a float about a foot deep and catch them. They were hard to hook with their hard bony mouth full of needle sharp teeth then a friend showed me how to take a big eyed catfish hook and tie a heavy nylon cord about 18-24 inches long in the middle and unravel it. The gar would grab the bait and get his teeth hung in the fine fibers. The hook would often be completely outside his mouth and they had lots of fight since they weren't really hooked. We often shot them with a .22 rifle  or pistol. I used to keep a Saturday night special full of rat shot in the tackle box for snakes and gars. I caught one nearly 4' long on a trotline in Albany Ga and my son wanted to take it back to show his buddy next door. He did then I had to dig a deep ditch in the garden to get rid of it. At least I had a good crop of tomatoes that year.

    I assume when you mention mud fish you are talking about what we used to call cotton fish or grinnell. I think Cajuns call them cypress bass. Bowfin is likely the proper name. We caught a few in N. Fla and lots on the Suannee River in Dixie County. I never really wanted to catch one and split open their bellies and threw them back.

   My old mentor said a bunch of people seined an old pond and caught a big one. There was a preacher in the bunch who wanted it so they made sure it was in his share. He said he cooked it and chewed a while and finally said " I always wondered how Jesus fed the multitude with 2 small fish and now I know."
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WV Sawmiller

   Baited up last night and caught one 3 lb channel cat I gave to a family on a pontoon boat because I inconvenienced them by baiting up next to them. i checked first and they said okay but still glad for them to have the fish. Somebody set lines in between mine which I thought was awful inconsiderate but when I ran my lines this morning I did have several fish between his lines and I saw one of his lines had a fish but did not touch it and apparently he did not bother mine.

   We had 6 fish (3 channel cats and 3 flatheads) that weighed 36 lbs. Biggest was an 11 lb flathead.  My wife went with me and after checking lines we got out or little poles and caught about 80 or so little bream for bait for tonight. This was her first fishing trip of the year and she seemed to generally enjoy it especially since I bait her hook and take off her fish. She is definitely spoiled.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Savannahdan

Yes, I think the proper name is Bowfin.  Funny you mentioned Grinnell.  I caught one of those (or at least that's what someone told it was) many years ago in SE Missouri.  I went to pull it out of the water and it seemed like it had really bad breath.  I figured if it was that stinky that it probably tasted bad.  It was released very quickly.  Funny story about the preacher.  I have to get out an dig some worms for tomorrow.  Hope the kids get into some big ones. 
Husqvarna 3120XP, Makita DCS7901 Chainsaw, 30" & 56" Granberg Chain Saw Mill, Logosol M8 Farmers Mill

WV Sawmiller

Dan,

   I have a couple hundred nightcrawlers in a bucket of sawdust and horse manure on the front porch. We never had them where I grew up but found they are plentiful here. I learned the trick to catch them is use a dim light so you don't spook them then instead of grabbing for them (One end is always securely anchored in their burrow and they can slurp back in quicker than a hungry hobo eating a plate of spaghetti) and you can't usually see which end is in the hole, pin him in the middle then get a better hold and keep steady pressure till he gives up and comes out. Pull too fast and you will break him in two.

   I'm thinking about cutting a bunch up in to 1" pieces and sun drying/dehydrating them. I use a short piece on a #10 cricket hook threaded on there to catch my bait. We also catch a few nice bluegills doing this. If the dehydrated worms work I can keep them sealed in a jar for future use.

   I never knew mudfish had bad breath but I know they have a mouth full of teeth. They seem to tolerate low oxygen water better than most game fish. I had an uncle said he heard of people catching and grinding them up to make fish patties and such. I never ate one. Like a possum - times ain't got that hard yet.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

caveman

The past two mornings we have awoken to pretty intense thunder storms which convinced us to stay in. 

  I got up at 3 and at 7 it was still storming.
Friday, we were able to get out. We netted some bait, headed to a wreck about 15 miles offshore to try to catch some sardines for more bait-did not get many but we trolled some plugs for a few minutes and caught a couple if kingfish. We wanted to catch grouper and snapper so we headed to some spots that we used to fish years ago that are about 26 miles off of the coast.

The fishing was a little slow at times but we saw several loggerhead turtles and a green turtle. There was not a puff of breeze and the Gulf was calm. We did end up catching several yellowtail and Lane Snapper, a limit of Red Grouper and a few others. I got broken off a couple of times by big grouper while using 100 lb test and JMoore pulled a shark that was about 10' long up beside the boat. 

 
Last night our families ate blackened snapper and fried snapper.
Caveman

red

NJ Fisherman caught 926 lb Mako Shark Friday night . Story is in www.usatoday.com . It's also shark week on discovery channel .
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

tule peak timber

I fished makos in the mid 80's with some success.... Here are some old pics of me when my hair was a different color. Rob

 
persistence personified - never let up , never let down

WV Sawmiller

   Friends from NC unexpectedly called on Friday and said they were coming for the weekend. I thought they were just going to overnight so I figured maybe they'd like a catfish trip so I put about 40 limblines out using creek chubs and minnows from the creek in front of my house. I checked for bait to make sure bass and crappie had not knocked off my bait at dusk. I had one small (1/2 lb) bass on one hook so I took him off and hooked him in the tail and put him back on for bait. The next hook had a 10 lb channel cat and I had a 5 lb channel a couple lines up. I took Abbie, my 9 y/o granddaughter, out Saturday for a special WV antlerless youth hunt. She had a nice doe 5-6 yards away but I had left the scope on 9 power and she could not find her and she got away. We came home and went to check our lines. The half lb bass had been replaced by a 16 lb flathead. We had 8 fish that totaled about 44 lbs. We went back in late afternoon and baited with the minnows I had and we caught 13-14 little bream and put them on for bait. We went back this morning and took up the lines. The first hook had a 17 lb flathead. We had 7 more catfish including a 19-1/2 and a 10 lb flathead and the rest were smaller channels and flathead. One line seemed to be missing till I spotted the pink flagging in the water. When we got close I spotted a big mink, the biggest I have ever seen, running the river bank and I showed him to Grayson my partner/weekend guest. We found where the line was tied but could not see the line till I saw it ran up on the bank and I spotted a 3-4 lb channel cat. I pulled him to us. He was still alive but you could see where the mink had started to chew on his chin. Another 30 minutes and the mink would have finished his sushi breakfast. First time I ever know of a mink trying to steal my fish. All total the catch was about 66 lbs and for the 2 nights around 125 lbs.  We had a flathead belly for lunch and Grayson and Tonya took all the fillets back with them this afternoon. Had a great weekend and a good catch of fish especially since it was totally unplanned and unexpected.


 
Me and Grayson holding a 17 & 19.5 lb catfish and 6 more up to 10 lbs in the net.


 
Checking the weight on a flathead.


 
Checking another flathead's weight.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Roxie

Y'all have some fine eating in store.  Nothing beats fried catfish.   :)
Say when

WV Sawmiller

Roxie,

   Yes. Becky brought out a big bowl and collected the belly fillets off the first flathead catfish we skinned and by the time we got finished cleaning and filleting the rest then getting a quick shower and change of clothes she and Tonya had a fine lunch of fresh fried catfish, cole slaw, baked beans and grits waiting for us. We had a blast this weekend with friends and our granddaughters and good eating to wind it up.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

caveman

Cavegirl #3 got this redfish while we were fishing for big, pre-spawn snook yesterday afternoon.  The redfish was 32", which is above the slot size so it got released.  We did not hook any big snook and the fishing was a bit slow due to weak tidal flow.  

 
Caveman

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

petefrom bearswamp

Caveman, one of the few regrets I have in leaving Florida for the frozen north is that i never got to meet you and get in some fishing.
Havent been out here yet, but my son and grandson went to the Adirondacks over Memorial weekend and caught some splake and brookies.
Another group that i know got some awesome brookies in the north country too.
I have pics on my phone but dont get on the forum from there.
Maybe tonight while relaxing in my recliner I'll try to post them.
Kubota 8540 tractor, FEL bucket and forks, Farmi winch
Kubota 900 RTV
Polaris 570 Sportsman ATV
3 Huskies 1 gas Echo 1 cordless Echo vintage Homelite super xl12
57 acres of woodland

caveman

I'll look for them Pete.  I was hoping to get a chance to take you fishing but you did the opposite of most... moved back up north, full time.  I would be a "fish out of water" if I were to try for the fish you mentioned.

Danny, that was her first redfish.  Today I am back at work trying to configure my calendar to work in some more (saltwater) fishing this summer.  I guess I need to buy some batteries for my skiff and start bass fishing again in the afternoons.  


Caveman

Briankinley2004

took my new to me Hatteras out on her first fishing trip this weekend. Got our limit of snapper easily. 





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Ljohnsaw

Took a break today from sawing.  Went out on my buddy's boat on Folsom Lake.  We were on the water about 9am and were catching trout pretty regular.  Limited by 1:10.  Most smaller (10-13") and this was the last one of the day 8)

 25" and heavy!  King salmon that they plant.
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

caveman

Those snapper would be welcomed guests to my supper table.  The biggest decision would be whether to blacken them or fry them.  That is quite a sporty platform to fish off of as well.

That salmon is invited too, but it will have to go on the grill.

Thank you both for sharing and further distracting me from things that I need to do.
Caveman

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