Contributors to this thread:
Great evening on the water.
Great evening on the water.
Do you have a favorite fish to catch? How about eating?
I used to never care what I caught as long as its big. Being from Mn I fished for Walleyes the vast majority of time. About 10 years ago I found a love for smallmouth's.
Today was the Mn fishing opener. Caught some nice crappies. Kept about 10 for a couple meals.
Tonight we were fishing a rock point for walleyes. No walleyes but the smallmouth were staged on it for prespawn. 6lb test and a feisty 3 or 4 lb small mouth is a lot of fun.
Columbia River Spring run salmon-nothing better
Salt would be Lingcod
I hate it that pics are posted sideways. Haha
The one currently on my line/plate.
Snook is right near the top, tuna ranks up there in terms of fish to catch. Atlantic salmon is another. Best eating...cod
Brownies (most of you all probably call them small mouth bass), in a creek for the catching, good catfish for the eating. Did you ever stop to think if perch (OK sunfish for the purists) weighed 10 pounds, you'd just about have to have deep sea tackle to bring them in.
A few years back
We do get some decent salmon 20 minutes from where I live
A few years back
We do get some decent salmon 20 minutes from where I live
Used to live for steelhead fishing. I'm not a catch and release guy. I love steelhead. I don't see the problem with keeping a hatchery fish but if there's a lot of people around people are always whining to let it go. I finally got tired of it. If you want a killer fight and an incredible eating fish Albacore are right up there at the top. Quit a thrill to be soaking an anchovy and have a 30 pound fish going about 40 mph hit your bait and then hit the throttle when it gets hooked. Top speed around 60.
Fresh yellowfin tuna is hard to beat. Sashimi right out of the ocean, yum.
Crappies, with lemon, garlic and butter are also magnificent.
Not much that will outfight a fresh run Chinook Salmon in the 25 to 50 lb range and mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn are they good to eat!!!!!!!!
God bless, Steve
Halibut is probably my favorite to eat. Top water bass or pike is hard to beat for fun factor.
Filleted white perch
Filleted white perch
Probably my favorite fish is white perch. When they come up the river, in the Spring we can catch them by the hundreds and I prefer to eat them over any other fish. Another good eater and fun to catch are Yellow fin Tuna. They are great fighters. To see my 100 pound wife, strapped in a fighting chair catching a 50 pound tuna is something I will remember the rest of my life. How something with such a small tail can fight so hard amazes me. BTW, I love white perch roe.
For fun I like throwing a frog in the weeds for big largemouth bass. For eating I like cold water bluegill.
Hooked into a Yellow Fin offshore of Oahu
Hooked into a Yellow Fin offshore of Oahu
Red Snapper are always fun to catch too. Out of Port Canaveral, FL
Red Snapper are always fun to catch too. Out of Port Canaveral, FL
Walleye are my favorite to eat. Fly-in remote Ontario camp.
Walleye are my favorite to eat. Fly-in remote Ontario camp.
You know you have a BIG panfish when you can lip grab it like a bass. My buddies back yard here in Great Michigan.
You know you have a BIG panfish when you can lip grab it like a bass. My buddies back yard here in Great Michigan.
Walleyes are the best eating, and fun to catch.
Stripped Bass and Hybrid Bass (White Bass and Stripped Bass crossed) are great fighters. They pull like a mule.
Flounder, reds, and trout, in that order.
For just fishing fun, it's tough to beat the fight of a Spring run wild Steelhead..maybe..just maybe a fresh-from-the-salt Springer King comes close.
Not a big salmon eater, but I'm blessed to have one of the best salmon holes on the Skagit right in my backyard. Been days when we could catch Coho and Chum till our arms gave out, but other than smoking a couple of the Chums I'm a C&R fisherman.
Favorite on the plate is fresh Crappie fillets cut into chunks, beer battered and fried up. Eat 'em like popcorn..!
Mike, those big ol' bluegills are darn good eatin' too.
Big fat perch are right up there with walleye.
Big fat perch are right up there with walleye.
I like big pike.... someday I'd like to catch a 40 incher....
Photo quality is a quite dark because it's old. Back in my 20s. That's half of 30 minutes worth of fast commercial albacore fishing. They are caught on jigs being trolled. 12 lines all pulled by hand. When the fishing is hot we pulled the two shortest lines on both sides. Two of us caught over 700 that day. In 10 days we caught 17 tons.
I love channel catfish. Fun to catch and great eating.
Big Bear, I got a 41" on the wall. Being from Mn that's nothing to spectacular. However I caught that fish while fishing stagecoach lake in Co. I was fishing for trout with Berkley trout power bait when it bit. Lol
Nice !! 40" is a reachable goal.... if I ever get one or a 10 pound walleye it will go on the wall..... they get 10-12 pound walleye here every spring out of the Detroit River. My buddy is taking me out on his new boat on Lake Erie next Saturday for walleye..... I haven't caught a musky yet in my life, but it's on my bucket list.... maybe this summer.
Wild rainbow trout from the Middle Fork of the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada mountains... favorite place to fish & favorite fish to catch and eat.
Pound for pound nothing fights like a tuna. They are constant motion machines in the ocean.
Yellowfin here are call Ahi. Hawaiians used to "drop stone" and hand line them. Ahi in Hawaiian means "fire". You knew it was a bigger tuna when it burned your hands..... fire....
WRT table fair..... Ahi again. The big tunas (yellow and blue fin) bring sometimes outrageous prices.... all for the sashimi.... raw, sliced so thin you can read a newspaper through it..... literally melt in your mouth.....
Cooked..... crab stuffed Ono (wahoo) is hard to beat. No breading or panko, no frying. Baked. oh my..... Ono in Hawaiian means great eating..... tasty.
Ono are good fights too, but normally are caught here on tackle meant for a fish 4 to 10 times it's size. They are good for one hard screaming run and then come in like whipped pups.....
Mother's Day redfish. Hard to beat. Swordfish is greatest eating thing that swims, IMO
Upside down redfish are even better
Upside down redfish are even better
Dry fly trout by far my favorite.
Salmon would be number one but the crowds take away the majic. Good thing they smoke well and fresh ones from lake ontario are prime eating. Once they are in river a while they are not as good eating.
Caught this guy this afternoon.
Now this is a topic I can get behind!!!
Sushi: Tuna (I've caught them on all coasts and they are all delicious)
Fried: Pike from deep cold water lakes like in Alberta (BTW guys any fish over 40" is amazing considering the WR was just over 50 but one a handful have been caught 48" or bigger).
Baked: Salmon (I learned an old Nova Scotia recipe - Mayonaise, Dill, Lemon, S&P. Coat the fillets then sprinkle brown sugar over and bake at 425 for 10 minutes then 3 minutes under broiler to carmelize brown sugar. )
Stew: Wahoo - caught many of these 180 miles off Houston's coast. Man they are amazing in fish stew. Perfect flesh for it
Seared: Tuna. Nothing beats tuna on the table.
All that said there are very few fish I can't make delicious. I just love to fish.
Now that's the kind of pike I'm talking about !! That one would go on my wall !! Nice !!!
catch and Eat... Salt Water...Yellow fin, Yellow Tail and Big Mako's. Bluefin are fun too and so are Sheepshead and Thresher Shark
Fresh Water ... Big Browns, Brookies, and Large Mouth Bass.
If you want to catch some true giant Pike. Europe is the place to go. In 1986 the world record was caught over there. 55 lbs 1 oz. interesting I didn't see the Mn northern in the top 10. It was a 45 lb fish.
In a different thread Kyle had mentioned Tony Dean. In 1992 a friend and me were fishing next to Tony on the Missouri below the dam in Pierre SD. Tony had caught a 29" walleye and let it go. About 5 minutes later I caught my 13 lb 2 oz walleye. She ended up measuring 32.5". It was the only fish I caught that weekend. Ended up partying to much afterwards. Haha
These were fun to catch and good to eat!
My favorite fish to catch is probably bass, large and smallmouth, followed by crappies, blue gills and yellow perch. The last three are my favorite to eat.
Fun to catch and always put them back. For eating, stripers from the Cape and crappie from the Berkshires.
Oh my God !!!! That's what I'm talking about !! If I caught that monster pike and released it I would have a replica made !! I found some awesome taxidermists on line that do some real nice pike replicas.
Hard to beat the fight of a Smallmouth on light tackle.
Hard to beat the fight of a Smallmouth on light tackle.
Fresh trout and Fiddleheads are a favorite spring meal.
Fresh trout and Fiddleheads are a favorite spring meal.
48"plus Manitoba pike
48"plus Manitoba pike
For big pike lovers....
Here's a pic of my brother and a actual 48 1/2" pike.... He was swiped at by another during the fight hence the blood. It was a minor wound and fish was released. Manitoba .... around 8 or 10 years ago.
Any of you guys ever come across any of those 2 pound yellow perch I see pictures and video of out in Idaho and Devils Lake ?? That would be almost as cool as a 40 inch pike to me !!
Give me an active school of crappies on a lightweight rod and I'm happy as a pig in sh!t.
Big Bear, I haven't caught a 2 lb perch but plenty of 12 to 16" perch. My high school buddies and I never set our fish house up for walleyes. We would chase the perch. If we were on the jumbos the walleyes would be around.
In 1997 I walked out on 3" of ice on thanksgiving day. Back then Mn had a 100 perch limit. Well my step son and I caught and kept our limits of perch and walleyes. I will never do that again. That is a lot of perch to clean. Haha
Ha !! Gooood eating though !!!
For me it's hard to beat a northern Brookie for color or fight I just done set them .
Northern pike my favorite to eat.
Followed by largemouth out of my farm pond.
Man, I'd love to try some of the fish you guys have posted. Being land locked and in the western US, most of the fish I've had consists of trout and to a small degree bass. I'd say my favorite is Kokanee salmon. I prefer it to Pink or Silver salmon, perhaps because I typically have to buy other salmon, but can eat the Kokanee pretty much straight out of the water.
B.B. I bet that tuna put up a good fight. The favorite part of a large salmon or albacore is the belly meat it's loaded with fat. Smoked or grilled it's dripping with fat. Most people want the upper part of the fish.
Tuna fishing destroyed fresh water fishing for me. There's just no comparison. And the table fare is incredible. Wahoo cooked or sashimi is amazing. Blue fin seared or sashimi/sushi'd. Yellowfin, yellowtail, and albacore all make amazing meals cooked or raw. I prefer raw. I go salmon fishing every year, but it's basically a meat hunt.
It made me cry. Kinda makes me think that if I hooked onto the bumper of a car doing about 40 MPH, It would feel similar
Nice Linesider, bb. Apparently neither of those razor sharp gill plates got you. They've been known to cut to the bone.....
I stayed away from the sharp edges
My dad with a 26" Walleye caught while bass fishing. Lol
My dad with a 26" Walleye caught while bass fishing. Lol
He was actually contemplating filleting it up. I said he should let it go. Just then she flopped and was back in the water.
He was actually contemplating filleting it up. I said he should let it go. Just then she flopped and was back in the water.
Nice mess of eaters Doc.. perfect.
Doc's hot spot is right off the east side of an island... (just making it easy to find)... ;)
A friend rented a boat and was catching fish one right after the other. He told me he used a black marking pen to mark the side of the boat where he was catching the fish. I told him that was dumb, he may not get the same boat next time.
Well if you fish an island a day you could find the spot in a year.
Once got totally lost on a cloudy day in the islands...Back way before GPS and hadn't yet put a compass in my new boat.
Vermillion is a great lake. Found out where it got it's name the first time I was on it in a white fiberglass boat..After a few days i had a red boat. Lot of iron in the water.
I have always wanted to fish Vermillion. Still till this day I haven't made it there.
My favorite fish was one that I didn't catch.
I took my great aunt's grandson (2nd cousin once removed?) on a wilderness canoe trip in Northwestern Ontario. We were fishing some moving water between lakes. You couldn't call it rapids. We were having a phenomenal run with walleye, smallmouth and northern, one after another and decent size. Then I see the kid has picked up his lightweight rod and tied on a little Panther Martin spinner.
I kind of chuckled and asked him what he was doing. We were into fish with good size. Why go with a little spinner now?
He casts downstream and across the current with his retrieve starting to run up the seam between the current and the eddy. He gets a hit, sets the hook and the fish takes off like a rocket with the drag screaming. After several runs, he gets the fish to the canoe. And he asks me, "What kind of fish is this?"
It's silvery with large eyes and it's body looks kind of like a whitefish stretched a little more like a crappie. It weighs just a hair under two pounds. We look at it, ponder it, remark about the fight it put up, return it to the lake and go back to the walleye, smallmouth and northerns.
Gassing up on the return trip home, I used up my remaining Canadian currency and bought some sodas and a couple of fishing magazines. I tossed them to the kid and told him he had some reading material for the ride.
He's flipping through one of the magazines later and there's an article with a two page spread picture of his fish. It's a mooneye. He reads off the pertinent facts and details in the article.
A little later, he blunts out my name and stammers for a bit. He's looking at the other magazine. It has a listing of the IGFA records. He caught what would've been the record mooneye and we didn't even paddle back to camp and take a picture of it.
People give me the "Fisherman's story" line whenever I share that story and my response is always the same; What kind of false bravado or ego am I supposedly inflating if I'm lying about a fish that I didn't catch, that I didn't have knowledge of, that ended up being a mooneye? A mooneye!
It's still fun to refer to him as the Mooneye Master. We've gotten a lot of miles out of it.
Pig Doc... I hope to get a nice mess like that on Lake Erie on Saturday... My buddy that is taking me limited out with 3 people on his boat yesterday......
That's an awesome gesture right there !!! Take him up on it Fulldraw !!!
A buddy of mine got a dandy smallmouth the other day on Lake St. Clair..... 23"......6 pounds.
Pig doc I will have to take you up on that. That is a great offer. Which month is the best? I always like June after the spawn. Granted not the best for a truely big fish. But most fish are active then.
Anything that bites! I love fishing almost as much as hunting and I don't think that tap, tap feeling at the end of my line will ever get old! Pacific tunas (albacore, yellowfin, bluefin) and yellowtail are my favorites so far.
Always a bass fisherman, first and foremost. Largemouth and spots. But I like to fish for most anything that swims around the waters of the deep South.
I'd say my favorite is large cobia (70 to 100+lbs) that migrate up the Gulf beaches in the Spring. Sight fishing a few hundred yards off that sugar white sand. Tossing an eel out in front of a big silhouette and having it torpedo towards the bait is almost as exciting as a nice buck in bow range. Then finessing the drag so it won't snap light line. Love the fight. Love the taste. Good eating fish.
I do love fried trigger fish too. Probably my favorite. :-)
When people ask me where I catch fish I tell them in the top lip or corner of the mouth.
While walleye fishing yesterday I ran into a sturgeon..... had it out of the water just long enough to get the hook out of its mouth and snap a picture then back she went ......
We went one short of a 3 man limit but sifted through a lot of small ones to get there...... the size limit for walleye is only 13" where we were fishing.
Another of my favorite fish are koi. I don't catch them on hook and line or eat them. However mine will eat out of my hand and are very friendly. My wife has raised them from eggs and they know when she comes out the back door, with food.
I love catching trout, they are I think the most beautiful fish. Trout aren't the hardest fighters, but I use an ultra light setup and spinners, so it makes it fun. As far as eating, I like white meat vs pink. Living in Minnesota as a teen, walleye was our most sought after fish. However, perch are easier to catch and taste better. River or lake? I don't care as long as I'm catching fish. Ice fishing is probably my favorite, here in Colorado we don't have permanent ice houses. But we have lots of sunshine and a day on the lake is almost like a day on the beach.
I too love ice fishing but this past year we didn't have ice so I will have to wait and see what happens next winter. When we have ice we catch yellow perch, large mouth bass, crappies, bluegills and pickerel.
Shuteye my mom had a Koi pond in the backyard and like you said when she walked out there you could drop the fish pellets in their mouths and if you stepped in the water they would swim in between your legs. Big bear we have sturgeon out this way but was never lucky enough to catch one. I like catching all fish but Large mouth and Stripers are at the top.
This morning the koi were happy to see me. The net is to keep out eagles, ospreys and blue heron, which all eyeball the pond.
That the first sturgeon I ever caught....... epic fight on walleye tackle...... they aren't in season until July 16. It had a DNR metal tag on it. We snapped a pic of the tag numbers to report it to the DNR.
Here in MA sturgeon are never in season. We have them in the CT River but I guess they are rare although I hear that they are accidentally caught fairly frequently.
We only have a few lakes and rivers where there's a sturgeon season... it's tightly regulated and you're allowed one a year and must register your catch. There's a spearing season on Black Lake and I believe the DNR Officers are on hand throughout the season which is short.
The spearing season is in the winter through the ice....
Everyone has their favorite fish to eat mostly because of their exposure to the area they live in. That said, grouper is the best eating fish that swims anywhere in the world. There are plenty of second place finishers, but no matter how grouper is cooked, it wins the blue ribbon.
Best tasting fish I ever ate from the ocean was one I did not think would be a good eating fish but the captain said try it as I was going to throw it back. Check out the wolf fish, one ugly dude damn good though! Best fresh water is a tie between a bluegill and believe it or not a Pike.
Some times the size of the fish determines how you like it in the pan. when I am fishing for channel cats, I keep 3-6 pound fish and turn the 10+ pound fish loose. when I was fishing for stripers and would take guys from work my wife got her choice of fish when we got home. My buddies couldn't believe she would pick out the small fish and let them have the 25 pound fish. The small ones are much better eating. Big ones are more fun to catch but small ones are much better in the pan. Probably not true for all species.
Chief.... I saw a young lady catch 2 Goliath Groupers on the Pursuit Channel today.... all I can say is WOW !! My back hurt just watching that fight !! What an enormous fish !!
I had grouper while visiting my cousin in Florida a few years ago. I asked for a recommendation, grouper or sword fish. The waitress said grouper, my cousin seconded the recommendation. It was very good. It was not better than perch, walleye, halibut or cod according to my taste buds.
You never know what you are getting in a restaurant as far as freshness goes. Some of the worst seafood I've eaten has been in Florida in the tourist spots. Grouper and snapper usually sit in the ice hold on boats for a week or two at a time before being brought to the dock. There's a big difference in taste when you pull a grouper up from 300 or 400 feet of water and cook it that night vs. eating one from a commercial fishing boat. Goliath grouper will make every muscle hurt. It's like hooking into a school bus.
Agree with Shuteye. Usually the bigger fish aren't as good to eat as the smaller ones.
My oldest son tows up hang gliders, with a boat, in St Croix. He says there is a bar/restaurant right on the dock. He said local fishing boats come in and you can buy a fish right off a boat and take it in the restaurant and they will cook it for you. You can't get any fresher than that. They have quite a variety of fish to choose from. He has sent me pictures, taken from the dock, of huge fish in the crystal clear water.
Catching kings. Eating walleye and perch.
Catching kings. Eating walleye and perch.
Tuna and Salmon are the few fish where the bigger the better eating.
I'm heading off to the wilds of northern Canada for world class pike fishing! Woohoo!
Maybe put a bear down as well.
I had a friend that was turkey hunting, last year, out near the Great lakes and he had killed turkeys in two states. He called me and said he had a day left and had limited out on turkeys, did I want some salmon. I said yes. Some one he was turkey hunting with had a boat and took him fishing. The next afternoon he showed up at my house with a cooler full of salmon fillets, all iced down. They were delicious and I didn't have to clean them. You guys out there are lucky.
I love most all fishing, but catching a Tarpon is the only rush that compares to arrowing big game for me.
For eating, crappie and walleye for fresh water, fried triple-tail or raw blue fin tuna for salt water.
Matt
My daughter 5 years ago with her first smallmouth. This one came from Green lake in Mn. Nothing like smallmouths when there up shallow in the rocks and 6 lb line.
I'd sure like to give the tarpon a try sometime. Looks like fun. Matt, was that one on fly rod? I'm not that experienced with fly stuff. More of a Roland Martin, Bill Dance, equipment guy. Was that one in the Keys?
Triple tail are very good. Not unusual to pick up one or three on a cobia run. Still, fried trigger is my salt water eater.
Fulldraw, nice picture. That's a framer fa sho. :-)
Joey,
That tarpon was caught in the Everglades on spinning tackle and live bait. Catching one on a fly rod is still on my bucket list. I've had a few opportunities, but haven't closed the deal, yet.
I've caught sail fish, mahi mahi, snook, redfish, grouper, sharks, and almost all fresh water species, but nothing compares to catching tarpon in my book.
Here's an interesting bit of trivia. The only fish Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was a tarpon. To this day, no one really knows why he chose a tarpon, or how he knew what they looked like. That's why my fishing buddies and I call it "God's fish". ;-)
Matt
Cool.........but how the heck does a turtle hold a paint brush? They've got no thumbs. :-)
he he he
Joey, use your head, a turtle paints by holding the brush in it's mouth. I have seen elephants painting pictures and they don't have thumbs either.
I've had grouper and it is indeed good. Trout made that list at number 5 and is above Halibut among others. I don't get that. I like trout, but it's not better than halibut or grouper, IMO. I'd still rather have raw salmon or wahoo.
Shuteye. Silly me. Forgot they were mutants.
But with no thumbs, explains why they are always in a bad mood.
Been a little over 15 years ago, my son pulled this LM bass out of a swamp pond.
Around the same time, my "pooty-pooh" with her first fish. :-)
My buddy caught this one, a couple years ago, while we were killing some time in rain runoff pond in his subdivision. We caught several 3 and 4 pounders that afternoon.
Shuteye, we used to do that down in Mexico. If I remember correctly it was like 5 or 10 bucks to the restaurant/ street vender:) and it was all you could eat and drink... we always gave them extra fish. They would cook it up and serve it to you and you never had an empty beer.
Way Way back, (1980's) we would even trade tuna or cod for lobster from some of the guys down South. The government "owns" the fish and the locals didn't get to keep much. We were always giving away large amounts of fish. If you wanted to, you could guy a lobster (1-2lbs) for a buck or two. Those were the good old days!
I caught a 227lb Macko shark off of St. Martin in 90 or 91 that was an incredible fight and absolutely delicious!
A 39" Musky cooked wrapped in foil, on a grill with lemon, butter and spices. Then served opened for all to flake off some great tasting fish.. That was back in 1884. Now, if you keep a Musky to eat, you're a "killer"...
Hey Scar how did you cook the Mako? What are they compared too? I'm moving about an hour NE of San Diego. There are a lot of them offshore I've been told as well as some monsters. The record bow kill was taken there.
When I am going to eat sharks I gut them when I catch them and get them on ice. I slice them in steaks, there are no bones. Put them on the grill using your favorite seasonings. I wrap mine in tin foil. Also, I don't skin sharks, cook them with the skin on and when cooked up peels right off.
A couple days ago, took a break on an Alaskan bear hunt. 73# Halibut.
Wow !!!! That must have felt like a piano on your line !! Congrats !!!
I was watching River Monsters and saw the guy catch a catfish in water near Russia's Chernobyl disaster. He had to get special permission to get in there and wear stuff to check for radiation. I would love to catch the monster catfish he caught but I wouldn't eat it. Seems that fish and animals are now thriving there.
DL... Yep, on the grill is the best way, hot coals and medium rare. 1.5" to 2" steaks are perfect. You can bake them as well. You can marinade them if you want, but Mako is better than swordfish and Thresher IMO. About the same texture as Swordfish, but I like the flavor better. I have only caught a few small ones off San Diego, but I have seen quite a few good size ones brought in.
Scar.
There's only 2 ways fish is edible; grilled/broiled or taken for a swim.....in hot oil!
39" stud.
39" stud.
Another view.
Another view.
Not sure what that bear pic is from. Here's another view.
Not sure what that bear pic is from. Here's another view.
My buddy Rob's big fish.
My buddy Rob's big fish.
Just got back from northern Alberta. Amazing weather and caught over 1,000 fish. Top water was on as well which is always excited!
Sage Buffalo, those are some really nice fish.
Thanks! Nothing like 12 buddies in northern Canada fishing for 18 hours a day (with meals in-between :)). One of my favorite trips.
Those are awesome,...did you cook any of them up? How?
The contractor that helped reconstruct my house when a tree fell on it just brought me some alligator meat. I am going to have some tomorrow. Last year he gave me some goose bacon and it was delicious. Ryan Newman, the NASCAR driver just showed up at his house and will stay there for the rest of the week. There is a Race at Dover International speedway this weekend. He goes with Ryan and other NASCAR driver on hunts, out West, every year. He brought me some great elk steaks last year. He stopped at my house last Fall just as I pulled in the yard with three deer on my Gator. He knows this old man can still hunt.
Pip: yes the smaller ones. We let the big breeders go as they are 20+ years old.
The cook fried them up and they are some of the best white meat fish you will ever eat. I literally ate pounds of the fish while I was up there. So good!
Awesome......!!!! Flat out awesome !!!!!
A buddy of mine got another giant smallmouth out of Lake St. Clair yesterday... over 7 pounds !! I gotta schmooze my way onto that boat soon.
Not sure how that ended up upside down
That's a GIANT and OIL fish. Congrats to your buddy!
For sure... Our state record for smallmouth was broken in 2015 and again last year and is 9 pounds and change. My buddies are getting a lot of 5 plus pounders.... I gotta get in on some of that. They released all of them including the 7 pounder.
Brian, seeing those tuna pics makes me think our next trip needs to be offshore!
Just short by 1/2".
Just short by 1/2".
Keeper!
Keeper!
It's been a fun month. Columbia Rivers first keeper season in 4 years - 3 days to catch one between 44-50". First fish was 1/2 inch short second fish was 1/4 inch just under 50" - woohoo!
That's cool Sage !! I didn't know squat about sturgeon when I caught and released my only sturgeon...... Are they good eating ??
They are delicious. It's going to sound crazy but they have the same texture as chicken - haha. They are great for kabobs and stews. I just made a great curry with it.
There are so few places where you can keep them though. Like I said Oregon just opened a 3 day season where they had to be between 44-50" which is not easy to do.
My friend, his son and I went cat fishing this morning. The son is a 911 operator and his dad has been a fireman as long as I can remember. He is an EMT and cancer survivor. He loves every day and we fish a bunch. His son told me, "You get em' close to the boat and I'll take care of em'. Most people don't realize how precious life is until you get a deadly disease. The fillets are blue cat and channel cats and I love them on the grill.
Good stuff Shuteye !! Thanks to your Firefighter buddy and his 911 Operator son for what they do !! Glad they get a chance to go fishing !!!
I wouldn't say largemouths are my favorite by any means. However had a lot of fun fishing a tourney today with my dad.
Leading the pack after blast off. Lol
Those catfish fillets look amazing. I love catfish. Now I'm hungry!
My amazing spring continues...
My bass fishing buddy caught this last Friday. May be his once in a lifetime fish.
My picture didn't post!
BTW Nice sailfish!
Sage; My sturgeon was tagged. I called in the tag info to our DNR and they sent out information on the fish and a sturgeon management patch. The fish was tagged in 2009 two and a half miles from where I caught it and they estimated that it is 14 years old now. I didn't measure it before we released it but it was quite a bit smaller than yours.... maybe 40"......
That's awesome! My salmon was tagged - I am excited to get my info back too!
That's an awesome salmon!! You are living the dream !!
Like daughter like daddy !!
These are fun to catch on light tackle. That is four pound test line I am using.
He's got 2 seasons of tomato plants in that fish, by now. ;-)
I turn them back. I used to use them for Snapping turtle bait. Snappers love them. I catch them from time to time when white perch fishing with a 1/32 oz. jig. You know right off it isn't a white perch. Also catch some pretty nice size stripers and large mouth bass with the same jig.
Nice Shuteye!
I had another amazing weekend. One 21 and 23 lb King.
For me, it's the Esox, whether it's Northern pike or Muskies. I like to target them all times of year and I have gotten one 40" NP in the Boundary Waters. I thought about a replica, but I have too may big game mounts and I have a small house. Plus, I don't like open mouths. I typically only keep them between 23"-27", and with 'Y' bones removed are just as good as any other white meat freshwater fish. I've had fishy tasting walleyes from the same waters as they can be fatty. Which BTW nobody talks about, you have to remove the fat line from any fish to get rid of the fishy taste.
My buddy and I went cat fishing the other morning and caught quite a few channel cats. I kept five and filleted them. It was a beautiful morning and we saw ospreys diving for fish and a pair of eagles feeding their young in the nest.
Those are some nice Salmon SB, I was hoping to go this weekend, but they closed the lower river for Chinook starting Sat, are you below Bonneville or above?
I will have to wait for the salt mid July....
Steelhead on fly gear is more proof that God loves us.
Steelhead on fly gear is more proof that God loves us.
Seeing that carp reminded me that I used to do spot and stalk fly fishing for carp as practice for fishing for redfish on the flats. The carp were bigger and far spookier and more particular than the redfish.
HA/KS when mulberries get ripe and fall in the river below Conawingo dam, in Maryland. The carp just love the mulberries. Fly fishermen make big purple flies that look just like a mulberry. Talk about a blast. Catching a huge carp on a fly rod is a whole lot of fun. Match the hatch or match the falling fruit.
They are still warier and more picky than redfish.
BTW, I used to mimic the splashing of their spawning when I bow fished them. If I found fish spawning in shallow water but obscured by vegetation, I would use my foot to mimic the splashing of spawning fish and they would swim right towards me, giving me a shot. It didn't always work, but when it did it was a blast.
Slade: I am fishing near Kalama right now. In August will go to Astoria.
Shuteye: Nice channels - I just found out we have a few spots here in Western OR with them so will need to chase them.
niji: I LOVE steelies. So much fun to catch.
More reds, with my little fisherman.
Yellow perch !! Nice !!! Some of the best eating in the country along with walleye !!!! Great pic !!!
Pretty little devils
Pretty little devils
Another view
Another view
Wading out to my nipples and throwing spinners for piranha in Brazil was probably the most exciting fishing I've done. Mostly because I didn't want to die. Pretty cool to catch them too.
A friend and I went cat fishing this morning. We caught a few channel cats but it was just catch and release day since I have quite a few fillets in my freezer. Eddie is a 911 operator and had today off so we went fishing.
My boy landed his first King! He was so excited. Tough day as the fish checker had checked 150 boats and only 26 fish landed - that should have been 450+. May daughter lost a nice one right at the boat.
It was a beautiful day though with whales (in the Columbia which was cool), seals and birds.
Man you should start a fishing show !!!!
Racing to the fishing hole.
Striper from the Cape Cod Canal, 45 1/2 inches. 33 1/4 lbs.
Nice muzzy!!! I love striper fishing!!!
Full: that looks like fun!
Here's a pic of my brother with my favorite species. It's pushing 4 pounds. Nice smallmouth.
That pic did it no justice but, it's the only one I took. Shenandoah River. Measures 21 3/4". Trip we took three weeks ago. Caught quite a few in that range during the week. I love wade fishing for Smallies!
Saskatchewan looks like a good place for pan sized rainbows
WV, I love catching smallmouths. Light line on a medium light rod in open water over rock or gravel it's a blast. I think there my favorite fish to catch right next to anything that's big. Lol
DL, if you have a big pan. Some nice fish. I love to catch big fish but my wife always wanted the 20-24" stripers and gave away the big ones.
WV Nice fish!
I've always wanted to go to Diefenbaker but those aren't really rainbows. They are leftovers from a freakish expeiement that grew these ridiculously huge sized 'bows.