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Chillfish

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Everything posted by Chillfish

  1. I am going to deep fry the other fillet tonight in fingers. I was using number 7 flickers trolled right around 2 mpg. There was a hump between two channels that my baits would tick over, and most of my bites came right before or after my flicker went over that hump. That, and there were some stacks of fish on bottom structure that produced, but all the crappie were on the transition.
  2. Ok, I ate the drum. I will begin by saying that my family moved to the area 23 years ago from florida. The only fishing we knew was salt, with redfish being one of the favorite targets. It is also my Dad's favorite fish to eat. Last night I was with my family, so we heated up some oil, put salt and pepper on the fillet, and popped it in. Every one of us ate some, and the consensus was that it was a really tasty fish. The flesh was firm, but not off putting, and the flavor was full, but in no way fishy. My dad and brother kept saying how much it tasted like redfish. My wife and mom even liked it, and they are the type that won't touch a fish if it has even the slightest fishy flavor. I'm sure most of you are now thinking I am either crazy, or have lost my taste buds. I will say that the fish went on ice as soon as I caught it. It has a line of red meat, just like white bass, and I'm guessing that if allowed to expire in a livewell, it would be strong and fishy, but with an ice bath, I would eat these fish over and over. Point your fingers and laugh all you want at this Florida Cracker, but I just added another fish to the "keep list" on Beaver Lake.
  3. I snagged some line on the white when I was a kid that was attached to a very irritated carp. Also snagged a 4' radius cast net under the 12 bridge. It felt like it weighed 100lbs, and was very difficult to get up. I honestly thought I was pulling up a body, as it was a month or two after someone went missing upstream. Have been using that net ever since. I have lost several rods on beaver. If you found a nice pfueger ultralight or a penn setup near eden's bluff, you're welcome.
  4. Im going to try it. I have heard some people say they are great and some say they are terrible. Should know for myself tomorrow. Looks too much like a redfish not to try.
  5. Launched around 8:00 am at highway 12, and never fished out of eyesight of the ramp. Water temp: 56. Stained but not muddy. Began with spider rigs with live bait with no success. Began trolling flicker shad shortly after. Color: white and silver Stayed in depths from 14 to 18. Lots of crappie and white bass suspended. Managed four crapie @ 13" and one more @ almost 14. All full of eggs. Also caugut about 12 white bass with 5 keepers, most of which were also full females. Fairly early on I caught my first drum, which was around 3 lbs.
  6. Launched around 8:00 am at highway 12, and never fished out of eyesight of the ramp. Water temp: 56. Stained but not muddy. Began with spider rigs with live bait with no success. Began trolling flicker shad shortly after. Color: white and silver Stayed in depths from 14 to 18. Lots of crappie and white bass suspended. Managed four crapie @ 13" and one more @ almost 14. All full of eggs. Also caugut about 12 white bass with 5 keepers, most of which were also full females. Fairly early on I caught my first drum, which was around 3 lbs.View attachment: 20150404_112945.jpgView attachment: 20150404_104339.jpgView attachment: 20150404_154553.jpg
  7. Not too much to report. Water at blue springs was still pretty dirty. Did manage a few good crappie and one white on on makeshift spider rigs in blue springs. Then ran up the white a ways and only managed one more crapoie on a flicker shad. Never found any schools and only a few people seemed to be catching.
  8. Well, based off of reports from a friend of mine, we will be putting in early at blue springs and head up river from there. Fingers crossed. Im sure we will pass at some time hoglaw, good luck. Hope you find those post span walleyes.
  9. Ha, well that clears things up. Looks like it will be a game time decision come morning. Thank you go all the responses. Love that about this forum, everyone is willing to help out.
  10. Wanting to take my dad out tomorrow and work our way up one of the rivers looking for whites. Just wondering where you guys would recommend based on current conditions.
  11. Which fish are you targeting and having success on with this setup?
  12. I guarantee that if you let a snapper die in the livewell of a bass boat in 70 degree water instead of putting it directly onto ice, that the red line would disturb even an unsophisticated palate. If you treat striper, hybrids, and whites like saltwater fish, they tend to taste a lot like them.
  13. Yeah, it is making me hungry.
  14. I agree with the vacuum bags for long term storage. The reason I don't usually use them for fish is because it simply doesn't last long enough in my house before it is eaten to go rancid. As for the salt water and ice combo, it gets cold, and quick. The fish don't flop for long.
  15. Every fish I catch goes directly into ice. With white bass especially, we go with the old Florida method and add a salt brine to the ice for a quick death and very rapid cooling of the meat. This also makes filleting much easier, as they are essentially frozen at that point. The more oily the fish, the faster it needs to be chilled, in my opinion. I have eaten too many white bass, along with other species, that died in livewells. Based on those experiences, I can understand why many people don't enjoy eating them. On ice, the fishiness is taken away, and there is then no reason to cut out the red meat. Also, when freezing, I fill the bag with water so that the fillets are covered and everything freezes in a solid block. This removes freezer burning, as well as many other off-flavors that occur with dry freezing. I don't think ice is nearly as important for fish that survive well in a livewell, but again, personal preference for filleting stiff fish means they all get the cooler.
  16. Thanks for the report! Glad you were able to get on them.
  17. I passed you guys on my way back in to the ramp. We had the same story. Today ended up being the only day we could make it. Early there were whites, striper, and bait blacking out my unit out at the mouth of mn. But there were absolutely no active fish to be found. Im sure tomorrow with some sun would have produced better results but it was better to be on the lake than remodelling a house.
  18. Ok, Thank you.
  19. A childhood friend of mine is in town on leave from the Navy, and I was wanting to take him out to chase a few stripers, but only have one morning to do so. Based on recent patterns, would we be better served to go Saturday with clouds and chances for rain, or Sunday when the cloud cover should be breaking up? Also, is it worthwhile to get brooders, or are shad the only thing they are honing in on? Haven't been able to hit the water with him for about five years and would love to put him on some fish.
  20. He manages B&G Liquor @ 2100 West Hudson Road. His BMW has a suspension problem and was seriously leaning towards the passenger's side the last time I saw it. My gym is next door to B&G. Hope they get him quickly.
  21. I have never hunted goose before, and never really planned to until just recently. I showed the wife one of the posts about striper and goose and she flipped out. She is now dead set that this is the kind of outdoors activity for her. My plan is to start at coppermine and end at RB trolling with Flickers, but I don't have any idea if this area holds geese. I'm not asking for anyone's honey hole, but just for a decent general area to look in order to have a better chance of putting her on some geese and striper. Any help would be appreciated. Hope to have some good photos and a report to share tomorrow.
  22. Oi. If it is within the law, there should not be room for complaint or judgement, no matter the color of the fish. Follow your own intuitions and convictions, but don't try to make others feel guilty for following theirs either. I'm not going to give you trouble for letting fish go if you don't give me trouble keeping fish within the law.
  23. Plan: head to Coppermine and catch some striper. A series of things going not-as-planned kept me from getting there until just before first light. Began drifting along with some shad behind the boat in about 30' water. Was marking some good fish but no takers until I went over my first point. Got a couple bites immediately on the point, so I started working the area, both with shad on the bottom and with jigging spoons. Immediately jigged up an 18" walleye and lost a bigger one just below the boat which was followed up by about a 14 incher. Also caught a small channel cat and a white bass. The wife managed to catch about a 3lb LM on a shad and jigged up a small striper. There was sporadic surface activity throughout the morning, with some big fish present. I made a cast to a surface feeding fish with my jigging spoon and immediately got bit, only to have it let go, grab it again, let go, grab it again and finaly straighten my split ring and remove the trebble hook. Belive me, I'm still scratching my head as I only had 10lb line on. Either way, I was marking fish constantly, and feel if I had gotten there when planned we would have been much more successful.
  24. Every single fish in that cooler looks delicious to me. Good work and congrats on getting on them in this heat!
  25. It always amazes me just how large of fish will key in on tiny forage. I have caught my personal best LM and SM with this method in fairly open water, as well as far too many whites, hybrids, and kentucks to count.
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