Johnsfolly

Good luck! We'll be thinking about you.

November 4, 2021 . I'm waiting for the return of the hanging chads

I have a 45 gallon tank sitting in the garage that I have been meaning to setup possibly with natives either freshwater or saltwater then I go on a fishing trip or work on another project and there it sits .

We watched Stripes last night for my daughter. Did mention that it is an R-rated movie and that some scenes with nudity I will not be able to skip. I know that she has seen worse in that regard. Definitely a laugh fest for all of us. "And depression sets in.." "Lee Harvey you mad man!" "Calm down Francis!"

More of what trips my trigger !

High standards and Omaha... seems like an oxymoron 🤔

Not sure how to think about this buddy. I thought that it was funny right away. Maybe I think too much like @BilletHead🤔. Again not sure how I should think about that statement as well 🤣.

We had a similar situation with my MIL. Now she is out front in the garden.

Congrats on an Awesome Catch buddy!!

I understand since we had an offshore trip cancelled. Hopefully you can get a trip in yet this year.

On Aug 23rd I caught my 11th and 12th lifer of the year meeting my goal that I set in Jan. Inshore Lizardfish in VA Striped Sea Robin Then we fished Lake Shelbyville lake spillway where I caught my 13th new species - a smallmouth buffalo on a #10 hook with corn. Then onto Jennette's pier in Nags head NC where I caught my 14th lifer - Spanish mackerel. Myrtle Beach pier fishing resulted in a couple more lifers (#15 and 16 for 2020) and met my goal of a spadefish trip in the Carolinas Florida pompano And finally an Atlantic spadefish. Back in Maryland but still being salty - Caught a pair of blenny species. #17 - Crested Blenny (aka vampire fish ) # 18 lifer of the year - a striped blenny! Travelled quite a bit to get these fish. Still have a couple more saltwater targets and at least one freshwater species before things get too cold and shut down most warm water fisheries.

They're black vultures. They migrate through that area.

I took a couple of days off last week and we headed up to the mountains in Pennsylvania to visit some old haunts and the location where we were married 25 years ago. Decided to run up a portion of the Delaware river and go through the Delaware Water Gap, which is always impressive in the fall. We drove through some forested roadways through the Poconos on the way to Lake Lacawac which is where I had worked during my four years in grad school. This was the place that my wife and I got married so many years ago. We spent a bit of time reminiscing about when I worked there and when we got married. It was a great time. From there we drove another couple of hours to meet up with my brother in law in Lycoming county in central PA. The next morning we got out to Little Pine lake to fish. The Little Pine creek was a creek that I had targeted for possible banded darters. It was another great autumn day. The lake was stocked with trout, had bass, and my BIL caught a tiger musky there last year in the spring. I had rods rigged for pickerel and other toothy critters. This lake was full of young bass. I have never seen so many 2 to 6 inch largemouth bass, at least 50 or more. There wasn't a great amount of structure in this lake, but I focused on what wood cover that I could find. did get some of those 6 inch or smaller bass on a small spoon and Livie caught a few on a white and chartreuse trout magnet. Never did catch any toothy critters, but had fun. We fished Little Pine creek below the dam. I tried for micros hoping to see some darters. I caught a couple of micro smallmouth bass and bluegill. Didn't see any darters. Further downstream I tried for some minnows but never got a hookset on any . As we headed back to my BIL's camp, we drove up a mountain road through the state forest. The Lower Pine Bottom Run paralleled the road. Always on the look out for more microfishing spots, kept looking into the creek for fish. We found a spot of consecutive small pools and a pull over area. I parked and we saw a few pretty little fish. Tiny jig did the trick and both myself and Livie caught our first native PA brook trout!! Had a great time and can't wait to get back up that way maybe in the spring.

My buddy knew this man and his family. I enjoyed going over to the Columbia BPS to see Pat. It was a much bigger fish in person. Sadly both the angler and the fish have died. I don't foresee that a large reservoir would produce a fish like this one. Too many variables. One issue that isn't discussed thus far is that crappie are extremely prolific spawners to the point that without sufficient control tend to overpopulate and become stunted. I would not advocate the release of additional predators like tiger musky to this lake. Toothy predators have a tendency to not prey upon the species that you may want to control. They may target walleye and bass over the crappie. You might be better off putting in a slot for crappie if you want bigger but albeit possibly fewer fish. But I am not a fisheries manager.

In all seriousness have you talked with anyone at MDC about these mutts? Would be a fairly simple genetic study to confirm the origins of their parentage. Some videos of their behavior would probably get a grad student or two interested in studying the potential further hybridization of white bass.

Wait that paper described research done by a biologist and funded by the USDA🤔. Seems pretty fishy to me😉.

@Quillback I won't be in the tourney this time since wife wants one last crabbing trip. Still on for judging.

She hasn't been passing on any meals 😄. That's a toad!

Ok so it has been a while since we actually went on this trip. My bad! Anyway we went down to South Carolina to meet with a friend and go out on a fishing charter trip that we set up to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Well long story short our offshore trip was cancelled due to high seas. However prior to and just after our scheduled offshore trip we spent a few hours fishing the pier at the Myrtle Beach State park in Myrtle beach. When we got to the pier we saw a couple of folks catching some small pompano. Never caught any of those guys so we decided to set up and fish close to the wave zone. We were fishing high/low rigs with small pieces of shrimp. It did not take long to get the first bite. Sue picked up the first pompano! Then Livie caught a pompano as well. This was about as big as we ended up catching. Maybe up to 10 inches. I finally got on the board with a pompano! We caught quite a few. Even some doubles like this pompano and pinfish! Of course being a public pier you never know when you might get photobombed. At least it was our friend. We caught southern kingfish, pinfish, and striped sea robins. Trying to get onto some different fish we went further out onto the pier and fished deeper waters. Caught more kingfish, sea robins and black sea bass. Livie and my buddy caught a couple of yellow jacks (again I still haven't caught one). While we were fishing these high/low rigs, I had a bigger rod with a piece of cutbait soaking. Had a couple of hits and got stripped. Then had a fish hit an run with the bait. I tightened the drag and tried to set the hook. The drag was screaming and I thought that I was going to get spooled. I put some more pressure on the reel using my hand and pulled the hook. Never did see that fish. There is no shark fishing from this pier and cutbaits must be less than 2 inch pieces and no live bait bigger than 3" could be used. Near the cleaning station we saw a 7 to 8 foot bull shark that would hit the carcasses of the Spanish mackerel folks were cleaning. Would have loved to been able to try to catch that guy. I did land a toothy critter in the form of a snapper bluefish. Have to keep your fingers away! On one of my casts near the cleaning station I got a solid thump and set the hook. The fish ran with the line towards the end of the pier and the pilings. I had to tell a couple near the cleaning station that I needed them to move to keep up with this fish. I caught up to it just as it wrapped up my line. I gave it some slack and I could feel it untangling itself. Once it felt free of the pilings I put on more pressure. I was so excited that I caught and landed my first spadefish! Not a big one but a pretty fish and a strong fighter for its size. They fight a lot like big bluegill or redear sunfish. To me the trip was a success. We had fun and caught a bunch of fish. What a difference a day makes. We were all smiles as we headed out to fish the next morning on our charter. The wind had picked up over night due to an approaching storm. Got out to the inlet and were met with 4 to 5 foot seas. We trolled for Spanish but no bites and called it short. Captain wasn't going to charge us but we gave him a large tip for the attempt. The pier was rough as well. Caught far fewer fish in the rough water, but still managed a few pompano, kingfish, sea robins, and one summer flounder. With my friend living there full time and when (if) this covid nonsense calms down, I suspect that we will be back there a lot.

I would call that spot a little sketchy . You haven't fished urban accesses with homeless camps. Now that is super sketchy.

@FishnDave you're killing me with those sauger🤨. Congrats and keep posting. I'll survive somehow😏.

My buddy left his shotgun in the parking lot of a conservation area. To his surprise it was not there when he got back🙄. Worst part he had to face his dad who had given him the shotgun. Who knows it may "still" be at the gunsmith😉.

Did a pre-tourney practice day. I think that we are dialed in!!!

Getting my wife one for Xmas. She watches lots of YouTube videos.