Johnsfolly

That is a bluegill sunfish as SIO3 pointed out already.

Yes they can be quite variable in coloration. Males will be more colorful than females. All have the blue-green striping on their face. There is another similarly colored species in Missouri found in the Black River and St Francis river which is the dollar sunfish. Not very common (at least I haven't found a bunch yet) and not likely to find that one outside of that area. It would have spotting that continues up the gill flap. Also sunfish do have a tendency to hybridize between species.

Seth that is a longear sunfish, which are pretty common in the Ozarks. The key is the long blue flap on the gill cover, which gives the fish it's namesake. They are one of the most colorful sunfish. True pumpkinseed sunfish have a small flap and a red edge and the blue-green facial striping like this one my daughter caught here in Maryland. Redear have been stocked in a lot of Missouri waters. they also have the red edge, but not the blue-green facial striping of the pumpkinseed. Also redear have larger mouths. Probably far more than you wanted to know .

We're too far south for mackerel. Do have bunker and alewives which would work. A bit more expensive than chicken necks😢.

So far the heavy mesh bags we are using have been effective with keeping the bait. Will have to try some fish. Only have been keeping spot lately. We'll keep posting on what's working for us.

Great story and a deserved trophy! You and your son should be very proud! Congrats to you both! You're instilling great values to your son. I hope that he is able to go to jigfest some year would love to fish with you again and with your son.

Another ptetty fish!

@trythisonemv great report! Sorry about not getting into the big ones but all those little ones will be the future big ones. Have to survive lots of encounters with possible predators but should be hopeful. Sounds like the creek is doing well.

Thanks Mitch! Great seafood on both sides of the bay. We looked at Solomon's Island to go crabbing. It was identified as a top 10 crabbing spot in MD. Big issue was the time to get to that area. It's about 2 and half hours from our house. Also meant dealing with traffic on the Bay bridge which in the summer can be brutally slow. Probably would have to be a weekday trip if I can get a day off. Slaughter creek is south of us and also made the top 10 list. Seemed a good choice. We think that finding an early morning high tide and a few more traps would get us a full meals worth in a few hours.

We haven't been catching any food worthy fish and hunting season begins in Sept. So we upped my Betterhalf's game in regards to crabbing here in Maryland. We have been researching areas to try and catch a few. We do not need bushels of crabs only half dozen to a dozen crabs for a meal. So with a couple of new crab traps and razor clams and chicken necks as bait we headed to Slaughter creek and chased the high tide. I also picked up a dozen bloodworms just in case we could get into some fish as well. There were folks on the bridge with many lines going over the side and traps in the water below. We got the traps baited and ready. Found a spot on the bridge and got the traps soaking. Tide was falling. Livie and I had our bridge/pier fishing gear with a size 10 hook and a half oz sinker. Baited with the bloodworms and cast under the bridge. Started getting bites right off. Several spot came up over the railing. We kept a half dozen for bait and released the others. All the while my Betterhalf would pull her traps about every ten mins or so. At first they came up empty. Then her first crab, a small male. Back into the river. Folks all around us were catching a bunch. So we still had confidence. It took a bit but finally she caught her first legal crab! Livie and I didn't need the traps to get our own crabs, all undersize though. After a couple of hours in the sun we had only two legal crabs, we were checked by the MD agents. No issues with our licenses or the animals that we had in our cooler. The couple up from us did not get off so easy. They had many undersize male and females which can not be kept. They got cited and maybe worse. I ended up with 15 fish total, one white perch and the rest were spot. Livie caught eight spot. All in all we had fun and have a location with accessible crabs. We will be back. As for the crabs check out the What's Cooking thread!

Water looks great. I do like RRSP. Sounds like a good time getting back to trout fishing. I noticed that you didn't mention Maramec Springs in the list of trout parks. Maybe since that one is not state run. I never fished that park much myself even though it was closer to our house in Columbia. Didn't like paying the extra money for stockers.

No time to edit photo. Maryland steamed crabs (two caught by my Betterhalf😁), local corn, and potatoes. Added gulf shrimp. Lots of Old Bay. Stole @rps melon caprese salad for thus meal. Did crisp up the prosciutto. Ate too much but it was delicious.

Go with the dehydrator. They are pretty inexpensive and control the heat better than an oven. We haven't done tomatoes just because we haven't had any bumper crop years. But usually do mushrooms, apples, and herbs

I know that they are thick if you just stopped fishing for them. Only a couple of times when I have had the thought that I just didn't want to bother with taking another fish off the hook (insert name here😁). Lately it has been longear sunfish for me. They don't shred your thumbs like those rockfish😌! A bit jealous of your trip but I'll live. Congrats buddy!

Thats another cool looking rockfish. Congrats buddy!

Weren't as many tomatoes at the farmer's market as you harvested this last couple of days😁. @BilletHead dehydrates a lot of his tomatoes. You might like to try that with your surplus.

African pompano are on the east coast from West Palm and south. Permit can be found along the coast but typically in the Keys.

Nice Mitch! Even though not a big snook sure that it was a blast to catch. You have already mentioned how fun that jack was to fight. That size would have made great goliath grouper bait. Imagine what a 20 lb permit or african pompano would be like😁.

There is a lot of good information and some other stuff on this thread so far. There is a difference in do you just want to catch fish versus do you want to catch fish particularly bass in Stockton or the James or Fellows.... If you really just want to catch fish my suggestion is similar to Dan's go wade some small rivers or sections of rivers or big creeks. Use finese baits like small jigs, crappie sliders, etc. Even live bait will get you fish. Around you there will be waters that have largemouth, smallmouth, sunfish, etc... Now if you want walleye or bass on Stockton go hire a guide and learn from them. Your baits of choice target aggressive and active fish. May not be the best baits on pressured lakes or rivers.

They are the bears of the sea. Worse than sharks in my opinion.

That's a pretty one. Congrats!

Good luck on catching more new guys. Need 15 more!

I would try to get those last two kings and if the tide is right go find tide pools to fish for gobies or other micros.

Nice king Ham

Awesome buddy!!! Congrats!