Johnsfolly

Deal like that makes me wish that I had a boat .

it is tremendously relaxing to just catch fish. Not worried too much about what is going on. Hook, fight, land, and release nothing more complicated than that .

Thanks Daryk! Now we just need to find a suitable plaque or stand to put it in her room.

No better advice than this. Too many "orphaned" fawns get moved by well meaning folks that end up being raised by humans and not their mothers.

Work has been a nightmare with major changes going on that has elevated my stress level. I decided to head out to one of my most productive streams that I have found in Maryland so far. I currently have caught 12 species in the creek including my first striped bass and close to 300 fish since my first visit in 2017. This was going to be a simple fish catching trip. Dumb down the baits and catch those stupid fish. I got to the creek at low tide. I have never fished it this low before, so didn’t know what to expect. I was fishing a 7’ BPS Microlite rod, #4 Pline fluoroclear line, and tied on a white/chartreuse trout magnet jig. First cast upstream, slowly reeling in the line with one to two small hops then a pause and repeat that cadence. It wasn’t long that I hooked and landed a decent stream bluegill. Next cast a female golden shiner. Didn’t expect one in the creek but catch them in the lake upstream. She was throwing eggs about. Third cast missed a bite from a small fish that I saw grab the bait. The fourth cast was bit by this nice male redbreast sunfish. I knew that this was going to be a decent evening of catching . After landing a couple others the bite slowed and I moved upstream to a spot that must have a bowl-shaped rocky bottom. Fish just stack up in that spot. It took only two casts (first one missed a bite) to land my first yellow perch of the evening followed by a couple more and a bunch of redbreast and bluegill sunfish. After catching several small sunfish, I got bit by a tank and landed a large and thick pumpkinseed sunfish. Got the fish face photo. I caught several more. On one cast I got a follow by what I thought was a sculpin with long white tipped fins, but then recognized it as a breeding male satinfin shiner. I ran up the bank and got my microrig (6’ Airstream, #2 Pline, #20 hook with a tiny piece of chartreuse plastic tail from a trout magnet body). I immediately landed three tiny bluegill and a banded killifish. Not what I was looking for. I threw out the trout magnet and pulled in a couple of the satinfins. I wish now that I had my catch bag to show off the coloration and fins better than this photo. Since I did not have a counter I sent off a text with my fish totals for the trout magnet and switched to a bit of worm to keep catching. Caught another yellow perch, a few more tank pumpkinseeds, many bluegill and lots of redbreast sunfish. Total fish count was 65 in just about 3 hours of stupid fishing! A pretty evening that I shared with a couple of deer and a fat beaver (too dark for photo; but he tail slapped once he figured out what I was ).

While chasing after the elusive creek chubsucker back in March, my daughter found a roadkill sika stag. The county that we were in at the time does not have a large population of these non-native deer. So it was a surprise to find a sika, let alone a stag. Not having a suitable bag to take the head back with us, we buried the carcass with leaves to find it and let the beetles work on it before we came back for the head. Jump ahead to May. We were headed back home from an out of town trip (likely fishing related ) and I decided to see it the carcass was still there and how it looked. We were able to find it and the beetles were working hard to clear the bones. I was able to get the head and removed as much of the remaining skin and flesh that I could, bagged it and took it home. Once at home I buried the head in the compost pile to let nature to continue to clean it up. Three weeks ago I pulled the skull and boiled it to remove the last bits of flesh. Dried it in the sun. The next step was putting it into a 25% bleach solution for about 25 - 30 mins to bleach the skull. After strong rinses again back outside in the sun. Last couple of days I hit the inside and outside of the skull avoiding the antlers with a matte finish clear coat to protect the bone and give it a nice finish. Livie with her 3 x 3 trophy!

Good luck Champ. Hope it goes well!

Looks like that technique would work great on snakeheads in the thick stuff here in Maryland .

Why are the EU carp fishermen so secretive in terms of where they catch big carp? Don't all of the carp guys just get along and support each other without question? None of them would cheat to win a tournament. If there isn't a big bowfishing population in the EU then it must be to prevent other carp fishermen from taking their prize fish. People are greedy everywhere. If there is money or prestige someone is going to cheat to get it.

Skeeter congrats on hopefully passing on the fishing bug to the grankids. That's a nice bonus fish for getting to hang out with granddad! I agree that she looks like she wants to try out that ned bite as well.

Embellishment (flopping) happens a lot lately in the NHL. At least not like the NBA....yet . Still have that image of LeBron James flopping against the Bulls when he wasn't even touched. Looking up his flopping GIF's he has a bunch to them. Must have a bad back if he falls over due to wind .

I would love to see your golf bag!

All and all I have enjoyed what has been fairly decent hockey in this series. Officiating has been a challenge throughout the playoffs, but that is where we are as a sporting community. Unlike our friend in Bella Vista, I personally don't want to see a game 7. However, this series is likely to end up that way and it will be exciting.

Sounds great Ham. Can't wait to see some photos .

Blues get away with a tripping penalty and score game winner. Take game 5 in Boston😁! Headed back to St Louis and the cup will be in the building for Sunday's game 6! Getting exciting. The cup already made history in St Louis with the youngest baby to ever be placed in the cup. Baby was just 20 mins old.

Great smile. He is a happy kid. Congrats on making memories with your little guy!

Better watch out buddy. A trip down there and catching those hard fighting stream bred fish may have you driving hours to Barren Fork Creek, Blue Springs creek, etc. instead of Taney !

Probably my biggest reason to fish alone . Typically just wading along and then every so often the feet just aren't doing what they need to do .

That's what I was thinking. Just coming in late to the party😌.

Livie would hate fishing there. I did take her one time and she got very frustrated about the skittish fish. I have caught quite a few creek chub on past visits and have seen a few striped shiner. Usually trying for those McClouds and not focused on micros. Now if we see a grass pickerel then it's game on . May have to fight off @trythisonemv since I know that he is eager to catch a pickerel.

Et tu DJ ! That is just mean spirited buddy.

Big was great. Loved Bachelor Party as well. His rom coms are nice to watch with my wife. Haven't gotten into much of his newer dramatic movies any.

Yet they make more money than many of us will ever see in our lifetimes. Stupid money that we spend in terms of entertainment, including sports.

Reading this makes me wish that we were able to fish Crane together before I moved. I would love to learn more about this creek. Only fished it about 6 times.