Johnsfolly

Great report. I love seeing the photos. Those are some great fish. I'm glad that you could get our with your brother. That makes the time a bit more special than just going out with guys like BilletHead . He sends me his fish photos when he knows that I am not fishing or not catching the types or size fish that he is. Glad to see that he was getting your photos of some great fish. Seems like a fair turn.

When I worked in Newport Rhode Island the summers of '87 and '88 I would catch tautog (blackfish) and fillet them. There was a stray cat that would come around as I was cleaning the fish. I would throw it the skeleton and skin and it would eat all of the skin, bones and most of the heads. Nothing wasted there either .

My oldest is really particular about getting bones when she eats fish. So it became a habit to fillet them when I can even the small ones. May go back to frying them whole. I have eaten fried tails and like them.

The crappie run small in Little Dixie but are extremely abundant and likely stunted. If they set a 10 inch limit the overall size could get worse. What that lake may need are guys that can actually fillet 6 inch fish and to keep all that they can.

Great fish regardless if you were in the shot or not. Love seeing smallies blast topwaters! Plenty jealous seeing those nice fish.

Congrats on your successful transition from scenic trout stream to the mossy bass pond. Nice fish buddy!

Congrats on some fine looking McClouds! That is such a special little creek. I meant to get down to Crane last year, but just couldn't make the trip work. Not sure when I will get back there now. So keep posting and I can relive the successful trips that I had in the past.

DJ - Glad that you got it done! Great trip buddy! Congrats! I'm sure that your family is glad to not have to hear about the spots that you were thinking about fishing for trout, at least until the next out of state trip !

Very nice Brown trout! Great job!

Good Luck buddy. Can't wait to see some Colorado trout!

Great job on knocking off Arizona from your state/trout goal! Great looking photos and healthy looking naturalized rainbows. Also great way to milk the Likes buddy with the multiple posts ! Must have learned from the Master - aka BilletHead !

Happy B-day you old fart! Just Kidding, I wish you the best on your 60th. Tell Pat that the pie looks great just the way it is !

You know that I want to catch them all if I can. I did see that New Jersey seems to have a stable population of the black-banded sunfish whereas Maryland has only three to six locations that still may have these fish. May have to start doing the research to find them in the Pine Barrens.

Very sorry to hear about your loss Gary. We will keep you and your family in our thoughts.

My bachelor's memorial day meal was a well seasoned burger topped with swiss cheese, sauted baby bella mushroom and local sweet onions. Sides of baked beans (no smoker) and a salad. All served with the finest china and a fine vintage year of raspberry selzer .

They were more vibrant that the photo shows. Definitely a neat little sunfish. There are several species of these little sunfish, like the black-banded, banded, banded pygmy, bluebarred pygmy, dollar sunfish, fliers, etc. Unfortunately many are either threatened or endangered due to habitat loss or over collection by aquarium enthusiasts. Here's a black-banded A bluebarred pygmy sunfish Here's an orangespotted sunfish. I have been trying to catch one of these in Missouri.

After the fiasco with our travel, I have been trying to catch some white perch for a meal. I went out on Sat to a spot that I caught several 10 to 12 inch whites. I caught a decent striper (>18") but lost it pulling it up onto the dock. I hooked an atlantic silverside and one small perch. I am always amazed how they know when you are planning on keeping some and just don't bite. Last night I headed up to a creek where Livie and I caught a bunch back in March. I started fishing at a public boat ramp and didn't get a bite, but the tide was starting to come in. I did notice some topminnow near the grass by the bank. However, I headed to a spot upstream. Again I hooked into a couple of stripers that threw the hooks and got my most love from small yellow perch that I did not intend to take home. I was also getting hits on the paddle tail when my bait was right below me. I switched to a smaller jig and caught a couple decent redbreast sunfish. I was still getting small taps and I put on a microjig with just a tiny chartreuse plastic piece. I caught several more redbreasts. I then headed back to the boat ramp to try for those topminnows. The grass was pretty flooded by the incoming tide. I got several small fish to bite at the bait, but none that could actually get hooked. I finally got the interest of a larger fish and I landed this sunfish. At first I thought it might have been a juvenile pumpkinseed, but the coloration and patterning was more like one of the spotted sunfish species. Since I just moved into our rental house in Maryland, I don't have internet service and I get poor coverage. So I sent the photo onto Ham and asked him to look into the id of this fish. We both decided that this was a bluespotted sunfish. I'm excited about catching this myself (a new life list fish - and a Maryland list fish ) and more so because Livie should be her by Sat and I know where we will try to get her to catch one as well. Now I just have to go back after those topminnows. Oh and try again for dinner.

They even had several frogs and toads. One of my favorite fish. Oh and it was a crappie bar ! Quite a view outside. Back inside there was the Uncle Bucks Fish Bowl and Grill. We only spent a few hours here, but had a great time. Oh and I bought fishing tackle, but that was no surprise!

I will be the first to admit that I have and still sometimes do schedule family trips so that we can stop at a Cabela's or Bass Pro shops on the way. The Kids always loved the aquariums and mounts. I still like to get to new ones if I can. When they opened the Bass Pro shops in the Pyramid in Memphis my wife said that she would take me there sometime. You know how best intentions are. We never made the time to commit to going down to Memphis. So when we drove back from Maryland, I made it a point to head down to Memphis before getting back into Missouri. I am glad that we did. The Pyramid is an amazing facility. Here are some of the photos from that trip. When we got there a man was cleaning the glass near the bass pro logo. You know that it is a tall building when you have an full elk mount above the fireplace! Was tough to get good photos inside with my phone. Behind Sue and Olivia is the 22 story freestanding elevator to the top of the pyramid. Lots of fish everywhere like these bass and carp. A paddlefish. Several sturgeon (bucket list fish) and large stripers swimming under the docks and boats for sale. Another bucket list fish would be a giant alligator gar like this one. Those are full size hogs. I will admit that as I have gotten older I am more prone to vertigo and that the ride to the top made me a bit uneasy looking out the elevator windows. But the lounge at the top of the pyramid and the view outside was worth the trip up (not as bad going back down). Most fo the fish up there were steampunk specimens like this musky. Or this gar and catfish.

Nice fish. Congrats to you two! Sorry about inconsiderate boaters.

Here's my largest bass on a flyrod. Caught in a small pond in Georgia. I caught it on a small panfish sinking bug. Of course it had a 6 inch bluegill on the bug as well !

Great job on those crappie. Lance34 - Crappie fear you buddy!

Looks like a great day! Congrats to all of you! Good to see Mitch!

Great job and nice walleye! Should make a nice memorial weekend meal.

Great Fish Duane! When fishing jerkbaits I like to use 6 or #8 line. I just don't want to break off on the hook set.