Johnsfolly

I have had days where I was landing lots of smallmouth bass, but in terms of the size you caught I haven't had a day like that one. Great Job Brett on fishing the HD craw and landing those big smallies! As you said this would be a day to remember for most of us. If it were one of those HD craw guys, he would remember this day as yesterday !

After a high water event a couple of weeks ago and some favorable reports of redhorse in the confluence with the Osage, we headed back down for another shot at the spring sucker run. What a difference a couple of weeks and no deluges in the recent past make on the water conditions. 24Feb18 10Mar18 We fished the bottom using a jury rigged three way. Tied a 5/8 oz or 1 oz bell sinker to the terminal end of the line and made a loop about 12 to 16 " above the sinker with an overhand knot. passed the loop end through the hole and over the bottom of a no. 4 or 6 baitholder hook so that the line cinches below the eye hole of the hook. Put on a nightcrawler and cast out into the current. Then sit or stand and wait. Today it didn't take long. I was fishing the point and put one of my baits on the river side of the seam between the creek incurrent water into the Osage and the other was right into that seam. About five minutes I have a strike on the river bait, It taps again and I set the hook. Fish on! I brought in a 10" channel catfish. After missing that sturgeon on the last trip fishing in this same spot, it was good to have a solid hook set and a landed fish even if it was a small catfish. After ten minutes I repositioned the bait from the seam and cast into the creek current. My buddy Jon just picked up and set the hooked on his first fish, a decent bluegill. Then my creek line got hit pretty hard and the hook set was solid. I pulled in my first nice bluegill of the day. My buddy caught a couple more bluegill and then he reeled in the first golden redhorse sucker of the day. I had caught a couple more bluegill but was only getting bit by fishing the creek and not the river side. By the time Jon reeled in his second sucker, I moved to fish upstream of him on the creek. I was casting across the creek towards a large laydown tree on the far bank. It was a blessing and a curse. I was getting bit on all of my lines, but I was in a large school of bluegill. at one time I caught a bluegill on the left line, as I was reeling that in the middle line was getting tapped. I caught that fish and as soon as I landed it I said to the right line when were you going to catch a fish. As soon as I made that statement, the rod tip bounced heavily and I set the hook on yet another 7-8 inch bluegill. Got to love calling the shot ! Just wish that it was a redhorse. With one of my lines I made a shorter cast into what might have been the channel and hopefully away from the bluegill. The line looked to be drifting and I began to reel it in when I felt the fish and set the hook. Jon had mentioned that the suckers were biting lightly, just a movement of the line. Well now I had my first redhorse on the line ! Not a giant golden redhorse, but it was the targeted species for the day. I didn't catch another one, but did manage a few more bluegill (ended up with 10 bluegill on the day). As the action slowed, Jon had another weird bite, just like a steady pull. He set the hook and pulled in a very cool catch, a mudpuppy salamander. It was about 9 to 10 inches long with prominent gills. At first thought it might be a young hellbender, but later determined it was too big for a hellbender to still have gills. I just hope that we didn't damage it too much and it survived the encounter. These guys like the hellbender are getting pretty rare. We headed upstream and Jon found a honey hole of hungry fish. He landed a blue catfish, channel catfish, a couple more bluegill, and a spotted bass (I got jealous of that one). Jon's dad showed up around 10 am and he caught three suckers and a few nice bluegill as well. It was a great day. What a difference from our last trip! This post has been promoted to an article

Ness - this looks great! You definitely captured the spirit of champ potatoes, an Irish staple. Your soda bread looks too flavorful and not as dry as I remember having in Ireland. I would prefer your version!

I haven't checked the hunting regs to see if the use of drones will be outside of fair chase. I would think that they would be a great tool to scout that next field or just around that next bend for turkeys. Especially for fall turkey hunting when locating the birds is the biggest challenge. All kinds of privacy issues cropping up with more and more drones being used.

Do you think that the guys that make widgets complain when folks use the phrase "were not making widgets"? Is there a possible movement to rephrase as to not offend or belittle the global widget makers throughout the world? Maybe bring back Doohickey or thingamabob?

Very cool photos from.your new toy. I agree with BH on being scared of crashing or sinking it. Many years ago we went to a Top Gun RC airplane show and watched a guy fly his B52 WWII bomber with a 6 foot wingspan. It took off like a charm and just kept flying away until it crashed into the trees on the other side of the airfield. He lost contact and who knows how many hundreds or thousands of dollars. I would have that visual in my head if I flew a drone. Good luck and stay in contact with your drone!

Marty congrats on a great pond fishing trip! Ultra simple and so rewarding when you reel in a bull gill! I got into a few nice bluegill today, but that's a different story !

I have said it many times I don't think it's possible to land a 10 lb bluegill! Such great fighters.

Looks good Marty. General Tso's chicken is one of dishes that my betterhalf and I have used to determine if we like a Chinese restaurant. I wonder how we would rate Billetheadville! Based upon a mexicali dish, turkey carnitas, it's all good. Would love to try General Billet"s turkey!

Very nice Lance! Congrats you have those crappie figured out! Always love your photos.

I usually look at the cost of a 3 or 7 day license versus a full year and may get the full year nonresident license if I plan on going back more than once. Most states are pretty reasonable. Right now I have three states covered. Will likely get a license in one or two more throughout the year.

Quillback - glad to see you covered their faces to protect the innocent ! Sound like a good day. Congrats buddy. Good luck on the one bass tourney!

Can't have a Bday without a cake. My betterhalf and Livie made a black forest cake.

Ok so this will sound a bit funny, but I figured out and cooked most of my Birthday dinner. I picked up a couple of thick T-bones and seasoned them with montreal seasoning, garlic, and onion powder - kept at room temp. The longest dish to make was going to be the au gratin potatoes (Livie requested these). I picked up a block of Kerrygold Dubliner cheddar cheese and shredded half of the block and we mixed it with another shredded sharp cheddar cheese. This cheese is one that we used to enjoy when we lived in N. Ireland. We cooked down some minced onion, garlic, then added flour, some dried basil. then about two cups of milk. I greased a casserole dish with butter and layered sliced potatoes. I added half of the onion/milk mixture then topped with half of the shredded cheese. Then layered the rest of the potatoes, the onion/milk, and the rest of the cheese, a little more basil on top followed by a bit of parmesan. We covered the casserole with foil and into the oven at 350 for 35 minutes, then another 45 minutes uncovered. While the potatoes cooked, I mixed sesame seeds, golden flaxseed, green pumpkin seeds, and some sunflower seeds. I toasted them until the sesame seeds were golden. In another bowl I mixed about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar, about a tablespoon of honey, a tablespoon of mustard, and about two tablespoons of oil. I blanched green beans and cold shocked them. Once down I mixed the beans with the seed mixture and the vinegar mixture. When there was about 20 mins left on the potatoes, I began grilling the steaks. As they were on the hot coals, I dry sauted sliced mushrooms. I also added a few dried porcinis into 1 1/2 cups of beef stock and heated in microwave to make a mushroom and beef stock. I pulled the steaks off of the grill and put them in the oven for a couple of more minutes. I added a couple of tablespoons of corn starch and poured the stock into the pan with the mushrooms and cooked until thickened. I let the steak rest for several minutes, sliced, and served.

It's nice to think that they are still present. It's very improbable that they would go unnoticed for this long. Who knows. There was a big excitement about 12 to 14 years ago about the possibilty of ivory billed woodpeckers were alive as well in Arkansas and also in Florida. Haven't heard much about them since then. I get caught up in watching a lot of those "search for" shows and end up more disappointed than not. Only one that I watched so far that was successful was the search for the giant squid.

If there is decent forage then thinning the bass should help. I do know that there are ties between BH and a known koi pond stocker .

Of couse the cave is critical only if you have the poles to get into the cave! I would love for someone to try to explain how they could slide down a pole, get out of their mild manner clothing, and change into their tights and cowls while still holding the pole. Do you have poles going off of your deck ?!?!

From my umderstanding you would need an old butler, a young ward, and a confused older aunt to pull off the stately Ness manor !

Looks like a nice day catching those green fish! Pond managememt can be a bit more challenging than just keeping a few. I would suspect there may not be a lot of forage in that pond. Catch any bluegill in the recent past? May need an influx of prey like baby carp .

Even Ness should enjoy your wildlife meals just as long as it was killed and cleaned before he gets there !

Daryk too bad you didn't catch a fish. Like BH said getting out with your son makes it special. You see any micros in that creek? PM me if you want to try to get after some the 17th or 18th.

Soinds like you've hit on a great tag line. "Tide cleans all the way from beginning to end!"

Very nice smallies!

And to think the only 20 incher that I caught when fishing with you last year was a walleye. Now its my PB walleye so I'm not complaining! Sounds like you're now becoming the Taney guy that folks will want to fish with assuming that they survive their first trip .

Great job guys! Thanks for taking us along on you Taney trip!