Johnsfolly

I have to add an addendum to my bucket list: 100+ lb alligator gar from the Trinity River!

Sounds like a great trip! Glad that you were able to get fishing with your friends and family! Love seeing smiles on kids when they are successful in landing fish.

Weds brought another north wind and a drop in temperatures. So Jamie and I took off early from work to head out and try again for the elusive fish of a thousand casts, the muskellunge! I brought along my new baits. We were only the second boat on the water when we set off from the launch at 4 pm. I got a feel for what my baits looked like in the water and how to make them twitch and swim erratically by casting around the launch area. The water was a bit dingier than on our last trip. Jamie felt that the bucktails may be the most effective baits this evening. We first fished the main lake point and the cove with the standing timber where we started fishing on our last trip. I fished the Mr Whiggley around those trees and brush and did not get a follow. At least none that I could see in the dingy water. I switched to a twin blade bucktail with the gold and copper skirting and I made a cast into the same spot in the timber that Jamie caught his 40" fish on our last trip with that same bait. About 5 to 6 feet from the boat I could see the bait and two feet closer, a big musky was following. She broke the surface going after the bait and was gone. I never saw her while doing figure eights by the boat. I quickly made another cast and had another follow right at the boat. I started my figure eights and she was intently following the bait. On my second pass she hit the bait on the outside turn, but I didn't get a hook set into her. Within two casts my heart was racing from these encounters. Jamie and I both had a good look at both fish. I don't know if they were the same, but both were big fish, close to 40" and thick bodied. I kept fishing alternating between the soft bait and the bucktail. Jamie switched between a crappie crankbait and other bucktails. We fished a lot of wind hit banks along the south west shore of points and coves. Made lots of casts along and around trees and laydowns and across points. No encounters nor follows. We crossed the lake to the north east part of the lake. We hit some of the best brushy areas on that side of the lake. We made lots of casts in what may be considered one of the best spots for musky on the lake. Finally Jamie got a hard follow on the crankbait, but she didn't hit. We headed into a long cove and I had a soft follow with a smaller musky that flashed on my bait. We kept fishing and casting to little avail. On a long point Jamie got another hard follow at the boat after casting almost onto shore and pulling the crankbait by a deep stump. We fished for 40 or 50 minutes in other areas down lake. It was about 7 pm when we got back to that same point. I was fishing the bucktail and cast towards the bank and pulled the bait pass that stump. 4 feet from the boat I saw the fish following. I started a figure eight and on the second pass I saw her hit the bait and set the hook with the bait in her mouth. She must have opened her mouth at that time. I felt one of the hooks stick into her lip and then just as fast I felt the sickening pop of the hook popping loose. I was heartbroken losing this fish. We fished lots of other spots including the standing timber where we started earlier in the afternoon. No more follows. We left the lake by 8:30. This is musky fishing!! I may be hooked! Jamie and I have a trip planned to fish Pomme for our next trip. I plan on bringing the softbaits for the cleaner water. Likely to fish the bucketails on that trip as well.

That is an awesome musky! Fantastic story as well.

During our last trip to Montauk trout park, we caught plenty of fish on hook and line. Livie loves to catch sculpin. She caught plenty with her baits. Then she decided to try to get a few by hand. She caught several by hand including this fish.

Last year my daughter and I really started multispecies fishing in full force. Now my daughter gets really excited about rod and reel fishing, but even more so catching every possible critter on the bank and in the water with her bare hands. On one of our trips last summer Livie got me to promise that as soon as she caught some fish by hand that I would set up a hand fishing thread on OAF. Now I am paying off that debt. When we were fishing the Big Creek with JestersHK and his daughter, Livie caught frogs. toads, a lizard, and a western mosquitofish on that trip. So here is the first hand caught fish of 2017. So if you are so inclined to catch some fish by hand feel free to add to this thread.

If you like that I have some jumbo shrimp to sell you !

I caught more trout than she did, that's because she wanted to catch the sculpin . She caught 16 sculpin to my 5. She also caught a few by hand. So I owe her the handfishing thread that I had promised her.

That's a great average size fish! congrats! If I lived a lot closer, I would be hitting that lake pretty hard this fall. Keep posting!

Good Luck on your fall LOZ trip. Sounds like you are well armed. Looking forward to the report!

I liked the Smothers brother's show as well as Laugh-in. Got my first crush on Goldie Hawn watching Laugh-in. I also loved listening to Bob Newhart's phone bits.

Congrats on getting a good night bite!

Congrats on a good sit in the woods and a great day on the water. So were you using the ice to revive these walleye before you released them☺. I'll have to try that technique.

Watching Alec Guiness in the original version of "The Ladykillers". Much better than the Tom Hanks reboot.

Do you remember "Let's make a Dope Deal!"? "What is your name? You have 60 seconds." Hey I know that one man.. "It starts with a B.." I knew that one when I came in here man... Don't tell me.. "Ends with a B..." "Just 10 seconds Bob...." BOB!! "That's right Bob. You win!"

Class! Class! SHUT UP!!!!!!☺ Thank you.

Great emcounters! Thanks for posting. Still seems too hot for me to get fully excited about bow hunting. Processing a deer at these temps just make me hesitate. Keep posting!!!

That looks like a great leech pattern. As a guy that often fishes flies on spin tackle this one should work well under a float. Now if I can just find someone tying these flies that is willing to barter☺.

Thanks! it's a lot of fun! A great way to spend a sunny Saturday.

Just in case that you don't think that microfishing take intense concentration !

I had planned on fishing around Akers Ferry to try for a few more new species for the 2017 season. I had caught two new species, the central stoneroller and the striped shiner, for 2017 at Montauk earlier in the day, I knew that knobfin sculpin were prevalent in that part of the Current river. Last year I had caught southern redbelly dace in a small creek near the Ferry access. So I was confident that we could catch at least a couple of new species on this trip. Livie caught the first knobfin sculpin of the trip, which was her first of this species. Then I caught one as well. I would love to say that it was challenging to catch these scuplin, but once we found some they were everywhere. Microfishing to me is not about high numbers, but targeting some new species. We could have caught many more sculpin, but went after darters and minnows instead. Livie caught the first darter, a female rainbow darter. We switched rods and I caught my first rainbow darter of the year (4th new species on the day; first fish below). I was surprised that the males still had some of their breeding coloration like Livie's male (second fish). We were surrounded by a large school of larger minnows. I caught one of these guys, another central stoneroller. They frustrated Livie to no end and she just could not get one to bite again. By this time it was getting really hot (possibly up to the mid 90s). After leaving the river, I still wanted to see if we could catch a southern redbelly dace. unfortunately the creek was just a trickle due to the lack of rain this summer. We had a great day. At the end of this trip, I had caught more different sp[ecies than I have ever done is a given year. I also have caught a larger number of fish in a given year than I ever have before. Yet I feel that there are still many species yet to catch and it may be possible that I may catch many more fish yet this year. This post has been promoted to an article

Livie and I went to Montauk trout park on Saturday. We got a late start, which in most cases is not too bad to still catch a few stockers. Started fishing around 8 am and started at the big pool below the falls. We were seeing a few decent trout, a lot of minnows, suckers, and bunches of small rainbows (<6" in length). We tried a bunch of different small jigs and flies and just weren't getting much response from the local fish. Any fly fishing purists may have to turn away. Since we were planning a microfishing trip after catching some rainbows for home, we had red worms and Livie and I put them on. We started catching a variety of fish on the worms, including a few of the small rainbows. Livie's first rainbow One of my rainbows. We also caught several different species on the worms. I caught this striped shine ( a new species for me this year). Livie and I both caught bleeding shiners that still had some of their breeding coloration. Livie caught a bunch of longear sunfish and of course her favorites, the sculpin. I switched back to jigs and flies to try to get a few table size stockers. Up by the waterfall I had some success using a pink chenille 1/125 oz microjig. Both Livie and I caught more of the young adnf finely parr-marked rainbows. One of the fish that we caught struggled when I released it and it got nailed by a 20+" rainbow. I caught a 12 inch rainbow in the falls pool, but not one like that 20" rainbow. I caught this central stoneroller on a olive crayfish fly, but no trout. It was a hot day, but the water was running clear. There were several large fish about. We just didn't have what they wanted on this day.

Last night we fixed a couple of stocker rainbows. I scored the fish on both sides and seasoned inside and out with salt, pepper, and a little Asian five spice. The trout were fried in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, sesame oil, and a dash of bacon grease (made bacon pieces for our salads). Once the fish was nearly done, I squeezed some fresh lemon juice over the fish. Once the fish were removed from the pan, I deglazed with a little pinot grigio and added minced pickled asparagus to the sauce (no capers at home). We stuffed baby portabella mushrooms with a filling made with sauted mushroom stems, pickled asparagus, shallots, and softened cream cheese. Each mushroom got a whole cooked shrimp, then the filling, topped with Colby/jack cheese and cooked for approximately 20 mins at 375 deg. Served the trout and mushrooms with a wedge salad topped with bacon bits, cut grape tomatoes, minced shallots, and a dressing of blue cheese dressing mixed with a balsamic vinegarette.

Since my last post, most of the butterflies have emerged and have been released. So far we have released 6 more females and 5 male monarchs. In case you don't know how to identify males from females, here are some examples: Livie holding a male monarch. On the rear wings there is a black spot on each wing. You can see that on the black line closest to its abdomen. Here is a female monarch and note that there is a lack of the black spot. We still have four chrysalis' and four larvae getting ready to pupate.