Johnsfolly

When I was in High School I used to switch around the lyrics to many songs. So for this song it was: A Ferrari in Red, Lambourghini in White Don't know which One I will drive tonight I'll meet you any time you are At our Italian rent-a-car. I was not Weird Al, but had a lot of fun.

Dan As I have said before congratulations on achieving your goal. I'm proud of you because I know how hard it was just to get the time out on the water to fish. Let alone having to figure out where they were and what they would bite on. Still would have loved to had been on board when you were tearing them up with the jigging spoon. Keep after those walleye and posting your videos!

I got out again and tried another section of the Tuckahoe creek where I heard that during the spawn there are lots of white perch. I hoped that a couple would still be sticking around. I only had about 35 to 40 minutes before I had to get back to the hotel, clean up, and check out before heading into work. Still fishing worms. I caught three bluegill. Then I hooked a fish that did not fight like a sunfish. Kind off disappointed that it turned out to be a yellow perch. The next fish was a redbreast sunfish. Then I landed my first white perch. looked quite a bit like a white bass and less like a yellow perch. When I looked up the species name, Morone americana, it all made sense since the are more closely related to the white bass, Morone chrysops. I caught one more and another bluegill before I had to leave. Before I left I thought of Marty and took a fish face photo.

If you catch one in deep water, do you have to milk it before you let it go?!?

Sounds like you have been having some great trips. Congrats on the big bass!

Great job Dan! Would love to see you catch a walleye every month for 24 months in a row! Keep on them buddy!

Been in Maryland since Monday. I will likely be in Maryland off and on this year. So I went ahead and bought annual freshwater and coastal/bay fishing licenses. I was able to get out to Tuckahoe creek on the eastern shore with one of the guys from the office. He got interested when I told him about my interest in micro- and multispecies fishing. Prior to my last trip here I researched some spots to fish and found a promising little creek that might have a variety of species and possibly new species. Then I got to the lab and met Tim and he told me about the possibility of catching a redbreast sunfish in Tuckahoe creek, the place that I felt had a lot of promise. Tim and I got out this afternoon armed with a number of small jigs and worms if needed. When we got to the creek, I found out from another fisherman that they had luck with both yellow and whiter perch using worms. We saw a bunch of fish in a riffle across the creek from us. We threw a few jigs and a roostertail spinner without success. Switched to worms and Tim got a feisty 7 inch yellow perch. I caught a nice fallfish on my first cast. I had caught these minnows previously in Pennsylvania. This is definitely not a species that I would catch anywhere near MO. I ended up with two of these minnows. That cast was followed by my first yellow perch of the evening. Again not a new life list fish, but one that is not common around MO. I ended up with four yellow perch. My next cast yielded a new life list fish, a redbreast sunfish. I had set catching one of these fish as a goal for the 2017/2018. These were not big fish, but the were plentiful and ended up catching a dozen before it got too dark. I also tried to catch one of the small minnows that looked like mosquito fish. Even though they were interested, I couldn't get one to actually bite the bait. I caught a couple of bluegill. Tim caught yellow perch, redbreast sunfish, and a nice 2 pound channel catfish. All of the fish except for the catfish were caught with worms. We fished a couple of hours and caught several species on this trip. It was a great night. Hopefully can get back before I head back to MO and try for a white perch.

Congrats! That is a great brown trout! and to think it was a by-catch. That's awesome.

This is where the comment "Billethead sucks!" is most appropriate .

Thanks everyone. It was a great hunt and a great time spent with my daughter!

BH Nice haul from SW MO! I may not even show them to her. However, the Folly fungus foragers have been busy ourselves. Here in Boone county finding small grays and a few small yellows. My betterhalf and Livie found about 20 on Thursday. I went out with them yesterday and we found about two dozen. Again nothing like the size that you have found, but we seem to be about 4 to 6 days behind you this season. I will be in Maryland this week and likely to miss finding any large ones myself (may also miss the best time for spawning crappie). Will have to keep the rest of the team out looking. I haven't even tasted one this season. Of course there is also love in the air. We found a couple of box tortoises yesterday.

I was able to get the time to be able to take my daughter Olivia out for this year's youth turkey season. She had never really hunted anything than a half hearted squirrel hunt. This was going to be her first real hunt. I haven't been real successful in getting my kids onto turkey or big game. My oldest got as close as 100 yards to a couple of jakes, but they picked us off and never came to the calls. Those were public land birds that ended up on private land in short order. A couple years later, I was able to secure some private land access for my son's turkey season. We rode an ATV to the farm, walked through an open field, up the hill and into a blind on the edge of a large field. We heard gobbling behind us and well below us. By 9 am we never saw a bird, but kept hearing the one below us. Decided to leave the blind and ended up looking at a gobbler strutting in front of several hens within 15 yards of the ATV. Needless to say we were never able to get that bird to leave his hens and close the 80 yards to us. The next year on that same farm we never saw or heard any birds. So this year it is Livie's turn. She had been out to the range shooting the 20 ga. She even shot one of the turkey loads without fear of the recoil. So we are ready with the gun. I was able to secure access to a friends farm. He has two farms in northern MO. Both have birds on them and the one in Sullivan county is always thick with them. I got to hunt that Sullivan farm and was successful on a jake a couple of years ago (posted about that hunt on OAF). I didn't want to ruin Mike's chances at a bird so I kept mentioning that we could go to the other farm. No Mike insisted and said we should go his Sullivan farm. Maybe it's because he likes my daughter or feels that I may not be able to be successful on the other farm or he didn't want Livie to have to share the other camper with the mice. Anyway we were going to head to the Sullivan farm. Friday we packed up and headed to Harris MO and to the farm to meet Mike. I had plans to set up a pop-up blind in the corner of the farm where two creeks meet with a fair amount of heavy trees where the birds could roost. Mike was out and about on the farm Friday morning and he heard birds all over the farm. He had set up a ground blind with brush in the corner where I wanted to set up the blind. He had shot a gobbler out of that ground blind and that was also the blind that I shot my jake. So I took his advice and did not try to put in a pop-up. Olivia and I went down to the blind around 2:30 and got her sitting in the blind and the gun rest set up so that we would not need to mess with it in the morning. I also paced out 20 yards and planted a rolled up net style half blind that we would use in the morning. It was posted where I wanted to set up the decoys. We were going to have to get out really early as to not alert any of the birds that were likely to be roosted near the blind. So having a marker meant that I did not have to pace it out in the dark the next morning. I could just set the decoys and grab and set up the netting near the blind to provide cover off our left sides. Later that evening we drove to one of the corners of the farm that we could not see from the camper and saw a flock of 12 to 15 birds including three to five gobblers/jakes in the flock. They spooked as we came up the road but they headed back onto the farm towards our blind. Back in the camper we watched another part of the farm and saw lots of turkeys and one large strutter in that group. I was already planning on where we would set up Saturday afternoon if we did not get a bird in the morning. The alarm went off at 4 am, but both of us were up well before it went off. We headed down to the blind at 5:10. I was worried about the bright moon, but it was starting to set as we headed to the blind. So we had some darkness to cover us getting the blind. I set up a jake and hen decoy. The jake was about 22 yards and the hen was about 20 yards from the blind. Livie got set up and as I was getting the decoys set, a gobbler sounded off from a big oak in the corner of the field. He continued to gobble and gobble. As the sun started coming up I could see the bird easily from the blind. Around 6 am it was light enough to see several of the gobbling birds at this point. From the blind I could see at least four hens and six jakes/gobblers in the trees around us. As the sun was coming up there was a cacophony of hen calls and gobbles. I would add light clucks and yelps just to let any of the near birds know where we were. I know that they could see our decoys. I kept watch on the birds that I could see. The early gobbler dropped down out of sight and headed behind and away from us. As birds dropped, none dropped in front of us. By 7:10 am most if not all of the birds we were near were on the ground. Lots of gobbling and hen calls. I was matching many of the hen calls. After we felt like we were alone, I heard a loud hen behind us. I told Livie that I was going to try to make her mad. Every time she yelped I would cut her off and yelp louder. She was getting closer and I just kept trying to goad her into heading into our field. I finally saw birds off to our right side. Livie had been sitting with the shotgun on the rest and at the ready since it first started getting light. My friend Mike is left handed. So the blind is set up to shoot as the birds round a clump of tall grass to Livies right. Unfortunately with Livie being right handed she would not be able to shoot hard on her right side. We could clearly see three jakes, a strutting tom and three hens in this group. They kept coming towards the decoys. The lead jake kept looking at the decoys and back towards our blind. They stalled about 30 to 35 yards away and just to Livie's right. Then the jake saw something that he just didn't like and with a putt he headed up the hill away from the blind taking all of the other birds with him. I was wearing my fishing hat and had not taken off the silver pins before this hunt. We were sitting with the su in our faces. So I couldn't help but think that maybe there was a little flash from those pins or they could see our eyes behind our face masks since the sun was right in our eyes. Whatever it was that the birds saw, they were now gone. Livie was really disappointed. I told her that we still had plenty of birds still running around us and we would just wait them out a bit longer. I took the pins out of my hat just in case. I told her that in about 15 to 20 minutes I would call again. After 15 min. I let out a couple of clucks, purrs, and yelps. I could still hear birds behind us. Then I saw a gobbler coming across the creek in on left. He passed me at about 15 yards and headed towards the decoys. I tapped Livie on the leg, "Turkey to our Left. Get the gun ready." He was eyeballing that jake decoy and did partial struts as he got closer. Livie had rested her gun by her right side and had to carefully move it into position for an opportunity for a shot. She couldn't get the gun up and also position the rest while the bird was strutting in circles around our decoys. So she had to try and shoot without the rest. He started to get concerned about the lack of movement of the two birds. I gave out a couple of light calls to try to get his head up. Once he got his head up, I told her to shoot, SHOOT! She got the safety off and BOOM the bird dropped in its tracks. I got out of the blind and onto the bird quickly. Once I got my hand on the bird, the nerves fired and his wings and legs went crazy. I held him down and Livie wasn't sure that she would need to shoot him again. I knew he was a dead bird and just waited until he got dead calm before having her come over to see him. This was a really nice 2 year old gobbler, about 22-23 lbs, he has a thick beard and 3/4" spurs. Not bad for her first game animal. She and I were both really excited about this bird. What a great day! I have to give thanks to Mike on letting us hunt his farm. This smile should say it all!! Now her brother may want to get out again after his little sister shot a bird before him. I think that we should be able to make that happen if he really wants to get out.

CarlW Great report! Congrats on getting on some fish and also trying to learn new baits. Would live to see a photo or two. Keep the reports coming.

QB Great report. I love seeing all the photos. Have never been shy myself about putting in too many fish pictures. Not only adds credence but also content to the report. Now that the boat is running, I'll miss seeing more of your bank fishing reports.

My wife is starting to curse out the BilletHeads. No luck so far around here. She probably should have gone out yesterday. She did pick up a morel topped walking/mushroom stick at the swap meet. That's got to help. We should be finding some soon.

Planned on taking the family to the Jacob's Cave Swap meet on Saturday. So decided that why not go further south to Lebanon, fish at BSSP and then run up Rt 5 to the swap meet. We started fishing at the whistle bridge. There were a bunch of fish at the bridge. I fished with my new Browning Air stream rod and 2# Pline fluoroclear line. I started fishing with a 1/125 oz white microjig. There were a lot of fish active and interested in the bait, almost too many. I caught and landed two. Livie was fishing a multicolored glo ball under a float. She kept getting hits, but could not get a good hook set. She switched to a John deere microjig and caught this 12" rainbow. I switched to a John Deere and had fish all over the bait, I landed three rainbows. I typically like to watch the fish respond to the bait and as they get excited and follow the bait, I can anticipate the strike and set the hook before I feel the bite. I was not able to see the John deere clearly due to the overcast sky. So when there were several fish around where my bait should have been I would set the hook. I actually mentioned to my Betterhalf that there may actually have been too many fish interested in my baits. Often several fish would go after the bait at the same time and they would get into each others way and then scatter as they are going in to bite. If there were only two or three fish going after my baits, then I would likely have caught more than what I did. Livie caught two more rainbows using a tan colored glo ball under her float. After her third fish she was cold and went with my wife and her siblings to get warmed up, get some food, and ice for the fish. She gave me her glo ball and I caught one on the first cast. I caught a half dozen more before my family came back with the ice. When I fish with Livie at BSSP, she has to try to catch three or four trout before she can go after the sculpin in the stream. She caught three, so we moved to the handicap jetty for her to catch some sculpin and I needed one more trout and wanted a sculpin to increase my species list for the year. Livie used a unweighted multicolored glo ball to catch her first sculpin. It's likely to be an Ozark sculpin. From the photos I haven't confirmed if the lateral line complete, which would confirm this one as a banded sculpin. Then another. This second one was a definite Ozark sculpin, which was Livie's 12 different species since the beginning of March. I caught a couple of rainbows and finally put my fourth keeper on the line. I put on a beaded hares ear nymph and caught an Ozark sculpin as well my 15th species caught since March 1st. Better photo showing the wavy coloration of the dorsal fin and the incomplete lateral line. We left BSSP at 11:30 to head to the swap meet. Livie caught three trout and all were over 12" in length. My Betterhalf caught two rainbows and both were over 12" as well. I caught 15 during the three hours of fishing. It was a good day. The swap meet was fun as well and we didn't buy a goat or any livestock. Any time we can make that happen is a bonus day in my book.

Tonight was trout almondine with candied sweet potatoes and asparagus. the fish came from Bennett Springs on Saturday.. A couple of the stalks came from our garden, after we had given up on them this year. I dusted the fish in floured seasoned with salt, pepper, and ground tarragon. I shallow fried the filets in olive oil. I toasted sesame seeds and almonds over dry heat. Once toasted I added butter and white wine to make a bit of a sauce. I had a glass of Ibrido Manzoni blanco a dry white from Italy.

Last night I took leftover roasted chicken (a common protein in our household) and made chicken chili. Sauted minced onion, sliced sweet peppers, mushrooms (not morels unfortunately), diced jalapeno peppers, and chopped chicken. Added dark chili powder, garlic powder, galena spices, and ground cumin. Mixed all ingredients, then added red kidney and black beans. Cooked the chili to meld the flavors. Served over rice.

Having to catch up. A couple of days ago, my Betterhalf made an Asian inspired chicken broth with rice noodles and a hard boiled Folly farm egg on top.

Great Job BH! that is a great mix of fish. I would love to get into some whites and get a carp or walleye. Congrats!

The OBSESSION comes in as you start looking to continue to add more fish to the list. Like I said in the post, the first creek chub, green sunfish, longear, etc. are greeted with enthusiasm then you catch 40 of them instead of the red shiner that you are targeting they get real old. I am glad that you and the girls are enjoying just going out and catching any fish that is in the creek. Get some redworms and put a tiny piece on a #14 or 16 size hook and you will catch most anything except the darters. I use long shank #20 or #26 hooks for the darters. You just have to pay attention to the bite and set the hook early to avoid them swallowing the hooks. I hope that we can get the girls together. Good luck the next time you get out.

Coosa I agree with Gavin and Billethead that they are likely to be Dryad's saddle or pheasant back mushrooms. They are edible, but only the outer younger edge of the mushroom. They will smell like watermelon. I found some young ones last year. I cooked them in butter and that watermelon like scent does persist a bit. They are kind of a weird flavor. Interesting, but not something that I will go out of my way to harvest.

Welcome to our OBSESSION or my Folly!!! The best that I can tell from the first three photos is that they are likely to be juvenile or female creek chub based upon the stripe and dark spot on the front of the dorsal fin. Here are a couple of examples: Again I believe that the middle fish is likely another creek chub. The top one is pretty difficult to id from the photo. It's also hard to tell about the darter. I would need a closer photo. I use a heavier and clearer bag (I'll PM where I get the bag; don't want to give away all my secrets ) and the super macro feature on our camera to get the close-ups that I post. The coloration leads me to guess that it is likely a male orangethroat darter that is just starting to get into his breeding coloration. Do you recall if there was an orange patch at the throat line and were two orange dots at the base of the tail, like in this photo?

I have had stompers and their kids cross in front of me while fishing from the bank. Seems that if you have waders then you are obligated to stay in the creek to wade upstream or downstream. Couldn't be bothered to get up on the bank to walk around someone's spot. Though it has been my experience that there are far more people that do show some etiquette than not.

You just need to train them to catch the walleye for you guys, then convince the MDC to lower the cormorant caught length limit to 3-4 inches and daily catch to 50 per day. Then you would just need about 30-40 fish to make a nice meal.