Johnsfolly

My bad. I've got a sabiki rig with your name on it to try for them once we get to fish together.

I have not really compared the two. I do really like to dry the black trumpets when I can find them. I grind them and add to soups or stews for an intense mushroom flavor.

Kjackson - I would love to see a larger picture of that greenling. Awesome looking fish. Ham - a cutlass fish but you can't catch a gizzard shad . In Florida you catch just about anything. I was fishing a drainage slough and nearly stepped on an alligator getting down to the waters edge. It swam off and I got to fishing a 3" sluggo. No fish after a couple of casts which was pretty unusual in this ditch. I made another cast and all of a sudden the alligator was back chewing on my bait. I tried to flip the bait out of its mouth which just set the hook into its tongue. The 4 foot long gator came in like a wet towel. I snapped the line as I got it to shore. I didn't choot it as Troy would say. I was surf fishing with a piece of squid, I had a strike and thought I set the hook and began reeling in the fish. The fish would pull pull pull and then pull pull pull. It was heavy but was a strange fight. I thought I might have a stingray. As I got it into the surf the "fish" turned out to be a sea turtle. Fortunately it wasn't hooked and just spit the bait as it got into the surf. I wasn't looking forward to find a way to unhook this turtle. Smalls21 - did you land the pelican? In the Jupiter inlet the pelicans are thick and you have to use heavy weights to the get bait deep enough after you cast to avoid the pelicans. I hooked up on one and it flew off pulling drag. I did get it back onto the pier and broke it off. This bird had at least four or five other lines in its beak. A habitual bait stealer. Also forget about catch and release. The fish don't stand a chance getting back into the water. In PA both water snakes and bullfrogs love hula poppers. Enough said.

Looking at the records, would be interested in catching a 1lb highfin quillback with rod and reel to fill that open category. Or possibly a flier on a limbline.

I watched the overtime. I was fairly tired at that point possibly due to my old age or from watching the Pens / Caps overtime game the night before, I was happy about the short overtime period, but disappointed about the outcome of the Dallas goal. Thank goodness I'm not a fan of the Predators. Though I do think they have one of best logos in the league.

This guy must be looking at the open or low weight alternative methods records. His second record fish in the last month. He snagged the record skipjack herring previously. O’Fallon angler sets another state fishing record Congratulations to James Lucas on setting the state record by catching an 8-pound, 6-ounce hybrid striped bass with a throwline on the Mississippi River. O’FALLON, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports that James Lucas of O’Fallon became the most recent record-breaking angler in Missouri when he caught a hybrid striped bass on the Mississippi River. The new “alternative method” record hybrid striped bass caught by Lucas on April 22 weighed 8-pounds, 6-ounces with a length of 24 3/4 inches and a girth of 18 1/2 inches. Lucas caught the fish with a throwline in one of his honey holes. MDC staff verified the record-weight fish using a certified scale in O’Fallon. “I’m really excited that I caught this fish,” said Lucas. “I have been trying for over a month and a half to set this record with a throwline, and I’m just really glad all my practice finally paid off.” Lucas added fishing with a throwline isn’t easy; it takes a lot of practice to get it down. “I was able to locate the fish and get over the hybrid striped bass and drop my line. Then the fight was on. The striped bass put up a decent fight, but once I got him on the bank, I got that gut feeling I had the record,” he said. “I didn’t know for sure until I talked with MDC and they confirmed it.” Lucas is familiar with state-record fish. He holds a state record for the skipjack herring in the alternative method category, which he broke on April 8. “You haven’t heard the last of me,” he said. “I hope to set many more state records in the future. As for this fish, I plan on mounting it and putting it on the wall with the others.” Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: throwlines, trotlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl. Conservation makes Missouri a great place to fish. For more information on state-record fish, visit the MDC website at http://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/state-record-fish. James Lucas set the state record by catching an 8-pound, 6-ounce hybrid striped bass with a throwline on the Mississippi River April 22, 2016.

Great fish! Congrats on that musky!

I think that most folks go on a fishing trip with a targeted species in mind, going for crappie, bass, catfish, etc. Have you ever hooked into something that you didn't expect? What is the strangest thing that you have ever caught? This could be the strangest fish or something else. The strangest fish that I have ever caught has got to be the sea robin. As a kid we would vacation on Cape Cod and would go out on deep sea charter boats to bottom fish for porgy and black sea bass. Every trip someone would catch a sea robin (borrowed internet photo), which is a bottom fish that is very common in those waters. They use those finger like projections on their pectoral fins to creep along the bottom.

Don't even get started about developing and releasing triploid smallmouth bass just to have them pack on weight . Anyone read the Outdoor life article about the guys trying to produce the next world record largemouth in Texas? It's headed up by one of the guys that developed the Tecomate deer feed programs. Trying to use the same thought process of high quality genetics, high fat/protein diets, and age in a ultra-managed lake system.

Marcus - You are probably right about a Pens v Caps thread instead of hijacking this one. Would take too much effort.

The way that Murray is playing makes a return by Fleury really unlikely at least in this series with the Caps. I was impressed with the Pens fight through most of the game. However, I did feel that the Caps had the edge in the third in terms of their level of intensity. The Pens picked it up in OT. Now its time to see if they can stay aggressive and not let the Caps up now that they are down. A big night by Daley. Looking to see what Letang can bring when he returns.

Very funny post! Those sneaky snakes cause all kinds of problems. Not that anyone would ever overreact.

Great trip! I haven't fished the lower section. May have to put that on the to do list for my next trip down to Crane.

Thanks Ham and MJK. The shiner swarms were pretty cool. I expected the bleeding shiners, but got real excited when I saw the 25 or so rosyface shiners in the mix. I saw the same swarming / spawning behavior when I fished Grindstone creek here in Columbia last week. Those were common shiners and central stonerollers swarming on that day. It's a great time of year to be out fishing.

Ham - I can't "like" your post since I don't want to admit that the Pens chances to win tonight without Letang are bad. They do need more powerplay production. Murray stopped a lot of shots, but that can't last through two or more games. Winning more faceoffs would also help. The Pens have to get ahead early and like you said score 4 or 5 to stay in front of the Caps. I am wearing my lucky Penguins shirt and my playoff beard is getting full. Not that I am superstitious. Oh yeah the Blues are looking good in their series.

That sounds like an awesome time regardless of the fickle weather. 50+ at or over 20 " trout fantastic!

Mitch - I am sorry to hear about your friend.

To stick with the small stream creek theme, I fished a tributary of the Gasconade yesterday due to most of the large waters being muddied or still receding after the rains this last week and weekend. I had spoken with the gentleman that is currently revising the Fishes of Missouri guide book about the greenside darter. He suggested that I would have better luck fishing within the Gasconade drainage. So I went down to fish a small stream that I had fished many years ago while looking for smallmouth bass. This water holds a fair number of smallmouth, but most don't get much bigger than 12-15". Any smallmouth caught on this trip would be the icing on the cake if I could catch a greenside darter. The section that I fished was fairly shallow and running fast and clear. I was seeing darters everywhere I looked. I would find one that looked different than I have caught in the past and tried to catch them. Most were female orangthroat darters. These fish were anywhere from 1.5 to 2.25 " in length. I know that the greenside was a larger darter species, but still did not have a good picture on mind on how different they would be to darters I have caught before. In one of the deeper runs (12+") there were swarms of minnows that looked to be spawning. I could easily identify the bleeding shiners and the rosyface shiners in these schools. I would drift my bait down into the schools and caught only one rosyface shiner on the tiny worm piece and #26 hook that I was using. This was a new species for me. So I was pretty excited. I also caught a couple of the bleeding shiners as well. There was what looked to be a third species o minnow in this mix, but I couldn't catch one in this run. I did find several runs like this one all across the creek and eventually caught what I believe to be an Ozark minnow that third species in each of these groups and also would be a new species for me. Still no greenside darters. I saw one male rainbow darter and caught a female rainbow both of which are larger than the orangethroats I had been catching. As I headed upstream, there was deeper water that has held smallmouth in the past. I switched rods and landed a 12 and this 10" smallmouth using a fluke. The dingy water in this section didn't do the picture any favors, but the red eye shines through. I continued to head upstream to where the stream hits a bluff to try for more smallmouth or find the greenside that I came to find in this creek. No smallmouth were found in this stretch, but I went along the bluff where there was some deeper water and bigger rock. This run has flowing water coming in from under the gravel at its head. Because the water was coming in below the gravel, the surface was not affected by the current and thus was really clear. I continued to see a number of the orangthroat darters and caught a couple of more. I also caught some more bleeding shiners in this run as well as a longear sunfish. Then I saw a large bottom fish that I thought might be a logperch due to its size. This fish was over 5" in length. I fought the current was able to position my bait right in front of this fish. No take. In fact the fish darted under a large rock. From the blenny like movements, I knew that this was a greenside darter (Etheostoma blennioides) that I was looking for and it was a giant. It stuck its head out from under the rock, but I still could not get it to take my bait. So I moved to find another and then another. Each time the fish would spook when I got the bait near them and hide up under the rocks. This run was only about 45' long and I had already seen and spooked three greenside darters over its entire length. As I headed back to where I saw the first darter, I spotted a smaller one. As I was trying to position my bait in front of this fish. I caught another longear sunfish and orangethroat darter. Fortunately the greenside did not spook. Eventually I go the bait in front of it and it took the bait. This was my third new species on this trip. I couldn't be happier than fishing this little stream on a beautiful day. I missed the greenside spawn this year, but will try to get back next March to try and take one in its spawning colors now that I know what to look for in terms of habitat and size of fish.

Al - I agree that this fish did not look large enough to weigh nearly ten pounds. Seth's fish definitely looks over ten pounds. I caught this 22" golden redhorse in the same area of the Tavern and I estimated its weight at 4 to 5 lbs.

Most folks on these forums key in on the spawning times for crappies, white bass, walleye, largemouth and smallmouth bass. However when spring is in the air some of the fishes rival even birds in their breeding colors and their physical changes during the spawn. Darters are well known for their breeding colors Like these rainbow and orangthroat darters. Not be outdone, even minnows get colorful during their spawn. A bleeding shiner from Spring creek. A rosyface shiner from Spring creek. A common shiner caught in grindstone creek. The common shiner also gets nuptial tubercles on it's head like many other minnow species like this creek chub. This largescale stoneroller gets tubercles all along its body as well. If you fish any of the high gradient or headwater streams be on the look out for these spring beauties.

I could see guys getting rid of kite fishing for sailfish and employing drones instead. Should be able to see the pods of fish from above then drop that ballyhoo.

Dan - there are going to be plenty of edibles coming in over the next couple of months if we continue to get those light rains. Chanterelles are some of my favorites and they usually begin showing up early June. If you can find them early enough, bearded tooth (aka lions mane, hedgehog, etc.) mushrooms are really good just when they emerge. Take al look at Billethead's posts from last year. He has great photos and you'll have the time of year down for your neck of the woods.

I've seen the RC boats that guys use to drop baits off above restricted areas in tailwaters. That is not as cool as seeing the strike from above. However, it does seem to take some of the sport out of the spot and cast.

LRF - Nice photos. I like the Ozark bass. That's also a nice smallmouth.

Some of the best fishing is when the panfish are on their beds. Remember selective harvest by releasing the larger fish and keep the mid sized ones for the fryer.