Johnsfolly

Meat pops look delicious!

I did a self exam on my car battery and found two lumps. I had them tested and one came back positive. I hope that it's not terminal!🤣 I got a full tank of gas for only $22. It was for my lawn mower, but I am trying to stay positive! 🤣

From what I know there are reproducing populations in Bull Shoals and likely as well in the white river (photo of one of a few caught in the white back in 2019).

Congrats @196champ on catching that toad largemouth! Great job and thanks for the report with photos😁

Probably not a hot/spicy as you guys would like, but we made jalapeno pepper jelly last weekend.

Well third times a charm, but not for cownose rays. We went back down to Chincoteague island on the hope of trying for a few different species. One was the cownose rays. But we didn't even see one near the boat ramp where Sue caught hers. Livie was hoping to catch some sheepshead like we did last year at this spot. Nope that didn't happen. We did catch a few of the ususal suspects, more pigfish, spot croaker, and small sea bass. Livie caught her first pinfish of the year. I caught my first atlantic croaker. He was lucky that we didn't have ice or he may have become a steamed fish with spicy asian sauce 😉 Livie did see some micros and she caught a naked goby from the oysters and rocks. I still haven't found a similar species, the seaboard goby that I thought might be in this area. Still more time to explore. I caught the only blenny and it was not what I thought it might be. I knew that it was a new lifer and thought that it might have been a feather blenny which I knew were likely in this area. I was actually hoping to catch one after a couple failed attempts up around Ocean City. The head shape and the cirri above the eyes of this fish did not look like those of the feather blenny. I sent a few photos to a guy that works at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. He has helped me id some fish before. He suggested a freckled blenny. I never heard of that species and did some more research and the weight of evidence is that it is a female freckled blenny. So the characters that I looked at were: whether the upper lip was or was not attached at the front with a piece of skin which is a character of the other species, the upper lip of this fish is not attached, the abundance of spots or “freckles” on the head and overall coloration, the profile of the head is much flatter than other local species, and the small flattened cirri (the projections above the eyes) with what seems like a single branch at the base is much different from the local species. This location might be the northernmost observation for this species that ranges from NC to Texas. We had a tough rest of the day. Livie could not get any of the few needlefish that we found to bite her baits. They would rush it but stop a few to several inches from the bait and turn away. We paid to get out onto the Assateague wildlife refuge and the spot that I wanted to fish was closed for the nesting birds. So I am so happy to have caught a new lifer on a tough day.

Those look delicious!

Have you caught any of the yellowstone cutthroat trout?

That's a happy brownie😉

This was the best hatch that I have ever experienced - Back on the Current.

Hey Dave are those all from the secret creek? I may be stopping there on our way out to Kansas in a couple of weeks. Maybe my daughter will have a better time with the gar than she is having with needlefish out this way. They chase for a second or two then turn away.

Stuffed eggplant Parmesan using our first garden eggplant. Side of spaghetti with our meat sauce.

Atlantic Croaker - aka hardhead (in VA)

As I was just about to go past the butcher shop a car cut me off as it turned into the lot. The driver must have been German since he took a turn for the Wurst! 🤣

I had always thought that the Jackalope legend was created by a clever taxidermist. Maybe this story is more the reason for the legend of this cryptic species. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/07/15/rabbit-horns-growth-jackalope/10051690002/

Sluggos were definitely before the Banjo. I fished them a lot as well. The Banjos had great action, but were more costly and they just didn't hold up to many fish. So I stopped using them. Once I fixated upon the fluke (baby bass😉), I hardly went back to the sluggo. I still use the fluke for most of my creek and small river bass fishing thouhg I don't do that as much any more. I don't even use the super fluke that much either.

As a bank fisherman, I prefer a T-rigged plastic than a carolina rig. Not sure why but I always preferred worms to lizards. I also enjoyed the Banjo minnow for a while when I lived in FL.

I tend to stay away from the "salts" and prefer to use the onion powder, garlic powders, and celery seeds instead. I find that to get the flavor that I want with the salts it over salts the food. Once I have the flavor then I can salt to taste.

Trying to get those lifers within Sue's tolerance for tank fill-ups. She is willing for one fill-up which puts us around a 3 hour round trip (edit should be a 6 hour round trip). Working hard on those lifers, but have not been getting that done so far.

Work has been a grind and I haven't had the energy to put into lengthy posts. So this will be brief and photo heavy (for @snagged in outlet 3 @tjm) . Most trips were for potential lifers. Watt's creek - in search of silverjaw minnows No silverjaws 😒. Pretty suburban creek. Smallest largemouth that I recall ever catching (ca. 1.5 to 2") Did catch my first central stoneroller in Maryland 😁. Tuscarora Creek Trying again to catch a potomac sculpin - missed one and spooked one 😒. Livie caught a bluehead chub (first in MD) in this hole. Then I had to catch one - also my first in MD. Potomac River - Swain's Lock Trying to catch our first longear sunfish in Maryland. Only caught lots of redbreast sunfish and one green sunfish. Monocacy River Again trying for longear sunfish. Saw lots of greenside darters but no takers. Only a couple of sunfish caught. I caught one redbreast. Livie caught this female sunfish and I never saw it until I downloaded the photos off of her phone. Let me know if you guys think that this is a female longear (I'm on fence between pumpkinseed and longear). Salty Characters Hooper's Island - Honga River MD So we were scheduled to go out for black sea bass but the captain canceled the trip due to weather. Had my BIL with us and he landed his first atlantic stingray. Chincoteague Island VA Was hoping to catch a feather blennie or seaboard goby. Neither were spotted. My wife hooked up with a cownose ray that she fought for and thought that she might break her rod. Lost the fish as we were landing it and no photos. Had plenty of others though. Sue with Croaker (ate this one and others baked whole with spicy asian sauce 😉) We all caught pigfish. And spot croakers Livie and I microfished some and we both caught oyster toadfish from the rocks. Livie had to move a rock from the hole that I caught this gjuy just so that I could get it's head out and land it. We also both caught nice male striped blennies (this is Livie's mine is posted on my microfishing thread). Belmar and Atlantic City NJ Last weekend we booked a trip for fluke out of Belmar NJ. We were not prepared for the speed of the drift and spent most of the time with baits well off of the bottom. Did have a couple of spots where we made contact and Sue caught some black sea bass and we both caught a number of northern searobins. did not get Sue her first flounder 😒 the next day we hit a couple of piers and jetties in Atlantic City trying for a northern kingfish (again no luck - seems like a trend). We caught a few tautogs and small black seabass before calling it a day and heading home. We've been hard at it but just not getting our target species, but more to come.

@Quillback with your time travelling you will get to catch those fish all over again tomorrow🤣. Congrats on what looks like another great day for you!

Congrats on those nice fish Pete! Sounds like a great work deal.

That's a Missouri creek. One of.my favorites.

Cool peacock!