Johnsfolly

Yes he is that as well.

Kevin was able to get out the circle hook with out too much problem.

I have a friend Mark up in NJ that I have had a couple of great trips and one epic trip so far. He has been hosting a lifelisting friend of his this week. They have been struggling to get on fish due to the weather caused by Erin's passing. His friend, Steve Wozniak, is a bit of an infamous fishing lifelister. I think that I posted an SI article on OAF many years ago that talked about his fishing exploits and world record catches from all over the world. Mark and Steve did get at least one of his targets up in NJ, an eastern chubsucker. They could not fish for Steve's saltwater targets up there and headed down to Delaware to fish for sharks and rays with a guide friend of Mark's. There is a small micro called a striped cusk eel that Mark has caught previously where they were headed. Mark felt that it would be fine for me to meet up with them and try for the cusk eels while Steve was shark fishing. I also wanted to meet Steve. The water conditions were not likley to be great with the lingering effects of the storm, but the area they were going was blocked from the brunt of the bad seas by Cape Henelopen. I figured that my chances in high water to catch a cusk eel was minimal and I had to be talked into going by my daughter. In hindsight I am really glad that I did. As I got there, Steve had just landed a smallish, 4 ft, sandbar shark. They had landed a couple of clearnose skates earlier. I got introduced to everyone. I mentioned that I used to follow the blog of a fishing friend of Steve's and knew about tirps they made together. The most interesting blogs were those of trips to Mingo and Poplar Bluff in SE MO (a favorite area of mine and for @Ham and @FishnDave). That got the ball rolling and soon we were sharing photos of past exploits and fishing trips and talking about those species we still need for our lifelists.... All the while Steve had been catching a decent amount of smooth hound dogfish on pieces of squid. I was fishing fishbites and struggled to get a bite. Between 10 and 11 one of the bonito baits got bit and Steve was able to land his lifer sand tiger shark, No. 2,423rd ( may be off on the his total but within 10 species) species, one of the primary targets for the trip. No one got bit on the release😉. Maybe just a little wet. The team put out more baits and we waited and fished for other species. I finally caught a spot on the fish bites and had some other small strikes without commitment. It was enough to pass the time. Just after 1 am, another of the big rods got bit. Steve and Mark called me over and asked if I wanted to land this fish. After the obligatory, are you sures..., I got on the rod. Now Steve did mention that if he has your phone that he may send some questionable photos and whether my wife looked at my photos. Well I sent this one to my wife🙄. It wasn't until I really looked at the photo that I now knew that he was not lying. After a decent fight we could see that it was another sand tiger shark! Not only would this meet one of my goals in 2025, which was to catch a new ray or shark species, it would be the largest fish that I have ever landed.. so far! And again no one was bit during the release. What a great surprise and another one of those epic fishing trips that I will never forget. I can't thank my sand tiger shark "Bro" enough for this opportunity.

I just let the guide take care of the release. But that's another story😉

Current MO state recod Mooneye is 13 oz. To be a new state record, the fish must meet the master angler requirements of 12" and/or 1 lb. Arkansas has an 11 oz mooneye as the current state record caught in 2022 from the Current river.

That spot looked fishy on INAT. Glad that the monkey is off your back. Some fishing solace before your head back home😉.

You should check to see if AR or MO have records for mooneye😉

It's possible that @Ham or @FishnDave have caught one this size or larger😉. None of mine were this big. https://fox59.com/indiana-news/dnr-indianapolis-man-makes-record-breaking-fish-catch-in-dearborn-county/

Kehdes BBQ is a spot that would keep.me going back to Sedalia. Love their food and eating in a train car😉. We also like the Daum art museum. Livie and have caught trout in the urban pond in Sedalia.

I pulled an old packet of venison steaks from the freezer..I also had some leftover pork tenderloin. Sliced both thin. I also sliced up some yellow and green peppers, onion, mushrooms, and broccoli. Also diced ginger. Cooked with some bilgogi and sambal sauces and a dash of fish sauce.

We love state fairs. We used to go to the MO fair in Sedalia nearly every year. Never been a big midway guy spending money on games of "chance"😉. But like @snagged in outlet 3 we would go thru the animal barns, see the award winning baked goods, vegetables and fruits. I found the 4H projects pretty interesting. Then try to eat the different food with most being on a stick😁. The MD. State fair is not as big and not as interesting as the MO fair. Back in College we would go to the Allentown fair in PA. Saw CSN in concert twice at the fair. The funniest story was from the FL state fair. The poultry and small animal barn was sponsored by KFC. It was very funny to see folks with chicks and ducks in KFC boxes. I guess we have been going more to renn faires than state fairs over the last decade or so.

I listen to that old CD format music when I travel on our fishing trips. Almost exclusively 60s and 70s. A little 50s and some 80s.

I cooked a store marinated pork tenderloin last night. Served it with steamed broccoli and blistered cherry tomatoes. No photos but was tasty bachelor meal while my wife and daughter are in KY helping our oldest move.

I remember our family exercise 😂

That's a big bear.

The last one that I saw in MO was during a fishing trip along the Current river. I caught movement high up on one of the bluffs above the river. I watched it slink along for a few mins before it slipped out of sight. On one hunting trip I saw one cross the road above my stand. It headed down the deer trail I was hunting. As it got into a bit of cover I drew my bow expecting it to come to a small opening. I never saw it again. Must have seen me move and either just stopped or snuck away unseen.

Always loved to go out and look for tracks in fresh snow. Was very cool to see what animals are around that we don't "see" them.

Redbreast is a great whiskey.

Between these pies and the hot cheese on pizzas seems like our mouths always had 3rd degree burns 😂😉

Another sunrise photo after our VA trip.

Could not agree more! I didn't know Marty when he was making these poppers, but I did get a couple of his french fry lures. They work great. I will admit that I have mostly fished them with spinning tackle. This crappie torpedoed this bait, coming out of the water to get it. This bass was caught with a fly rod😉. Another bigger fish took this bait and dug me into the weeds and broke off. I remember talking with Marty on how bad I felt losing one of his lures. He told me that he sent them to be fished and sent me another.

Sorry haven't fished in a while😉

I wish that we had mooneye and goldeye near us. The Ohio river and tribs may have them.