Johnsfolly

Weather here in MD this last weekend had fishing all over it. High 50s to low 60s. I also had a spot picked out that should hold some different sunfish species. I have a goal to catch three new sunfish species in 2020. So @Ham made a contact on FB with a guy here in MD and he shared some photos of giant fliers that he caught in a public location. Ham put me in contact with Bret and he told me where and what he was using to catch those fish. Bret and I have yet to meet in person and due to circumstance have not been able to fish together. With the warm weather, I couldn't help but want to make the trip and find those fliers. With the COVID-19 concerns I did not reach out to Bret, but took My Betterhalf and Livie with me on this trip. The spot is a small impounded pond. I put on a John Deere microjig and made a couple of casts in the pool below the discharge. I got two bluegill in quick order. I called down Livie and she caught four bluegill before we headed up to the pond. But no fliers. My Betterhalf was fishing a worm under a float and having no luck. Livie had on a trout magnet jig and a worm as well. I still had the John Deere. I caught a small bass and they had no luck. I had them move to the corner of the pond and told them to fish the edge where the lilies were just starting to break the surface. Lots of missed strikes until Sue got a solid hit and hooked a feisty fish. The coloration was about right. So I was excited that she had hooked a large flier and got it landed ! I tried for a long time to catch one myself in that corner. I caught some small and large bluegill, a small largemouth bass, and even a redear sunfish that I really thought was going to be a flier . Livie was having trouble as well and was only catching bluegill. So I put down the rod and went around the pond looking for other likely spots. The girls went back to the car and I decided to fish near a large brush pile made by the local beavers. At first the wind kept blowing my rig into the brush. So I fished an underwater trough that the beavers made. I ended up with 8 bluegill landed, but still no flier. By this time the wind died down In I got a worm baited hook to sit out near the end of the brush pile and got a solid hook up. The fish fought hard and got me wrapped in some brush. I had to give it some line and I was able to coerce the fish from the brush. After all that I had my very first flier in hand. This fish was just shy of 8" in length and I was excited. So the girls were not excited to go back out the pond (especially Livie since she went in while trying to unsnag her mom's line form some lilies ). We had crossed a couple of creeks that had pools near the bridges that I wanted to fish on the way home. At the first I was able to convince Livie to try again. She had changed at this point so was not as cold and not wet. She was still fishing a small jig and redworm and caught a fallfish right away. She followed that up with one bluegill after another. I was fishing a black and green or white and chartreuse trout magnet jigs and was doing well on fallfish. Livie caught a redear sunfish and another sunfish that we thought may have been a hybrid of some sort. Once the bite died down we went to the next creek and tried for more fish. Sue caught another flier and hooked her very first warmouth! I have not caught a warmouth in MD yet so was jealous. Livie was just catching bluegill while I was still getting more fallfish on the white/chart jig. Livie got hung in a tree on the other bank but too far out for her to reach and broke off. Sue gave her the rod she was using and offered her spot. Livie ended up catching her first flier as well as a warmouth (which was the same species of fish that we thought may have been a hybrid)! Though I tried I could not catch a warmouth just to add to my list of fish caught in MD. Then again there is always next time .

Ok getting back to finish out the trip that we made to South Carolina. I originally was looking at Rocky Mount NC to catch the American shad run up the Tar River. One of my goals this year was to catch an American shad or as they say in the South, white shad. Ending up fishing in SC put a damper on that trip initially, but I was able to stop in Rocky Mount on the trip back to Maryland. I only had a few hours to fish in order to get back to the hotel in time to shower and check out of the hotel. I had a list of potential access points along the river between Rocky Mount and Tarboro. The reason that Rocky Mount was such a good location for shad fishing was that the Tar River is dammed in that city making that area the end of the line for the shad running the river. I decided to fish downstream of the city with the idea of working back to the dam as needed. The first couple of spots had really steep banks and looked less than fishable to me. At the third location, I decided to get the rods out and rigged with tandem shad dart and spoon combo. The dart was 1/4 oz in white and red with a silver spoon with red feathers. Short story, lots of casts but no bites and I broke off the combo . I also burned about two hours of time with little to show for the effort. I decided to head along the river back towards town. I came across an access that I had not seen on Goggle maps. Two guys were fishing this spot. They were fishing near a very large culvert with a strong steady current. It was now near 8:30. One of the guys left when I arrived. The other guy had been fishing there since dawn and he mentioned that around 7 to 7:30 that the bite was on and that the group landed about 30 white shad. Now the school had moved on and there were a few stragglers still in the current. I put on a 1/32 oz green and chartreuse shad dart tied about 8 inches above a green shad spoon. I added two small clam weights above the dart. I would cast cross current and had a slow retrieve with slight pulls every so often to get the baits moving erratically. Shad don't eat on these spawning runs, so it is all a reaction strike situation. Giving that little extra movement could illicit a strike. I missed a couple of bumps. After about 20 mins the guy hooked and landed a shad. 10 mins later he called it a day. I took his spot about the culvert. With the angle of my line I added a couple more weights to keep the baits low in the water. I took about 10 more mins and I had a solid thump on the line and hooked up. I got off the culvert and got down near the water to better fight and hopefully land the fish. The fight was strong with several runs. It was everything that I was hoping for except no jumps. I got the fish banked and had my first American or white shad, which met one of my 2020 goals . I even broke into a smile! This fish was just over 18" in length and about 2 1/2 lbs. Not a giant but a solid fish. Unfortunately I had to leave soon after landing this fish. I hope that I can get on some others as the spawn begins near Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Congrats on an awesome redfish!

Nice bass @moguy1973. Congrats on find some feeding in the cold!

Looks like a green fish fry in the making. Congrats on some fatties!

So we brought home some black drum filets from our SC trip last weekend. Made a simple pan seared fish dish. Coated the filets with Paul Prudhomme's magic seafood seasoning then cooked in a hot cast iron skillet, but not a blackening hot pan with a little butter and olive oil. Served with packaged chipotle rice and beans and steamed asparagus. Was delicious. A good white wine would have gone nice with this meal.

Thanks @Jadesjigs for this great tip! hope that you have many more successful trips this spring! Looking forward to some more posts as well.

I will start this by saying that my wife had me fooled and gave me a great gift for my birthday! I had planned for a fishing trip somewhere. I was looking to travelling to North Carolina to take advantage of the potential shad run in the Tar River outside of Rocky Mount, which is about a 5 hour trip. I also wanted to try for some of the unusual sunfish species like spotted sunfish or banded sunfish or fliers in the small sloughs, ponds, swamps, and creeks that are found in NC. I was also thinking about a run to the coast for any new briny species that I could catch. Well that did not happen! So instead of a 5 hour run, we ended up in Myrtle Beach SC about a 9 hour trip. After a long trip we ended up at a condominium complex. My first comment to my wife was are we leasing a time share ! Instead out comes an old college buddy! I was very surprised to say the least, since he was last known to be staying in Florida. I knew right away that we were going to have some fun this weekend, but I still wanted to fish. Fortunately that was not going to be a problem. My wife and friend had us booked on a charter trip for Sunday After getting my SC nonresident license on Sat, Jim and I went out to a little pond/swamp area to try for some micros including any possible sunfish. Well it is still cooler weather even in SC which may have tempered the fish bite. We did see lots of small fish activity mostly with them leaving the area after we just arrived . I did land a pumpkinseed sunfish. while fishing between the trees. We moved to an open pond and were able to catch some redear and bluegill sunfish. As we headed back for dinner the captain of the charter asked if we could switch from a morning to an afternoon trip. With the morning temps around 35 versus 60 deg in the afternoon and winds dying down all pointed to a heck yeah we will switch. We got to the marina early and had to wait, but it was nice to be in the sun and excited to be soon out on the water. We were booked on the Carolina Girl out of Murrell's inlet. There was still a chop on the water and the captain shortened the run from his intent to hit a reef five miles out to one closer to shore to allow us more time to fish. I'll be honest I struggled initially. I was getting strong bites, but set the hook on just water and quickly went through many shrimp. Sue was the first to get a solid hook up and after a decent fight she landed her first ever black drum. Now we were only in 30 to 35 ft of water, but each drum had a decompression issue. So we kept those that were legal size. I would like to mention that catching a black drum was one of my goals for 2020 since I have not caught one previously and to have my wife catch one made me a bit jealous. Fortunately I didn't have to wait too long before the big bend in my rod let me know that I likely had a black drum on the line. I caught one other which was the last fish of the day for me. Lots more bait stealers. I did have a lighter rig with smaller hooks that I could have used, but not enough weight to hold bottom. Livie hooked up with a big fish, but lost it halfway to the boat. She did end up catching a small sea bass. Sue hooked a stronger fish and landed a decent spiny dogfish (another species that I still hope to catch for my life list). So our family was landing fish and trash talking my buddy Jim that was getting no love for most of the day. He did finally get on the board with a large silver porgy about 40 minutes before we were headed back into the dock (also a fish that I need to catch ). it was a tough bite, but a great Bday on the water with family and friends. We would go out with this charter again, maybe later this summer. We were still talking to each other when we got back on land. So the trash talking was taken in stride .

Awesome day buddy! Nice solid fish for sure!

I have reviewed a couple that I thought I might be able to break then life got in the way. Seemed to me that the alternative methods was the first place to start if you wanted to potentially break a state record.

Fake News! That fly won't catch fish ! Congrats on getting into some hungry fish!

Not home cooked but a special sushi dinner with an old friend. Nice Bday treat!

This guy has a plan! Look for the open categories or low weight alternative methods and put yourself in the right place to capitalize on a record fish. More power to this guy. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity ! Osage County angler continues record-breaking streak Bryant Rackers of Bonnots Mill now holds the first alternative methods record for shorthead redhorse. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulates Bryant Rackers of Bonnots Mill for breaking yet another state record – this time for a shorthead redhorse that weighed in at 2-pounds, 6-ounces. This is the first record for the species under alternative methods. It was caught Feb. 16 using a trotline. The shorthead redhorse is the fifth state-record Rackers now holds. The other four records include blue sucker, skipjack herring, white perch, and sauger. Rackers has caught all of his record fish on the Osage River. “I do fish other places, despite what it looks like,” laughed Rackers. “But I do fish a lot on the Osage because I live pretty close to it. And it keeps supplying me with record fish!” Like a few of his other records, Rackers says he was targeting this species of sucker. “It was a normal spring morning and I got a hankering to do some sucker fishing with a trotline,” Rackers recalled. “So I made it up, set out some hooks, and ended up catching the redhorse. I knew one of the slots was open for the record.” MDC staff verified the fish’s weight on a certified scale in Loose Creek. It’s the third state-record fish of 2020. Though Rackers says he’s caught a few record-fish just by the seat of his pants, he does credit his log book with helping him along. “I keep a little book of all my logs,” explained Rackers. “I track what the weather is doing, how much water is being released by the dam, stuff like that.” Rackers has made a name for himself, but he said he has no plans of stopping anytime soon. “I know my girlfriend is getting tired of me getting all these records, because she really wants one,” he laughed. “But I’m not going to stop! I’m going to keep going. I’ve got my eye on snagging season coming up. And I’d also like to break the tie I currently have for the skipjack herring.” Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: trotlines, throwlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl. For more information on state-record fish, visit http://bit.ly/2efq1vl. MDC congratulates Bryant Rackers of Bonnots Mill on catching his fifth state-record fish. Rackers caught a 2-pound, 6-ounce shorthead redhorse Feb. 16 using a trotline on the Osage River. Find this and other MDC media releases in our MDC online Newsroom.

Slime on the line means it probably was a catfish, likely a channel cat. Glad that you guys got out on the lake and had a good time.

@snagged in outlet 3 I have grown shiitake and oyster mushrooms from those inoculated "logs" years ago. I don't recall the brand. The shiitake was a log made with sawdust with the hyphae growing inside and on the outside of the log. The oyster log was a log made of straw like material. Both grow a bunch of mushrooms. The oysters were quite tender and delicious. The shiitakes were good but like those in the store had tough stems. We tried to inoculate several oak logs back in Columbia with maitakes but they never grew. There were two growers that sold their wares at the Columbia farmer's market. We have a grower/seller here. The sell oysters, lion's mane, maitakes and shiitakes. Rick can't wait to see if you're successful.

That's just funny right there I don't care who you are !

Good luck! Can't wait to see more this year.

Great fish. Congrats! Are you over 20 lunkers for the year?

Since the producer/seller of the product covers the inventory and returns, I have heard that there is a lot of theft from Walmart stores that goes unchecked. Another reason to avoid Walmart

Maryland state record is 2.2 lbs. Just about the same size as this fish.

Got out this evening and finally got a few perch. Nothing as big as this beast. Longest was almost 11 inches and the smallest about 8 inches. Too dark for photos😕. First fish was a small pumpkinseed.

I have a buddy that spends half of the year in Vermont. I hope to get up that way some time to fish with him and to fish New Hampshire. Their mountain top pond brook trout initiative has me intrigued. That is where they fly and stock brook trout from helicopters into the mountain top lakes and ponds. If the hike don't kill me it would be fun.

Missouri is not known for yellow perch fishing. So it's really amazing at the size of some of the perch being caught in Bull Shoals! I'm still trying to catch my first perch of the year here in Maryland. Webster County angler breaks days-old record for yellow perch Brian Holiday of Fordland caught a 2-pound, 3-ounce yellow perch from Bull Shoals Lake. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulates Brian Holiday of Fordland for becoming a state-record holder after catching a 2-pound, 3-ounce yellow perch from Bull Shoals Lake. This is the second time the record for yellow perch has been broken in 2020. “Missouri is on the very southern range for yellow perch, so records for this fish are uncommon,” said MDC Fisheries Programs Specialist Andrew Branson. “It’s even more unique that we’ve had two state-record yellow perch caught within days of each other.” Holiday caught his state-record fish from Bull Shoals Lake Jan. 27 – just three days after a 1-pound, 14-ounce record had been caught in Nodaway County. MDC staff verified Holiday’s fish’s weight using a certified scale in Springfield. Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: throwlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl. For more information on state-record fish, visit http://bit.ly/2efq1vl. MDC congratulates Brian Holiday on his state-record yellow perch. The 2-pound, 3-ounce fish was caught from Bull Shoals Lake Jan. 27 using the pole-and-line method.

@fishinwrench I fished the Bethel pond in Columbia for lots of years. I would have to look back through my records for an exact number. I have been checked probably about 6 times over last 8 years in Columbia. All after the Feb 1 catch and keep date. Only been to Mexico, Jeff city and Kirksville once. I was checked at Kirksville while ice fishing. Possible that has to do with proximity to MDC offices. I was checked twice the last two years at Little Dixie Lake near Columbia during the last two crappie spawns that I fished before we moved. Been here in MD 2 yrs and have been checked 4 times already. Maybe it is me😌. Anyway done with this thread. Maybe we can agree more on the What's cooking thread😀.

The urban program receives such a small number of fish in comparison to even just Bennett's that your arguments are laughable. There are about 35 urban lakes that may receive about 1000 to 1500 trout each. Even if it were 10K trout each that is still far less than the trout parks. Based upon 2 to 2.5 fish per permit sale Bennett's gets stocked with well over 400K fish annually. Taneycomo used to get stocked with over 600K trout annually. Yes those lakes do get a few lunkers just like the trout parks. I can't speak to what trout fishing was like in Missouri in the 60s and 70s. Maybe it was the best ever. Lots of things cost less then. I also believe that there were a number of private hatcheries releasing fish back then as well. Your rants just seems to me that if they aren't dumping big dumb fish into the Niangua for you to catch the whole program is garbage. On a side note I have had my tags checked many times while fishing the urban lakes. Only once in over 20 years was I checked on the Current. Maybe you need to go fish one of those mud holes to actually speak from experience.