Johnsfolly

You and me both Mitch !!!

After catching a dozen keeper blue crabs, we had steamed crabs last night. Tonight was crab crepes and mixed green salad. My wife made them so I can't go through a step by step for this dish. Was tasty.

My Betterhalf wanted to get some more time crabbing before the fall hit hard and the crabs become scarce. We headed out Early Sunday armed with some redworms, razor clams, and chicken necks. Baits for fish and crabs. Sue got her gear onto the Slaughter creek bridge. I put on a #20 hook with a small piece of redworm to catch mummichogs or silversides to use for bait for possible seatrout or schoolie stripers while my wife was crabbing. The last time out at this bridge it was easy to catch a few mummichogs. This time the minnows were not as abundant. I did find a few small schools of minnows. I caught a couple of mummichogs and missed a few more. When my bait was near the rocks, some small dark fish came out from under the rocks. They moved like sculpin and were aggressive. I landed my first one and wasn't sure if this was just a juvenile toadfish or something else. Regardless was a pretty neat little fish. I caught at least five before I stopped trying to catch more. I looked at a some references and determined that this is likely a naked goby. Caught more minnows and fished for bigger fish. I caught quite a few spot, helped my wife corral the feisty blue crabs that she was catching. Several were close to 6 inches across their carapace, the largest ones that we have caught all year. We had a couple of laughs as more than one crab took off crab crawling across the bridge to get away from us crabbers. Ultimately we had the last say. Over 5.25 inches and they went into the cooler with the others. I was fishing live minnows under a float I got several bites that took the float so deep that I lost sight of it completely, but could not get a good hook set and never landed one of those fish ! I did catch a silver perch, my first in Maryland. This is another species related to drum. That can be seen by the shape of the tail which is similar to that of the freshwater drum. We left after we had a dozen keeper sized crabs in the cooler. Even after being on ice they were still feisty! Happiness is a bunch of crabs in your drawers !

Looks like the kids had a great time!

That's awesome. If you see one or more again, try a white woolly bugger or small minnow streamer. If you don't have an issue fly fishing a bait with a small spinner, a silver blade and white body should work for those pickerel. I caught those Crane creek pickerel while using a 1/16 oz silver and white roostertail. Good Luck! If you can, get a good photo of the entire body once you catch one.

Looks like you had some success. Congrats! good looking flies (at least the parts sticking out of those hungry mouths). I have some hoppers that @BilletHead tied for me, but I can't get the time to head on a three to four hour trek to catch some brookies with them .

Welcome to the forum. Lots of fishing opportunities if you like clear water and abundant fish😀!

With you on the just catch something thought process! I love the tug of any fish. These are a couple of Ozark beauties for sure!

Still cleaning out the freezer. I saved a venison shank wanting to cook it low and slow. I prepared a rub of powdered ginger, onion powder, garlic powder, smoke paprika, mixture of dried thyme, dill, and basil. Coated the meat with the rub and seared on all sides. Added the shank, onion, celery and many garlic cloves into a baking dish. Braising liquid was a mixture of beef stock, mushroom liquor made from dry powdered hen of the woods mushroom (from last season), and Mondavi Cabernet. Covered and cooked for almost 4 hours at 320. I roasted a head of garlic and used the roasted garlic for smashed potatoes (also a bit of ranch dressing in the mix). Served with roasted Brussel sprouts seasoned with smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Was delicious ! (sorry @Terrierman no flash or overhead lighting)

Congrats om some nice bass!

Swallowtails love dill as well.

Put on camo and you have the hunter's wife pillow😀.

Sounds awesome buddy. Congrats on a great day of catching for sure! You were throwing what they wanted to eat.

That's a great smallie! he should remember that one for a long time. Congrats dad for taking your boys out and putting them on some fish.

That's Sus carpio, the razorback sucker! Spotty distribution throughout the Midwest, but common in Arkansas oxbow lakes and farm ponds .

That's right! Hey if you do catch some oddballs I have no issue in looking them over for you. Just need good photos that show the fins, lateral scales, etc. Won't be able to photo tooth patches. for minnows, I would prefer that they be photographed from the side and in water. That way they extend their fins. From those photos I can try to give you an id. If not I am in contact with the gentleman that is currently revising the "Fishes of Missouri". If he is not swamped, I can usually get confirmation from him as well. Maybe if I get back up into Iowa, you might know a spot or two to catch orangespotted sunfish. I haven't had much luck with that species in Missouri and they are not native to Maryland.

I have stopped trying😢. Did find a local place that has great crab soup. Lots of fair to good bowls around here but this place has a great recipe.

FishnDave - Come over to the dark side and count some lateral line scales and fin rays!

Seems like all we have been catching lately are undersized crabs or oyster toadfish like this one (not excited if it's not on a hook and line). nice location though I did catch a small spotted seatrout on our last crabbing trip. I know not a cooking post, but this is a fishing forum

Yes fish can have population cycles, though not as dramatic as the lynx/hare cycles taught in ecology classes. I know that one of the creeks that I enjoyed fishing in MO, we would preferentially harvest largemouth bass and released smallmouths. That creek did have a shift in the populations towards more smallmouth bass. Also during that same time period, the habitat changed in a lot of areas with what seems like a reduction in the number of slower water deeper pools. It's possible that the largemouth bass moved further downstream where more of that type of habitat remains and that the selective harvest had no effect on the bass populations.

Nearly the entire episode is in the hospital.

Spent a lot of my youth living near the Connecticut coast where we fished, spearfished, and collected fresh seafood (i.e., lobster, clams, etc.). Also many good fresh seafood places like the Clam Box. I was disappointed every time that I have been to Red Lobster when I lived in PA on the quality of the fish and crabs/lobster. Always seemed to have been frozen for a long time. So just stopped going. Maybe that was that particular restaurant or the chain. I don't know since I just stopped going to others.

Jeff my wife is terrified by that episode.

I have seen every episode of the Twilight Zone. One of my favorites is Eye of the Beholder where the young woman is getting surgery to her face and they reveal how "ugly" she was/is. The Masks is another favorite. As is Nightmare at 20,000 feet with the great William Shatner over reaction acting😀.

I have always disliked Red Lobster. Didn't think that it would be hard to find decent seafood in Panama City.. Good luck Mitch!