Johnsfolly

I'm hoping to catch a cownose ray this summer. I snagged one two summers ago and it got off. They are a powerful fish. I want to have one hooked properly and land it. We think that Livie hooked one back in mid June but broke her line.

Yes sir.

My wife and I were talking about whether we should have kept them as we were heading home. At their size seemed like a lot of work for little gain.

I Agree . Currently up to 160 different freshwater and saltwater species to-date. I love the challenge as well as the research and taxonomy process.

Spot and Croaker are closely related. Croaker do not have the spot above the pectoral fin.

Sunday breakfast - not a healthy breakfast but tasty. We had some left over potato wedges from our trip on Sat. I decided on sausage gravy and hashbrowns. I cut those into cubes and fried in a little oil to crisp them up. Garlic powder and pepper added. Once crispy I added some diced onion. I did some diving into our freezer and found some homemade venison Italian sausage (won't even say when that bag went into the freezer). I browned up about a 1/2 lb and was surprised that it was still tasty. Added flour and a little butter to make a roux then milk until we had a gravy. Added pepper to taste. Last piece was some scrambled Folly Farm fresh eggs. I added some Cholula hot sauce to mine .

It's a holiday weekend, time to do some fishing! I have been reading reports of kingfish still on the beaches of Delaware and Maryland. Also maybe some sharks, bluefish, etc. on the beaches as well. I was planning of trying a couple of techniques. One would be a double high/lo rig for kingfish, spot, etc. using bloodworms. The other set-up would be a fish finder rig with a float near the circle hook to keep the bait just off the bottom, aka a modified Santee Cooper rig used for catfish. this one would have a wire leader for some toothy critters. Well we need bait. Friday evening Livie and I went out to the Choptank river to try to secure some spot or small white perch for bait. Pretty simple fishing. just a small weight( 1/4 to 3/8 oz) with two #10 bait hooks each with some nightcrawler pieces. We would drop those down next to the pilings and wait for the bite. It didn't take too long to have 8 to 10 spot for bait and a few perch and more spot that were released. One of Livie's spot - this one was a bit big and got released. My only double of the night a white perch (top) and a spot (bottom). Just to show what sizes we were keeping. The spot went in the cooler and the perch got released. After securing bait we tried for some catfish, but only caught more spot and perch. I ended the evening with 21 fish and Livie with only 11. Sat morning there was a lot of grumbling getting everyone moving to leave by 6 am to head to the beach. Well we were mostly prepared. Had rods, bait, sun protection, towels, knives, cooler, tackle, but left the chairs and my homemade rod holders . Well we made do. I cut the spot in half on a diagonal so that the head and tail pieces both had some guts. Put a head on the circle hook and cast it out. I gave the rod to my wife Sue and told here that if a fish picks up the bait and pulls to open the bail and let it have a little line and drop the rod tip. Then close the bail and reel which should set the circle hook. The reel in the fish. I got Livie set up with the bloodworm rod and I was fishing a jig with a pearl ribbon tail trailer. Next thing I see Sue's rod out of the corner of my eye. She had a fish on! It was pretty good fight and she landed her first ever clearnose skate ! We got the hook loose and after a couple of tries got the fish back out beyond the surf line. I took the rod next and used the tail section of the spot. Several minutes went by before I could feel something messing with the bait. I had the bail open and the lines in my fingers. I gave the fish some line as it began to pull then set the hook by reeling it in. I could tell that I also had a ray or a skate because it often would get to the bottom and stick to the bottom creating a vacuum with its wings. I would have to give it some line and begin reeling again when I felt it swimming again. I finally got in my first ever clearnose skate. Folks were wondering why we were so excited about a trash fish. Hey we caught fish and they made the life list for us Folly's (even though no smile). By 10 am the beach was really crowded and Livie was not getting any bites but did get tangled with a guy that budged between ourselves and folks fishing next to us. We headed for a pier nearby. Livie did catch a couple of spot. I lucked into a menhaden or bunker as they are called locally. The fishing slowed and the heat drove us back home. Not many fish but some family memories and a couple new fish added to the list!

Great story! Would have liked to have known the man. Thanks for sharing Mitch!

Thanks for posting a report. Always nice to hear about other folks successful or not so successful trips to find what worked or didn't. Congrats on the fish that you caught! 19 inch spot is a decent fish😁.

Dan you are becoming quite the travelling walleye guy. Congrats on catching them in Beaver! Good luck today. Can't wait to see you holding some southeast MO river walleye!

Congrats to your daughter on her personal best (albeit first) smallie😁! Nithing better than the excitement that a kid has when they feel that tug on the line and the smile when they hold their first fish! I hope that there are many more firsts for you guys in the future and many more fish😁.

Nice Largemouth. Congrats to your PB!

Looks great @trythisonemv! I hope that there are still a bunch of chants around when I get back to MO on the 13th. I'm in a suite for the week and can make my own meals. So would like to have some chants and eggs, steak, etc..

Never have any problem with some farm pond bass management . Congrats! Looks like a fish fry in the making.

My friend has peach and apricot trees and the squirrels never let the fruits get this far along.

We were coming back from Delaware three four weeks ago and stopped at a produce stand that had a large selection of vegetable, herb, and flowering plants for sale. Looking at the dill plants Livie spotted some swallowtail caterpillars. So we ended up buying the pots that had the critters. There was a total of four caterpillars and they all became chrysalises. So far she has released one male and two female black swallowtails . Hopefully the last swallowtail will emerge soon from its chrysalis. Thankfully Livie hasn't begun scouring the milkweed plants along the road for monarchs. Though that may be in our future.

Good luck. We lived in Columbia so Hazel creek was close enough. I have only fished Pomme once and saw a giant (42+") come out from a dock and look over our baits, but no interest. Only had four encounters that day and no hook-ups. I haven't caught a pike yet, but have been bit by the musky bug and will hound a friend of mine to take me if I get a chance to get back out to MO this Sep/Oct.

We don't have this option . So I mix and knead by hand. I have never tried some of those ultrafine Italian flour. Can't find those readily around here.

Looks good @ness! Love to eat homemade pasta. Just don't make it often enough to be really good at it. Or at least good enough for it to not be a bit of a chore.

Marinaded boneless chicken thighs. Oil, rice wine vinegar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, kickin chicken spice mix, sesame oil. Grilled and served with baked beans. Simple but good😁.

Nice bluegill! That had to have been a fun trip. Congrats!

Actually would be a great time to find that hidden structure along the banks.

All that sculpin habitat high and dry. So sad😢. Hope that the water comes up soon.

Velcro would suck. Bring back button fly jeans!

Put that on toast and add another slice of toast and you have a club sandwich😁. Of course some swiss cheese would go a long way as well.