Johnsfolly

@Smallmouth Addict 12 did you ever get out to Little Dixie for blue cats? If so how did you do?

Maybe bring him out of seclusion😀. All that sounded great Rick!

Looks so much bigger in this photo. What a toad!

That is a Giant! Congrats Bill!

To me these pictures says it all! Congrats on making great memories with your kids! 👍👍

Congrats on a nice pike!

Looks like it catches big females😱. What can you say the marketing is working😌.

What we need is more strict gun control laws like they have in DC and Chicago.... Wait a minute😌?!?

Nice PB smallie Seth. Congrats!

Watching a float go under is a great trigger. Still love the thump of an underwater bite😀.

Would that be Gerrymallarding😌! Maybe someone was under the influence when they made the dividing lines😂.

@JestersHK Nice haul for a quick morning pond trip buddy! I would have to had done one of your night fishing trips to get ahead of the front in Columbia. Rained until 4 pm.

I still have to winder Ness since I don't get those kinds of pop up ads 😜. Lately it has been life insurance ads for me. Wonder if they know somethimg that I don't😌.

When I am purposely fishing powerboat or eggs for trout I am keeping them. What I don't like is gut hooking a trout when I am fishing worms for suckers in the Niangua amd hadn't planned on keeping any. Should listen more to Oneshot who tends to head home with trout when he sucker fishes and bring a cooler regardless. And should start using circle hooks there too. I was watching an offshore video and they were catching undersized mahi. Every one of thise fish was dropped into the boat, allowed to bounce all over the deck and then thrown back into the water. The whole time that guy us saying how high the mortality rate is for those short fish 😒. I would also contend that carpeted boat decks aren't a great catch and release surface for those fish either.

I will also say that I have a few but would love to have every DeLorme state gazetteer atlases as well. I will lose service in a lot of rural areas and having a paper map is invaluable to me. Having the state atlas has helped quite a few times to find a spot or to get me out of one 😌.

I find the street view is hit or miss most of the time in rural areas. I will use it if that function is there for the spots that I am looking to try to fish. Lately I will identify four or more likely spots using the map features mentioned then will get eyes on the three most promising ones first when I travel to thay area. If none of those don't pan out, I'll will look at the others. Usually at least one will be fishable.

Pasta looks good RPS but that avocado is intriguing. Gonna have to try that. We love avocado and balsamic.

Congrats guys! Topwater is my favorite way to catch most fish for the pure excitement. Cool double. Have to be in some aggressive fish to get both hooked😀. I've seen it first hand but haven't caught one myself. Hope you can get out again. Looking forward to more reports.

I've been in quite a few that did have gators. Was nice to not have to speed reel in the fish to keep them away from a gator😀.

Was definitely pretty unexpected for that area. A gem amongst the melon and corn fields of Delaware.

who makes the wounded duckling topwaters? I used to have a hula popper that looked like a blackbird😀.

We have to enjoy the journey as much as the success. Still want to catch those guys and will just have to keep trying .

I love the one of Monk. That was very funny!

The title is in tribute to @Mitch f to post a trip that I did not meet the target expectations of the trip. I have been researching places near Maryland that I could try to catch a couple of uncommon or rare species, the banded and black banded sunfish. I found an area in Delaware where both species have been collected in the past. I don't know when those collections took place, but since these areas had both at one time they were good targets for me to make a trip and see what I could catch. It also just so happens that Livie was staying a drama camp in the heart to this same area. I scouted out the outfall of Trussum Pond, which is supposed to be the northernmost stand of native cypress trees in the country. The water was low and clear in the creek and I could see a number of turtles as well as a variety of fish. I went back the next Saturday and found the water was rushing over the dam and the creek was running fast. I was there and would give it a try regardless. I rigged a #18 hook and a split shot about 9 inches above the hook. Put on small piece of worm. I fished the edges of the pond that I could reach from the bank. Nothing. I went down to the stream and got into an old growth cypress wetland. Water was moving faster than I liked, but I dropped my bait in eddies, behind cypress trees, and around brush. I tried any spot that had some slower water. I caught my first fish at one spot where a laydown restricted the flow at a side stream off of the main creek. It was the right size, but was just a bluegill. I dropped my bait in front of the same laydown and had a heavy bite just to land a roughed up bluegill. I caught two more and moved to another spot. Just more of the same, a few bluegill and nothing else. This nice male at least was a decent consolation prize. I headed back upstream and saw some topminnows and tried for them with my #26 tanago hooks. They spooked whenever I put a bait near them. No luck. I went to a different location and my first fish was a dark sunfish. Thinking that I may have caught a banded sunfish. Turned out to be a green sunfish. I caught a few other green and several bluegill. So I ultimately left with my tail between my legs and will have to try that area again. Maybe a kayak would help me fish the pond more effectively. My last image from that trip was this white cardinal flower. I saw a few of the typical red versions but this was the first white that I have ever seen.

Has anyone tried to get those boatside browns to commit with a figure eight like you do for Musky? I would love to throw a 6 to 8 inch rainbow trout plastic swimbait to those browns.