Johnsfolly

I'm not even sure what would cause this color phase. Strange fish.

I did that with native flowers in the Columbia yard. Would have spring blooms(columbines, blue bells, celadine poppies) followed by summer flowers (brown eyed susans, cone flowers, milkweed) then autumn flowers (asters).

We do know about the lack of sales tax. A few of our staff live in DE for that reason. Others go to the outlet shops. My vice is fishing tackle😂!

I have been trying to get on the shad spawning run by heading up north to the big rivers and their tributaries. Haven't had much luck, between work, heavy rains, cold weather, etc.. that had the fish start and stop their runs. Decided to look elsewhere for possible shad fishing for Livie and my Betterhalf. Saw videos of guys catching shad in the inlets near us. Those fish were not running the inlet to spawn, but more likely to feed near shore. My Betterhalf doesn't have a Maryland license, but does have a Delaware non-resident license. So on Saturday, I read a recent report from the Indian River Inlet in Delaware that shad were in the inlet and folks catching them on the incoming tide. Packed up the gear, including a box of spoons and shad darts, and the family and ran out to Delaware. We got to the inlet about 60 to 70 mins before high tide. There was a good current running through the inlet. I saw a guy fishing a double shad dart tandem rig behind a lead weight. As I watched him as he caught a double and landed a third fish on his second cast. His buddy caught two using a similar rig. With that information I got our rods rigged up with a 3/8 oz egg sinker above a barrel swivel then a 17 lb leader tied with either a silver #1 PET silver spoon above a 1/8 oz chartreuse/green dart. Another was rigged with a 1/16 oz pink/pearl dart above a 1/8 oz chart/green dart. I ran out of 3/8 oz sinker and put on a 1/4 oz sinker above a 1/16 oz chart/green dart above a 1/8 oz red/pearl dart. We found a spot along the fence where we should be able to reach a seem in a back eddy. I made the first cast, gave it a 2 second countdown, slowly reeled in, and hooked the first hickory shad of the day on the pink/pearl dart. Not a big fish, but feisty fighter. My Betterhalf hooked the next fish on the chart/green dart. This was her first shad ever. Two casts later she hooked up again this time on the spoon. I hooked another on the pink/pearl. Livie had the rod with the lighter sinker and I had her countdown to 3 before reeling it in. She finally got bit, fought and landed her first hickory shad, a nice 17" fish. My Betterhalf hooked and landed two more. Then she hooked into something bigger. I didn't see it, but the fish showed itself to the guys up from Sue. They described what seemed like a skate or a cownose ray. It broke her off on the rocks and was lost. I caught another shad, then hooked into a bigger fish that pulled drag. The fish dove into the rocks and broke me off. I never saw it. As the tide crested, wind picked up, and the bite slowed. Livie and Sue switched to fishing with small hooks and bloodworm pieces. Even then the bite was not fantastic. Sue landed a spider crab! Livie did catch a fish and it was one that she has never caught before, a cunner or bergall! Sue headed back to the car to warm up while Livie and I tried a different spot trying to find an oyster toadfish. No bites. The tide had crested and the fish just were not biting. With the cool wind, we decided to head back towards the car. I decided to make a few more casts. As Sue was walking down to us, I got a heavy bite. Turns out it was a double. Decided that I could not do better and we packed up and headed home. Sue and I ended up with six shad each. Livie caught two shad and the cunner. Not sure that the girls will be eager to return, but I plan on getting back there and catch a few more shad.

Healthy Stripers buddy! Congrats again! Can't wait to see tomorrow's catch!

Congrats on a great looking mess of crappie! Fish fry for sure!

@Quillback great report and great fish buddy! Striper bites around us have been slow to say the least. Lots of rain messing with the salinity. Have never caught any the size that you have been catching in Beaver. Looking to get some like that later this month😁.

I do think that Livie can't wait for me to find a local friend to fish with. 😌. Would take the pressure off her to have to go with me all the time

Haven't been taking the time to post any of our trips lately. Been trying to get a few species for Livie. We tried going to a couple oftributary creeks of the Susquehanna to get her on some hickory shad. We started fishing Octoraro Creek, which reports indicated held plenty of shad. We fished tandem rigs with shad darts. Broke off a bunch but no bites and we headed upstream. Switched to a tandem rig with small spoons. Finally we caught the first fish, a feisty white perch. We caught more on silver PET spoons and on gold Marathon spoons. We both lost bigger fish on the gold spoons due to the hook breaking free of the spoon body. We stopped using the gold spoons and stuck with the silver ones. I got a couple of small walleye which was a surprise from this small creek. Against Livie's advice we moved upstream to another bigger pool. Caught a few more nicer white perch. We had been seeing quite a few larger fish jumping all over the creek. Livie cast and hooked into something big that ran and pulled drag and finally broke off the line. Thought it was a carp. Three casts later Livie caught and landed her very first walleye. Just over 15" in length. Never did catch a shad in this creek. Livie was done, but I wanted to try the Deer Creek confluence. Went back to tandem shad darts and caught quite a few white perch including one that may be the largest that I have ever caught. I landed a small striped bass just as I was getting my license checked by a warden. Just at dusk, I caught my first hickory shad of the year. Only caught the one before it was getting dark and we went home. I have been talking with a friend about catching an eel. I found a tidal creek near our house that eels have been collected previously. I wanted to try to chum with a block of minced chicken liver and worms to try to get Livie an eel. I dropped a frozen block of the chum just off the bridge. We fished a different fishing pier and had very little luck. Just before dusk we went back to the bridge and fished worms just off the bottom. Livie caught the first fish, a white perch. I caught one as well. Livie caught another first - a brown bullhead. Since I have caught them but don't have a photo of one, Livie let me catch the next few fish. Only caught another white perch and two white catfish. Not a bad night. Will still have to get an eel.

Get a European carp fishing camo hide and fish away buddy! No one will even know that you are there ! Shouldn't need a license to fish from a fountain.

Congrats on making that list. I've caught a lot of trout on your jigs. Not near as many as some guy(s) on the forum, but enough for me. So can attest to their effectiveness. Also congrats on a great Merriam's turkey!

Been a lot of quick meals or dining out lately. Not much home cooked meals. We did do a surf and turf for my wife yesterday. Beef filet and swordfish steaks, sweet corrn, and herbed roasted potatoes. Not very creative but tasty.

Looks good buddy! Enjoy the free time that you have over there. Pretty sure that you will be putting in a lot of work time as well.

QB - coming late to the party, but have to agree with the warmouth. That is a species that I have never caught. So I am a bit jealous. They are one of my target species here in Maryland this year. Hopefully I will have one caught in the near future.

Love roasted garlic! Has that sweet almost nutty flavor. Can't beat spreading it on good bread 😁!

When I was a kid living in Nebraska a tornado went through my friend's neighborhood and it looked just like that video. Scary stuff for sure.

I have been on three 72 hour trips. One out of Glouchester Mass (1984) and two out of Key West (89 and 91) Got to fish any time that the boat stopped moving. Bottom fishing not tuna. Caught all kinds of fish. I don't belive that either of those fisheries allow that type of fishing anymore.

Congrats on three impressive river walleye! Those are beasts! Would have loved to see the one that you lost.

Now if she wanted to catch a tuna, I bet that you guys would be headed to Louisiana !

Catching one is a lot more fun than opening a can, but to each his own😁.

Worse thing that I have done was to leave my bow on top of my vehicle. Then drive away. The parking area was icy when I got back to the car. So was paying attention to not falling than what I was doing with my bow. After about a 1/4 mile my bow slid off the roof and onto the road. Fortunately just got some scuff marks in the riser. No limb damage. Been shooting that bow for 6 years since that happened.

Congrats @moturkey on a couple nice birds. Glad that you were able to use that GPS to get back and find your shotgun. I had a buddy leave a shotgun after hunting. Didn't need his GPS since he left it in the parking area. Wasn't there when he got back 😢.

Congrats on a nice bird! Good luck on those Merriam's. Would love to see some photos. One of my favorite looking subspecies.

I fish all over for the experiences. New creeks, lakes, and especially for different fish. I do love the comfort of home waters but you can't catch tuna in LOZ or the Niangua.

Those are great koi pond or aquaria fish. Not sure I would want to see them freely swimming our creeks and lakes. Wouldn't hurt my feelings to catch a big mirrored fish. Hard to rival naturally selected colorful fishes like Missouri darters.