Johnsfolly

I agree with Ness tbose big fish need to be supported and not have all that weight on its jaws...and there is more coverage😂. Congrats on some nice fish!

Good luck. Can't wait to hear how you did. All my favorite spots for that type of fishing are closer to Columbia. May be on the edge of what you are comfortable driving. Sending you a PM.

Livie released her last swallowtail butterfly a few days ago. This was a male. So fifty fifty split males and females.

One of Livie's favorites "5 out 4 people admit that they are bad with fractions!"😂

Some dad jokes. My wife tried to unlatch our daughter's car seat with one hand. Struggling she said "How do one armed mothers do it!" Without missing a beat I answered "Single handedly😁!" If a child refuses to sleep during nap time, are they guilty of resisting a rest? My daughter asked me "Can I have a book mark?" and I was so sad. 15 years old and she still doesn't know that my name is John😢! Here are the three most important unwritten rules of life 1. 2. 3.

Agreed Seth. he will contend that sleep is overrated whenever he has a chance at those sea monsters!

Great report! I don't have any electronics and rarely fish from a boat so did not follow all the you described about your sonar adjustments😌. However as you know I love multispecies trips. I still have not caught a flathead catfish. I love catching bluegill and a nice walleye just tops it. So these photos make me jealous!

I believe that we have Brandywines and maybe another heirloom variety (wife dealt with them this year) and know that we have yellow pear and red cherry tomatoes on the porch. Just starting to ripen.

Love cherokee purples😁. Sliced with a little S&P and balsamic. Makes my mouth water thinking about it.

Great looking smallies. congrats on a successful trip!

Sounds like a great trip! Glad that you got some great advice from the guys at Lilleys. Congrats!

Sorry no photo. Still cleaning out the freezer. Found venison loin roasts, chicken mushrooms, onions, etc in the freezer. I rubbed the venison with a little oil then garlic powder, montreal seasoning, smoked salt, and some dried herbs. Got a cast iron skillet nice and hot then seared the roasts on all sides. Into 325 oven until medium rare. Caramelized the onions then added in the mushrooms to brown then. Salt and pepper and garlic powder. Steamed broccoli on the side. After resting it a bit, sliced the roast on the bias and topped with the onion/mushrooms. Drizzled some hollandaise on the broccoli.

@MOsmallies and @Smalliebigs looks like a great time was had by all. Great to see the kids getting on some nice Ozark smallmouth. Congrats! Simply cant's ask for a better tradition ! Hopefully it can last for many more years to come.

I have to agree with this statement .

Just has to be a large enough ray to have thick filet meat. I'm willing to try it. As well as skate. I saw a program where a guy kept skates and ate the wing meat. Skate was about 2 to 2 1/2 times larger than these guys. Not sure how easy it would be to land one that size from the beach. Boating one would be some what easier once you got it off the bottom.

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!