Johnsfolly

Great video! This may be an awkward statement but I really enjoy watching your casts. Some of those reds were real bulls and great looking fish! I have got to get down that way!

Congrats! Great looking bunch of fish!

Every fall/winter I will do at least one dish with roasted root vegetables particularly parsnips and rutabagas (call them swedes in Ireland). I really love them. QB maybe we should get you some root vegetables for Jigfest☺!

Comfort food last night, chili !

You should know by now that we are big fans of braised meats. So that dish gets a DANG from the Folly household!

Sounds like you got them figured out really well. Congrats on a great mixed bag of fish including your dinner fish!

Norm glad to see you getting around. Keep fighting buddy. Hope to see some actual fishing posts from you very soon!

Congrats on a great day in the rain buddy! Lots of nice fish!

JHK sorry about missing that doe. As you mentioned that if you hit her leg would have been a real problem. She must have heard something hit the ground around her. No worse for wear. Good luck if you get out this weekend. With the expected wind I may go back to my blind where I shot my doe. It's tucked in enough for the wind such that the deer may not have a problem. It's also within city limits so no guns have gone off around these deer. Hope to see one of your trophy shots soon☺!

So when are we going fishing☺?

John congrats on a nice rifle buck! I use my dad's old Mossberg 22 mag for small game. It's close to 60 years old. Lots of good memories in mine. Keep making memories with your rifle and share those with your kids and grandkids (when you have them☺).

It is mandatory for the manufacturers of the stand to provide a safety harness with each tree stand and instructions on its use. I agree with Chief that the enforcement of such a regulation in the field would be nearly impossible to manage. The use of tree stands and safety equipment is presented to thousands of hunters every year as part of hunter safety certification classes all over the state and country. The lack of use of a fall restraint is more likely due simply to inconvenience and it cost this woman her life. Also Ned Yost fell from one of his tree stands and was fortunate to not lose his life due to internal bleeding.

I have to agree with bluegill over crappie in terms of the taste and texture. I haven't had many white bass, but enjoyed the ones that I kept and removed the blood line before cooking.

I will also include my own handling of fish I intend to release.

I will say that I have been more impressed with the handling and releases of carp than what I normally see from avid C&R bass fishermen. Mr Wingard sounds a lot more like my family from Pittsburgh than my wife's family from Reading. I would say he is from western PA.

You know us multispecies and microguys want to be accurate☺.

We see a lot of live skunks at Eagle Bluffs CA here in Columbia. Mostly just after the waterfowl hunting seasons end. Baby skunks are one of the cutest animals. In college I was walking one of our fraternity dogs in the evening past a cemetery. I saw four baby skunks running amongst the tombstones. They saw us and ran behind a stone. Then one after the other a little head would pop out from behind the same stone just slightly above the previous one. As the fourth one clambored on top to see us they all toppled over then scattered. A very Disneyesque moment. I'm glad that the dog didn't see any of this or else we may have headed home for a tomato juice bath.

BH - By the way I said that this fish was a bleeding shiner not a redtail shiner☺!

I haven't heard a whipporwill in probably 5 or 6 years. Used to hear them quite a bit in the spring. Maybe I have moved to new places or they just aren't as abundant. The latter would be a sad situation.

Anywhere that you can catch wild or naturalized trout is a special place. I would rather catch a 7" brook trout that has lived its whole life in a little stream than a 16" stocker at a trout park (unless that one was due for the skillet☺). When I lived in PA a 20" trout was the equivalent to a 10 lb bass. The state didn't stock fish larger than 10 to 12" at that time. So if it doubled its size it had been in the stream a pretty long time and a special fish. A 20" fish in Bennett's or in one if the urban lakes could have lived its entire life in a concrete run then dumped in the stream or pond the morning that it was caught. That changes how it should be considered as a trophy. Dont get me wrong I would still love to catch it on 2 lb test. Just would not consider it as much of a trophy as the 15" rainbow that I caught out of Barren Forks creek or the one I caught out of Crane creek. Those are special memories.

Thanks Everyone! I know that he does not even know anyone on this forum, but he would appreciate all of the support being given on his behalf. It is this part of this forum where OAF differentiates itself from others online communities. Thanks Phil!

So do you think they caught this guy in the urinal or the toilet ☺?

That is a great buck. Congrats to your friend for making a good shot and for you to let him take it! Hope that you get a chance at the other buck.

Now that's just funny! I just got several perch photos yesterday from Ham. So he's got that species on his list for 2017! He is so close to getting 52 species for the year it must be driving him crazy. I am a bit calmer since I need a few more species to meet a milestone goal, but I have until the end of Feb to get that done and not end of Dec. Also I have highlighted at least 7 species that I have caught in the past and are active in the winter. A couple of those could be caught during Jigfest !

Today I was supporting a good friend, hunting, and fishing buddy that I have known for the last 17 years as he buried his wife of nearly 50 years. She was diagnosed with ALS this last spring and the disease progressed faster than anyone imagined. She passed away on Tuesday. Please consider a prayer for Mike and his son as they go forward with their lives.