Johnsfolly

We had an attached garage and would just crack the door in that kind of weather. Usually kept them from freezing.

Seems like he knows where those big fish are and how to catch them.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article268782502.html Seems like Colorado's Waterdog lake is the spot for giant brook trout with two record breaking fish caught in such a short time. For me seeing big brook trout in their non-native range is a challenge. However, I would love to catch one over 2 or 3 pounds and would be extatic to catch one near the size of these beasts😁

Sounds about right😉

Maybe he knew enough that larger fish were likely to not make the trip.

It wasn't a priority on that trip.

I was in Walmart yesterday and saw a sign "This Walmart will be closed on Thanksgiving to allow our self-checkout cashiers to spend time with their families."🤣

We do burger with beef trimmings at usually 80/20 venison to beef fat mix. We do sausage with a fatty pork shoulder and mix 75/25 or 70/30 venison to pork.

"No thanks. I'm a vegetarian." Is a fun thing to say when someone tries to hand you a baby!🤣

That's a nice buck as well!

Congrats on a nice buck!

That was my first recognized warmouth. I caught my first pumpkinseed and brown bullhead when I was in grade school. It's all about location.

I listened to that show often. I have bad memories of the My name is Larry song. My buddy was really drunk and tossed it while that song was playing🤑

🤣

Always loved hunting deer after that first snow. At that time they don't seem to realize how much they stand out. After a few days they seem more able to hide even with the white background. Then it is also so easy to track them.

Dan I wish them all the best with their business. Sounds like they are on the way to real success.

@Terrierman my better half made a similar cream of leek soup this week. Was great with some crusty bread. Tonight she used her instapot to make baby back ribs with smashed roasted red potatoes.

Rick thanks for your service!

We lost a very funny man that believe it or not made a living smashing everything with a giant sledgehammer affectionately called the Sledge-o-matic. Warning some cursing may occur.

The day that my granddaughter was born (did not know that at the time) I drove over 630 miles round trip to fish SEMO particularly Mingo and around Polar bluff. Caught my first warmouth, redspotted sunfish, westrrn blacktail shiner, and brook darter on that trip. Missed seven gar on @BilletHeadgar fly. Did not catch a bantam sunfish. Definitely worth the trip.

I have spots identified on the Platte River to target northern plains killifish for when I am back out that way 😉.

I usually don't pass up a potential spot if I am just out to catch fish. In fact, when I got into microfishing that opened up all of the small and tiny creeks and ditches that I used to drive over. This lifelisting deal means that much more travel would be in the works. I do find that once I get beyond 2 to 3 hours drive that more new species are likely to be encountered. That does assume that there are different habitats to explore and fish. I also never know when I may find out that I have been missing out on a lifer that is close to home, but that is a different story and more to come on that deal 😉. I have caught a few of those fish on your list Dave. Several others are targets of mine as well.

Glad you and your truck were able to survive the beginning of the gauntlet when love is in the air and deer are on the roads😉

Congrats on a great fish Fry! That's a very nice walleye for sure!

Every year I set a number of short term, long term, and stretch fishing goals. I know it's kind of a sickness, but this is my hobby😅. Every year my wife allows and goes along with my planning for every weekend or spare time to try and achieve one of those goals. Usually her interest wanes after I am about 80% of the way. Here it is now the middle of November and I am still working towards those goals. I had a tough year for a few of them, but got a big boost with my trip to NC. That rejuvenated me and put some lifers into the win column. We have been having a very warm fall this year. With the warmer temps I have not put much time into trying to hunt. That left more time to fish. I focused back on a fish that I have tried to catch previously this year. In fact, I have fished for this one fish in three different creeks/rivers. I have already made two trips to one creek and saw but could not get a hook set on the target on both trips. I made a trip to another creek and never saw it. The third creek was the farthest from my house, but I have been there three times before and saw or almost caught this fish on each trip. Livie my daughter has caught more than a few on those previous trips. The hope would be whether a fourth time would be the charm. It so happens that the Fifteenmile creek resides in the Green Ridge State forest and is one of the public areas open to the single week fall turkey season in Maryland. I had brought my hunting gear and was prepared for small game and/or turkeys if I were fortunate to score on the target fish. Everything was dry and the creek was very low. There was only a minor perception of water flow. The water was clear and I was fishing a #26 hook with a tiny piece of redworm and a single split shot. I was looking for sculpin and was placing my bait in front of every crack or opening that looked like it could hold a fish and just to be sure many that seemed like they may not 😉. I caught a couple of bluntnose minnows. I also hooked up a brightly colored male rainbow darter (which would have been the first caught here in MD) but lost it trying to get it into the photo bag 🙄. I saw what could have been very small sculpin or maybe a fantail darter try for but not commit to my baits. Under a large flat rock there was a crevice that held promise. I dropped the bait and gave it a bounce or two to entice any dwellers and a sculpin grabbed the bait and it stayed hooked. I quickly got it into the bag and filled with some water. After four long trips I had finally caught a Potomac sculpin. This would be the third lifer sculpin that I would catch this year. Key characters: Notched dark band on both sides of the caudal peduncle (or base of the tail 😉) Mottled coloration around the pores of the chin and a single median pore. The location that I caught this fish puts this one well within the range of the Potomac and outside of the range of the Blue ridge sculpin or mottled sculpin. I had persisted and got it done! I spent about another hour fishing, but did not catch any other lifer species. More bluntnose minnows and creek chubs. I also never heard any animals besides birds and not turkeys. I hunted a bit, but got no responses to my calls. I saw no mast on the ground around any of the oaks nor any scratched up areas where turkeys or squirrels were looking for acorns. That was a bit of a disappointment. As I was headed home, I thought about how far would I go to get a target species. I ask you the same question.. How far would you Go?!?