Johnsfolly

Good deal Jeff and glad that the walleye was over 18 inches 😉! Catch a few more and measure each of them to recalibrate your eyes 😅

Another old photo that I just got into a digital format. This is a mutton snapper and a white margate that I caught out near the Dry Tortugas, Key West in 1985. Here's a closeup of the margate. My notes from that trip is that it was over 18 lbs. I looked today and the Florida state record for this species is 19.5 lbs set in 2011. Maybe this was a state record at that time. We will never know 😒

Hey Round is a Shape at least that's what I keep saying🤣

I need to check out our local crappie hotspot.

Preaching to choir on that have to work deal.

Looks like it must be still tough fishing if you're only posting a single koi photo, but at least you got out. 👍

@gurzik congrats on on catching some nice fish! Hope to see some TX bass photos soon.

Nice RPS we love mussels!

When I fished the Current a lot in the 2000's, I fished F9 anf F11 floating rapalas and caught probably 98+% browns. Not a problem since that's what I wanted to catch. However the rainbows that I did catch were typically over 15 inches. When they changed to the blue ribbon regs, I caught more 18+" browns for the first two/three years. After that it dropped way down in both numbers and size. I did catch more rainbows on XRaps and smaller hardbaits but never the numbers of browns that I used to catch. Around that time it was noticeable that the stocking numbers were going down year after year. Around 2013/2014 I went on my quest for trout fishing all of the MO trout waters and once that was done started heavily microfishing. That meant that I hadn't fished the Current as much. So didn't experience if there was a further decline in numbers.

Do you think that the growth and girth of the fish is due to fewer fish being stocked and allowing more food for those fish that effectively stay away from the worms and powerbait crowd for a year?

That's possible. @Seth I tend to agree that in the hands of good fisherman that bigger fish are likely susceptible to being caught than before.

A timely report sbout crappie fishing with livescope to add to this discussion. https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/live-sonar-for-crappies/

Some helpful tips for taking some coyotes. https://www.fieldandstream.com/hunting/late-winter-coyote-tips/

Fish tacos from the bergall and ling from our NJ trip. Pickled red onion, mango, Mexican crema mixed with sour cream, garlic powder, and lime juice. Cotija cheese and cilantro. Not sure why the photo was so yellow. Tasted great.

I hope that your son does or did well in his event. On another note, I ask that you give him our thanks for his service and sacrifice!

Seems like there is money to be made in selling sheds. So shed hunting for elk antlers is very competitive and I think there is a lot of trespassing going on. I believe there is a season when it is open to collect antlers from public lands. So poaching can occur.

No worries DJ. Duane hasn't been on OAF since January🙄

Koi is still on my "to do" list. The location that I went to late last year was a bust with blind casting. Maybe with warmer weather they might be moving if they are still there.

My uncle was a carpenter. My aunt always called him a rough carpenter and wouldn't let him do anything around their house. All I knew is that he just about cut off both his thumbs with a power saw (though not at the same time).

10 years ago I knew a guy whose uncle trapped along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and he would top 500 raccons a year. I used to live trap raccoons around our chickens and give them to this guy. He left our company and I was left to handle the coons myself. I usually set up the trap the night before the trash guys came. Still caught as many but I didn't sell the fur. No photos so it didn't happen 😉.

Not really a shed but the nicest salvaged set of antlers for me from a long ago elk hunt in Wyoming. The nicest set for Livie was her Sika antlers here in MD.

Anyone else do any shed hunting? We go most years. I'm not very good at it and typically don't find a lot of sheds. We do typically find deer bones, dead turtles, raccoon bones, skulls etc. Our best day we found four antlers all on public land. https://www.themeateater.com/wired-to-hunt/whitetail-scouting/why-right-now-is-the-best-time-to-shed-hunt-public-land

Here a cool fish that would be a challenge to catch. Even snorkelfishing it would be hard in the intestinal zone combating waves. Would be awesome to land one 😉 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/25/science/pacific-spiny-lumpsucker-fish.html

Did some bird chasing yesterday. Missed or overlooked a northern lapwing, a European.plover species that we have seen when living in N Ireland but not here is states. We did end up at a park about 60 miles north. We ended up having a good walk through the wooded park looking for a yellow-headed blackbird a common western species. We walked for a while. One thing became evident is that people feed the squirrels. We saw folks with bags of peanuts. Some of the squirrels were absolutely huge. The other is the you can't stand in a spot for too long before one will get right up to you looking for food. So close that you get the idea they may climb up your leg looking for peanuts. The last thing is that there is a large number of the melanic gray squirrels. They are also as greedy as the others. We did see the yellow-headed blackbird. No photos but a lifer for all of us 🙂