FishnDave

I had one something like this, but an orange net, before I moved. Must have tossed it or gave it away. This one's net is 7"x 8"x 4"deep. https://www.memphisnet.net/product/Baitwell-Dip-Net?srsltid=AfmBOoqI1K61w-oRl2-VPJOU3-x0JZH2B55iUTWnzZnuuvOVw2owkgtOOoU

Yes, absolutely! And more! You get the GRAND PRIZE 🏆, which is a lunker refund of double the amount of your entry fee into this thread! Congratulations my friend! 😜 🤣 Together, we'll bring back LUNKER from the precipice of archaic neglect!

Wow, that IS (was) a BIIIGGG shish!

Not a goal of mine. Been to a fair few places (at least 25 states and 21 countries), but haven't fished in most of them. I try to camouflage my fishing addiction during family vacations. I've only fished (and caught fish) in the states of Hawaii, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas! Also Mexico (Cabo), Ontario, Puerto Rico, Aruba, and Costa Rica. We have travel plans lined up for this year to go to Alaska and Antarctica...may salmon-fish off BC during the Alaska trip.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bowfisherman-harvests-uber-rare-golden-bowfin-in-wisconsin/ar-BB1jQOLB?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=5ecf66b022c045538f26cfe889815396&ei=17 To be fair... I don't know if her name was Giselle.

Tried a different section of the same creek yesterday, with the micro stuff again. Caught 29 fish. Striped Shiners, Creek Chubs, Bluntnose Minnows, Bleeding Shiners, Northern Studfish, Longear Sunfish, Bluegills, and a Green Sunfish. Finally had a couple Darters hooked, and several Topminnows hooked, but all fell back into the water instead of into my hand. Rats... would have loved to have gotten pics of them! This looks like it would be really easy to catch these little fish. Sometimes it is (for the Striped Shiners and Creek Chubs), but its also a lot of work and time, and patience when trying to get the smaller-mouthed fish to strike something that isn't real. Many times I see fish come up and look and decide my offering is NOT FOOD. Frustrating. Equally frustrating is when a fish finally DOES hit, and somehow manages to not get hooked on the tiny hook. You only get so many shots! @Johnsfolly and @Ham were consulted again to help me I.D. some of the fish. The Bluntnose Minnow was a new species on fly for me. Bleeding Shiners: Bluntnose Minnows: Creek Chubs: Northern Studfish: Striped Shiners:

I lose way to many hooks trying to "accidentally" impale inchworms clinging to the trees above and around me. 😬

Ok, you used Lunker in a sentence! Yes, thank you, I meant to mention that both @Ham and @Johnsfolly are very helpful in ID'ing these things, and they know other folks that can offer suggestions if we need help.

Or Micro Lunkers? Is that an oxy-moron? It occurred to me that I haven't used nor heard the term "lunker" in some time. Do people still use it? Sounds funny. Maybe I just don't catch fish big enough to be called lunkers. To wit: Having reached my goal of 100 U.S. Freshwater Fish on Fly, I've considered changing my stance on micro-fishing. It wasn't something I was particularly interested in, although I DO like seeing some of the cool micro species folks catch, such as the beautiful darter species. Most Micro-anglers use bait, often a tiny chunk of worm or even a piece of a grain of rice. I'm going to try it with micro "flies" on a fly rod. Something artificial (not bait) tied on a very small hook. (Just my personal choice, and keeps in line with my bad habit of making fishing way harder than it needs to be.) Trout anglers have been using very small hooks for some midge dry flies and midge larva nymph flies for many years. Anyway... So I looked into micro-fishing a bit. Many micro & minnow species have TINY mouths, of course. Gotta have a tiny hook they can get in their mouth. For my first go at this, I bought some Tanago hooks that are pre-snelled on a length of line/thread. I also bought a pack of Daiichi 1130 #26 hooks. The tanago is finer wire, and the hook bend to hook point distance is about 1/2 what the Daiichi is. I tied some material to 3 of the Tanago hooks (so far), each one a bit different material and different color. I took them fishing to a new-to-me creek. I fished for at least a couple couple hours, caught at least a dozen fish. Lost 2 of the 3 tanago flies to overhead trees after missed hooksets. Might be a little too aggressive... hey, I'm just learning! One of the reasons micro fishing didn't previously appeal to me, was that minnow species can be pretty hard to distinguish from each other. Today was a good example. There were 4 species I recognized (3 I'd caught before on larger flies), and then there were some I was not sure about... and still am not sure about. These 2 are Creek Chubs. Much smaller than I'm used to catching: Mottled Sculpins: Now, I don't know how you measure your fish... with these micros, I guess I can just use my own "finger-width" scale. This little fella is somewhere in the 2.0-2.5 finger-width range. HA! Southern Redbelly Dace (just one, and was the only FOR SURE fish I hadn't previously caught on (bigger) fly): Striped Shiner: Some or all of the following may also be Striped Shiners, or not...I really don't know... but here they are: I did have some Darters chasing and hitting my flies, but at @ 1" long, they were too small for me to catch even on my tiny hook. At another spot, I got out just to look and left the rod in the car...and saw some other minnows including Northern Studfish...which I've also caugth before.

What gar have done for millions of years could help us strengthen/repair human DNA. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/meet-the-new-king-of-the-living-fossils/ar-BB1jnAvN?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=74e2bd0433824b08bc205899c57349b4&ei=21

I don't doubt it. I don't believe I've ever watched it. If it doesn't have a chimp in it, is it even a real Clint Eastwood movie? 🙈

That reminds me of the Iowa Machine Shed. 😆

During our early high school Driver's Ed class drives, we would drive to Winterset, Iowa, and drive by John Wayne's boyhood home there. Incidentally, that is very near where Clint Eastwood & Merly Streep's movie "The Bridges of Madison County" was filmed. I also stayed at a Holiday Inn once. 😏

It's going to happen. Several online sources mention 2027... but I've heard more recently that they may get the first one born in late 2024. They recreated the genetic sequence, and the plan was to implant the test-tube fetus into an Indian Elephant, which would then give birth to the 100% Mammoth. The gestation period of an Indian Elephant is long...18-24 months, so even once the successful implantation happens, we'll still have to wait for the birth. One plan was to reintroduce them to Siberia, for starters. It'll be really cool to see! I have to wonder how well they will manage to survive. They were successful during the last ice age... but we aren't currently in an ice age.

Also, market your business as "eco-friendly"... and have a low overhead by having no container. Bring your own container, tin can, bare hand, or pants pocket.

Uncle Jim's Worm Farm is selling 500 for $50. Or 10/ $1. For the sake of a profit...how about $2.50/dozen? Smaller than canadian nightcrawlers, bigger than red wigglers.

Maybe it doesn't count because they determined its a Black Crappie x White Crappie hybrid?

Are you all out of rolling papers now? 😜

The ol' "Bump-and-Run" technique!

You're really not selling me on the fact I should have joined you on Sunday. 😲🙄 I could have at least gone to the ramp and helped you launch. Wading could have been interesting, you should maybe try that sometime. There seemed to be a fair bit of 4' deep water a ways off shore.

Those GTOs are cool! One of my favorites cars from that decade is probably a 1968 Firebird.

Day 2, I think I caught maybe 4 Freshwater Drum, a Largemouth Bass, a White Bass, and 2 Blue Catfish. For some reason, I couldn't buy a Striped Bass all day! Hamilton caught a bunch, tho. I've caught many Channel Catfish (including plenty on fly), and maybe a couple dozen Flatheads (not on fly), but I've never caught, nor personally SEEN anyone catch a Blue Catfish before, so this was really cool for me to finally be able to add them to my flyrod lifelist. White Bass: 2nd Blue Cat: I am SUPER HAPPY to have caught Striped Bass and Blue Catfish! @Ham keeps making my fishing dreams come true! (No pressure, ha!) Huge thanks, Hamilton! 👍

I'll add some pictures, of course. @Ham continues to find ways to put even a hack like me on cool fish! Hamilton's description of the trip is excellent, although I feel he over-embellished my success in terms of numbers. Its entertaining to watch him catch fish after fish, while I trudge along for hours between bites on my fly gear. Definitely helps pass the time. 😁 To be fair, I do this to myself... forcing my fly gear into situations that could much more efficiently be fished with spinning gear. If we go back next year, since I no longer NEED to catch these species on my fly gear, I may dust off my spinning gear that hasn't been used in... I forget how many years ago it was. It was definitely the better way to go. See there? I've gotten @Ham to fish a lot more with fly gear, and he may yet get me to do a little spin-fishing again! 😲 The cold wet weather on Day 2 definitely was hard on dexterity of the fingers. I believe it wasn't so much the temperature as it was the fingers being wet, and the cold wind blowing across them all day. On Day 1, I caught 1 Drum and 4 Striped Bass. I tried a number of fly patterns...but ended up catching EVERYTHING on this trip on the fly below. Pearl estaz grande body, silver flash and white peacock tail, on a 1/8 oz jighead (Waspi Super Jig Head). That heavy jig wasn't easy to cast very far on the fly gear. I did do some fly casting, using a sink tip and also floating lines, but in the end vertically jigging this heavy deal to get down and stay down on the bottom got me the fish, plus I've been having elbow issues in my casting arm, so this technique was easier on me. I tell you what...when those Drum would thump the jig, and I'd set the hook, those dudes are STRONG and definitely sent pains up my arm! Fun!

Happy Birthday, Bill! I appreciate your contributions to this forum. Mazel tov!

I've never seen one in person, but have fished a lake in Ontario numerous times where my buddy, years before, used to catch them off the dock at night. They are a neat fish. Really look more like a snakehead on overall body shape, than, say, a bowfin. My opinion. The angler looks less than thrilled to have caught it. He looks familiar, but I can't place where I've seen him before. Great fisherman, obviously! I've seen pics of some where the fish has a much more mottled appearance.. Beautiful! Kinda sorta looks like an oversized salamander.