2019 Taneyfest

[BilletHead]

            Did the violators clean their sculpin to go with the fish fry? 😀     They were rocking the bomber hats!

BilletHead

[fmcbrandon]

Great day in Taney!

[Phil Lilley]

Fished a little this afternoon. I’d call it slow. Great conditions and they were midging like crazy. Tomorrow is another day. 

[duckydoty]

Found a few on jerks and cranks this morning 

[Johnsfolly]

3 hours ago, BilletHead said:

            Did the violators clean their sculpin to go with the fish fry? 😀     They were rocking the bomber hats!

BilletHead

All sculpin were released unharmed. We were granted an event only pass to go for micros in these typically restricted waters .

[Travis Swift]

Spoiler alert it looks like according to Facebook one of the night time boys just caught a BIG brownie!  Watching from afar and wish I could have joined to meet all the great folks on here. Congrats! 

[Seth]

42 minutes ago, Travis Swift said:

Spoiler alert it looks like according to Facebook one of the night time boys just caught a BIG brownie!  Watching from afar and wish I could have joined to meet all the great folks on here. Congrats! 

Holy cow! You aint a kidding on the BIG part!

[JestersHK]

Not just one of us, but 2 of us!  Finally happened for me.  Duane's sculpin got smoked tonight down past rebar.  Fish just exploded all over the top of the water with my drag screaming.  Rod was bent all the way over and it was on!  

Brandon came over and tried to get my net of my back but didn't have enough reach.  I got him between my feet and he wouldn't fit in my net.  Got my net around his head and got my bait out but I couldn't hang onto him and I almost died as he swam out in front of me.

I had finally caught my sea monster with no pic to show of it... I went dejected over to shore and not five minutes later Brandon gets crushed.  I hear his drag and it is on!  Same brown, 100% sure.  He was 32 inches long and we're trying to get measurements based off our pics.

[fmcbrandon]

I’ve got to post as well!  After Dj caught an enormous fish and I failed to net it for him I felt horrible!!  He has a beautiful fish and no pics!  Then... BAM!!  Fish on!!!  He hit one of Duane’s rainbow patterns and bent my rod over.   The line peeled and my drag squealed!   Dj was yelling for me to beach him instead of the net!   Finally got him to shore!   He was 32” long and 11” tall!  He had a 12” rainbow hanging out of his mouth!  It was perfect.  What are the odds??

[JestersHK]

So we called it a bit early again tonight... Earlier than I usually do but I was spent and my arms and gloves were soaked from the fish adventure.

  @Daryk Campbell Sr landed I think 7 bows tonight on the jerkbait.  This was also his first time in the trophy area, and first time down here in the trophy area and he rocked it like a pro.  

Geno caught a few, but it was slower than last night.  Brandon caught a nice 17 or 18 inch male that was colored up good.  He said it didn't even do anything for him lol.  I think we're gonna be ruined for a bit after an odds defying fish story which I'm sure some will find hard to believe.

In some of those pics you can see the tail in the fishes mouth.  I carefully pulled the rainbow out very gingerly and I'll put a pic below.  Duane said he saw a big brownie dead one time that appeared to have choked to death on a bow so I made the call to remove it.  I hope it was the right call... I really take fish health seriously and didn't want to hurt him.  Fish was truly a beast, and he swam off healthy and strong.  

As I lay here in bed I'm feeling very blessed by the big man upstairs.  The stars aligned and I could fish with Brandon everyday for the rest of my life and I don't think what occurred tonight will ever happen again.

I'm gonna retire the Doty sculpin original.  Brandon and I are gonna get matching replicas done up.  Hopefully they will give us a double discount lol.  

Truly a night that I will never forget, and a story and fish that will be hard to top for me.

I'm gonna still chase them though, likely tomorrow night even  @Johnsfolly I'm sorry buddy... I wish you could of been there, yet I've made that decision before.  Heck I prolly should of went to bed as my cold is acting up tonight. Small price to pay though.  Well just have to get you a bigger one tomorrow night!

I know there's bigger ones out there, but this one was special.