Fishing Goals 2021

[Flysmallie]

1 minute ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Call me.  I'm a machine on trout...😂

You need to fish more picturesque places than Taney. And they don't have to be trout. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

You need to fish more picturesque places than Taney. And they don't have to be trout. 

You know where I want to go....  And I don't mean Finley.

[Flysmallie]

9 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

You know where I want to go....  

I do?? Well come on big boy. It's got plenty of water in it right now. It would be much more fun when it's warmer but I'm sure we could find some anytime. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

26 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

I do?? Well come on big boy. It's got plenty of water in it right now. It would be much more fun when it's warmer but I'm sure we could find some anytime. 

You said that last time.  I'll be in touch when I get back down

[Seth]

I guess I hadn't posted in this one yet, but my #1 goal was to win one of Lilleys winter trout tournaments. We finally made it happen during the Masters tournament last weekend. This has been my #1 goal for a few years now so I'm glad it finally happened.

[FishnDave]

59 minutes ago, Seth said:

I guess I hadn't posted in this one yet, but my #1 goal was to win one of Lilleys winter trout tournaments. We finally made it happen during the Masters tournament last weekend. This has been my #1 goal for a few years now so I'm glad it finally happened.

Congratulations! 👍

[BilletHead]

2 hours ago, Seth said:

I guess I hadn't posted in this one yet, but my #1 goal was to win one of Lilleys winter trout tournaments. We finally made it happen during the Masters tournament last weekend. This has been my #1 goal for a few years now so I'm glad it finally happened.

                     YES!   Way to go Seth , Whoo Hooo

[Smalliebigs]

4 hours ago, Seth said:

I guess I hadn't posted in this one yet, but my #1 goal was to win one of Lilleys winter trout tournaments. We finally made it happen during the Masters tournament last weekend. This has been my #1 goal for a few years now so I'm glad it finally happened.

Wow!!! Very cool Seth and congrats bigtime my friend 

[Johnsfolly]

On 1/18/2021 at 11:32 AM, Johnsfolly said:

So, I have not been making much progress towards 2021 goals.

Here is my list.

Two new sunfish sp. - mud sunfish in FL

Yellow bass / Sauger - yellow bass in IL

Two new lifer bullhead sp. - Black bullhead in MO

One lifer kingfish sp. (Northern or Gulf)

15 Lifelist species: - 30 lifers so far

Big Year - >/= 100 species -89 species and counting

Trips - are all COVID regulated

  - Two to three midwest trips - We made one trip in May/June
  - NJ for Lake Trout / conger eel - Feb/March or Nov/Dec - Sue caught an ocean pout in NJ in Feb. Nothing exotic for me. Still looking at Lake Trout trip in winter.
  - Shad in NC - Mar - Done
  - Key Largo trip - Apr - Done
  - Panhandle / NW FL trip - Oct

Current standings after approximately 6 months in 2021. Been a great year so far!

[Devan S.]

I checked another box that I've always wanted to but never had a good shot. Even though the opportunity was in front of me almost daily. Catfish on the fly rod. 

A bit of backstory.....at the farm I have a pond that "use" to be stocked by my dad. Dad kept gills and channel cat but we fished them out about as fast as they would get eating size growing up and he would restock. Since his passing, it has not been stocked except for some random catfish, bass, and carp(stupid teenage years/bucket biology). Its fairly small .3 acres and needs to be intensively managed to prevent overpopulation of anything. Shortly after his death my grandma allowed some neighbor kids and co-workers access which was immediately abused(fishing 7 days a week and keeping everything they caught). I finally had enough and 10 years ago put a stop to it for no other reason than an insurance liability at the farm. 

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago....we took our daughter to Centerton fish hatchery for their kids fishing day. She was overwhelmed by the number of people to the point of not being able to focus on fishing. On the way back, I mentioned growing up having the catfish pond and my wife says go for it. So I called MFA and lucked into fish day being that week. I ordered 200 channel cat and a grass carp and bought 50 lbs of feed. I've been feeding everyday since. I have a handful of 4-6" channel cat coming up and billions of 2"-3" bluegills. Friday I had 3 channel cat show up that were much larger. 2 probably in the 2-4lb range and 1 in the 5-8lb range. I can only assume they are hold overs since they came to pellets so fast but who knows. They are wise....they hide in the moss or under the dock and just slurp their chow but they come every feeding. 

Yesterday I had my fly rod in the car so I pulled it out.....strung it up and put on a pellet fly. I really did not expect to catch catfish but was expecting to catch some of the larger bluegills. After about 10 minutes I hooked a catfish and landed it.

 

It is one of the 2 smaller fish. I released it because until I can make a reasonable effort to clean them they will be my pets. Good news it was back slurping pellets this morning. I did not cheat and throw pellets and then fish but still feel cheated but fun and a check mark none the less.