UPSmallie

I've always had the best luck catching bigger perch on live 3 inch emerald shiners. Many ways to fish/hook these that will end with results.

And some perch from the last two trips

Bought two 5" trout parr swimbaits for big pike in the Spring after ice out. Can't say how well they work as they're still in the box. Not many, if any, reviews on these lures. The design looks solid. Just got to start fishing it and see how it works I guess.

Haven't tried carp before but I've tried freshwater drum. Those things taste putrid imo. Never again

Stop by the local hardware store and pick up some tiny steel wool bundles. They're like $1-$2 for a package. The steel wool will scrape away any excess rust, discolorations, dirty grime stuck on the lure, etc. Like others have said, wash the lures well first and then start scraping the steel wool against the parts of the lures that need attention. It takes a little bit to get the hang of it in terms of making sure not to scrape off the original paint, but it is definitely an effective tool. Also if you want to scrape off a lure's paint coat completely and give it a DIY paint job, steel wool is the way to go.

Thanks guys. Could be wrong, but I think the hellbenders might be slightly different. http://ohioamphibians.com/salamanders/Is_it_a_Hellbender_or_Mudpuppy.html

Thanks guys.

Definitely. There's a handful of videos on youtube of people catching them ice fishing, but I think it's a pretty rare occurrence.

Because it wasn't a fish. I've heard of people on rare occasions catching turtles, muskrats, and frogs, but it was the first time I had experienced/heard about this one. I was set up in about 4.5 feet of murky water fishing for perch and walleye. I was jigging a firetiger PK Flutterfish tipped with a minnow head in one hole and rigged up two deadsticks with minnows on bobbers in the other holes (3 lines per person in MI). I'd been doing well on perch that morning when one of my bobbers jolted in a weird twitchy motion. Something a perch wouldn't do. It's got to be a walleye I thought. I kept jigging my flutterfish, but concentrated a little harder. I then got a hard hit on one of the times I went to raise my lure. Before I could set the hook, the fish was gone. I kept jigging and probably 7 seconds later I felt another hard hit, but this time I was ready and set the hook. I was feeling pretty confident, thinking that I had a walleye on. I quickly realized that it wasn't the case. Up the hole came a big, black curled up creature. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but later looked it up and found out that it's a type of underwater salamander called a mudpuppy. This one measured just over 10.5 inches. I took some pictures, revived it, and later released it behind my house back into the river. I didn't weigh it, but it was a pretty fat salamander.

Eh I don't feel too bummed. I pounded the pike all summer up to 32 inches in that area

I knew a buddy who would slay the walleye and pike with that thing trolling. Couldn't say for bass though.

Not a bass, but this past summer I hooked a 24 inch pike on a spoon wading 15 feet from the bank by myself. Reeled it in and grabbed my net from shore. Netted the fish and was carrying the net with the fish in the net back to shore, which was literally 3 feet away from me. The pike did a monster fling from inside of the net and thrashed itself just right that it dislodged the spoon's trebles while going airborne, and shooting itself out of the net 5 feet in the air like a missile, landing back in the river. First time I've ever had that happen. Couldn't be too bummed though since it was barely a keeper. I don't consider that a catch, although some could probably argue otherwise.

Not the best picture, but looking forward to using these guys a lot over the summer.

I've done research on the Costas in terms of fishing and seem to believe that the 580G with green lenses are what you would want if you're willing to spend the money. I received this exact setup in the form of Fathoms and they look great. Haven't had much time to use them, but definitely will be wearing them a lot after ice-out. I think they are also backed for life by Costa? The glass lenses also are supposed to be scratch resistant which would help a lot if used heavily.

Frogs usually take me by surprise the most. Most exciting topwater for pike and smallmouth for me has been the one knocker. Whether pike or smallie, they smash it as hard as I've ever seen a fish slam a bait. I've had to change out twisted split-rings and mangled hooks. I enjoy the bite marks on the paint though.

Great idea TheRodFather. I too enjoy finding lures. I've found a decent amount over the years. Here's a handful I found this past October in a single outing snorkeling at a local fishing spot.

Definitely kind of weird. The bigger rainbows/smaller steelhead start to develop steelhead features including skeins and milt sacs, but are a lot smaller than the average steelhead parts would be.

Nice catches guys. Though there may be snow on the ground, the spawn sac bite has been on. Using uncured Atlantic Salmon spawn.

Dang that's crazy! I had a pretty similar experience just this past week. Hooked into a chrome steelhead hen in heavy current, but drag was too tight. Loosened up the drag and instantly my entire reel shot up line everywhere and I had a big rat's nest on my hand. Ditched the rod/reel, grabbed onto the line closest to the steelhead and proceeded to successfully hand-line in the 5.56 lb beast. As soon as I had her landed on shore the hooks popped out. I think the biggest thing is just keeping the line/tension tight the whole battle. Sounds like a fun time. Go get em.

Jaw literally dropped

First Ever Steelhead Today

Haven't ever caught the same fish years apart, but one day caught a dink smallmouth on a Rapala Shadow Rap and about 2 hours later caught the same darned dink in the same spot as before with the same Rapala.

Could be wrong, but that looks like a lamprey mark. Never seen one on a bass before so I'm purely guessing.

Great advice guys. Especially with pressured fish, matching the hatch in terms of lure presentation is key. Example being where I was fishing one of my local honeyholes at a rivermouth in the summer. There happened to be thousands of 2 inch minnow schools everywhere. Nothing was getting bit and all of my go-tos weren't producing. Strapped a 1/8 oz 1.5 inch long Blue and Silver Little Cleo and instant fish on. In just 15 minutes I had caught a 31 and 7/8 inch pike and a 15 inch smallmouth directly after landing the pike and popping out the treble.

I hear ya A-Jay. Living in the U.P. everything is wrapping up and beginning to transition into the worst months of fishing (In MI's Upper Peninsula). The salmon runs are almost done. I've been fortunate to catch numbers of Pink Salmon as this was the good year, and even struck the jackpot with a rare King Salmon. All the rest of my efforts right now are going towards the last remaining Kings. Many follow-ups, but nothing to show, yet. These next few months will all be going towards prepping my tip-ups, working on my ice-fishing rods, and rebuffing my ice lures. Sadly hardwater, even up here, will reach us around late December to early January with the way the weather has been warmer just in general this year. Fish can still be caught during this time, no-doubt, but obviously numbers drop significantly. Best of luck.