DitchPanda

I hope you take this as a compliment but this response surprises me. If anybody asked me - hey do to you know a guy daring enough to eat a goldeye? I would have responded do you know @TnRiver46?

Local gas station like 4 blocks away has the rye on hand for $42 a bottle. Not bad for a town of 2200 people in Po-dunk Iowa.

I'm in love with Michters single barrel rye. Control is key my friend. 3 glasses not 5. I had a night a few months back where I had the music cranked up and I had half a bottle in short order. Slept like a baby sitting up on the couch. The next morning my legs were so cramped I could barely get up and my head felt like it was in a vice all day long. Not my best look...realized I'm not 19 anymore.

Now your speaking my language. Well im more of a rye guy but nothing wrong with a good bourbon. What happened the first time?

Got a buddy whose grandma used to smoke goldeye which are similar to skipjack. He said they were very good.

Is that true? If so then you sir are both a legend and a glutton for punishment

Guess the license just isn't a priority to us. The ring may be to her but she isn't pressing the issue! As far as things being ours well I own the car she drives but I call it ours. We share the house bills even though I own it again it is ours regardless of names on papers. She had surgery on her knee this summer and I've paid the majority of that simply because I make good money and she doesnt. I don't want her weighed down with medical bills for the foreseeable future and I've got the money so I help her out.

This is where I'm at in my relationship. I'm 39 and she's 32... No kids. We are not married but have been together for 11.5 years and living together for most of it. I'm sure someday we will make it legal..or maybe not. People always ask why we aren't married..we just say this works for us and what's the difference.

I fish for gold eyes around here...they are very similar to skipjack. I do really well for them with a kastmaster.

Next year I think I'm gonna start right after ice out by going small to see what my catch rates are like. Inline spinners, kastmasters, road runners and beetle spins. Been reading about how these kill in cold water yet I've never really thrown them much. Anybody go this route in cold spring waters?

Don't get me wrong im no way saying that people who get divorced are always in the wrong or somehow bad people...sometimes things just don't work out. I've been with my girl for 11.5 years and god knows I've done everything possible to screw it up. But we've been honest with eachother, and always communicate and it's been work but its also been very good.

I grew up in a suburb of Houston back in the mid to late 90s. There was some very serious gang activity going on back then. When I was in junior high there was a big gang war going on...several drive by one person hits culminating in a big shoot out at an apartment complex less than ten minutes from my house that resulted in 7 or 8 deaths.

So Ive always heard that the divorce rate in the US is around 50%..I recently read its actually between 32-41% but that is still a significant number. So as I sit here typing this I have 2 close friends that are working thru some serious stuff as we speak...well actually 1 is starting the divorce process and the other text me Friday night and said I need help I've d**n near lost my wife. The situations while different are eerily similar in so many ways. Matt and his wife have struggled for years,she jumps jobs and spends his money on drugs and alcohol. Brian sits in his basement with his buddies and drinks beer, while his wife goes to bed at 7pm , I suspect mostly because of depression. They only talk thru text and when there's an issue she runs to her mommy like a child instead of confronting him. While all 4 people are at fault in some way the common thread is substance abuse and lack of communication. What ever happened to people talking to their significant other , having the tough conversation and working things out? Thought part of being an adult was wanting to work on issues to become a better person? Anyway, Matt put up with her crap way to long and it was up to her to fix and but she didnt. Brian and his wife have struggled for several years and I suspect this will end the way his first marriage did. Guess what I dont get in all of this is why make a promise to yourself and the other person only to just quit when it gets hard? I'm not saying there isn't ever a case for divorce, but in this circumstance it feels like Matt is the only one that tried, all other people just seemingly gave up when it got tough. Is that a way to live life?

I actually saw a video once where Doug Stange of In Fisherman said he grinds them up in a food processor then mixes them with mashed potatoes and makes fish cakes out of them. Coats the cakes with bread or cracker crumbs and fries them. Sounds pretty dang tasty.

Been so cold here I'm even jealous of the drum. Current wind chill is 12...had a few days this past week the wind chill was below zero in the mornings. That's da$% cold for before Thanksgiving.

That's a 600 mile drive for me one way. Thanks for the invite but ill pass.

You guys ever eat them? If so how are you preparing them? I knew somebody was gonna do this.

So in the early spring after ice out I've read that suckers are often times the first fish to put on the feed bag in creeks and small rivers. Kind of been on a kick for alternative species lately so it got me wondering. Has anybody chased suckers after ice out? What areas are you looking for?

So I live about 45 miles south of Sioux falls South Dakota- a city of about 200,000. One summer several years ago me and a buddy went up to a small lake in the city limits called family park. That place gets hammered all year and the first time I went I caught one on a spinnerbait that was over 7 maybe close to 8.

I'm a cat guy. I catch alot of hell about it from buddies at work but its just the way it is. That said I've got nothing against a dog as long as it's well behaved..but I've got no time for aggressive dogs. Most of the time its not the dogs fault honestly...usually comes from crappy owners.

Oh yeah good call. Maybe ill stick with foam.

You mean like lamb and tuna fish!

No preferred brands?kinda like the looks of the thill center sliders, plus they make lots of sizes

Blood doesn't bother me in the least outside of being aware there's a right and wrong way to handle it as it pertains to infectious diseases. Needles on the other hand are my kryptonite. I can get a shot but watching somebody else get one...I cant.

Anybody routinely use slip floats in your pursuit of channel cats? If so are there any floats you prefer?