Younz is crazy……. 15 mph wind and I can’t drive the boat without jarring my spinal cord . I know a few places you can hide but I’d rather bank fish or take a personal day haha

 

went to pickwick once, nearly sank my battleship 

If the wind turns my fastball cast into a slider down and away, I'm just gonna go on to the house.

Alex, you are right about the fun of catching fish with new lures. I was so proud of my first froggin' bass. The best I ever did was seven bass on a frog, but that was right before they quit hitting my frog, so I'm super excited about next summer and surpassing that number.

 

I once went to a musky lake north of Lake of the Woods with 21 guys. Many were young, large, and muscular, and even they were beaten down by heaving those billy clubs with hooks. If I were to do it again, I'd fish with heavy bass gear and smaller lures. I once did that froggin' for muskies and you see the V coming for your frog. I had 21 hits and only caught two, but what a day that was!

 

When whalers used to harpoon a whale and the whale would pull their boat, they called it a Nantucket Sleigh Ride. Well, in my solo canoe, I've been on a few Ontario sleigh rides when musky fishing and that's probably the greatest thrill I've ever had fishing. A tarpon or mako jumping might surpass that, but not by much.

 

Mr. 86, since I fish in a 15' canoe that's not loaded with gear and is therefore light and easily windblown, even a 15 mph wind means I spend more time with a paddle in my hand than a fishing rod. 

 

P. S. - You guys are funny in this thread!

10 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

Those tilapia are the bane of my existence. I'm up to 85 of them culled for 2022.

Sounds like you should be posting a lot more fish taco pictures. ? ?

2 minutes ago, Fishlegs said:

Sounds like you should be posting a lot more fish taco pictures. ? ?

 

I don't eat them. The water in the spots I catch them in is fed mostly by drainage from nearby roads, and much of it in the area has been tested as unsafe. I feel wasteful dispatching them without eating them, but FWC does not want them live released since they are invasive.

12 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

 

I don't eat them. The water in the spots I catch them in is fed mostly by drainage from nearby roads, and much of it in the area has been tested as unsafe. I feel wasteful dispatching them without eating them, but FWC does not want them live released since they are invasive.

 

I've never caught a tilapia, and I don't reckon we have them up here (yet, or I expect that  @TnRiver46 would've mentioned it by now). But I wouldn't eat them, either. Any tilapia I've ever eaten has about as much flavor as a sheet of cardboard.

10 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

I've never caught a tilapia, and I don't reckon we have them up here (yet, or I expect that  @TnRiver46 would've mentioned it by now). But I wouldn't eat them, either. Any tilapia I've ever eaten has about as much flavor as a sheet of cardboard.

They live in the Cumberland river near a steam plant! State record is a possibility 

Bro everything lives near that steam plant.

44 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Alex, you are right about the fun of catching fish with new lures. I was so proud of my first froggin' bass. The best I ever did was seven bass on a frog, but that was right before they quit hitting my frog, so I'm super excited about next summer and surpassing that number.

 

I once went to a musky lake north of Lake of the Woods with 21 guys. Many were young, large, and muscular, and even they were beaten down by heaving those billy clubs with hooks. If I were to do it again, I'd fish with heavy bass gear and smaller lures. I once did that froggin' for muskies and you see the V coming for your frog. I had 21 hits and only caught two, but what a day that was!

 

When whalers used to harpoon a whale and the whale would pull their boat, they called it a Nantucket Sleigh Ride. Well, in my solo canoe, I've been on a few Ontario sleigh rides when musky fishing and that's probably the greatest thrill I've ever had fishing. A tarpon or mako jumping might surpass that, but not by much.

 

Mr. 86, since I fish in a 15' canoe that's not loaded with gear and is therefore light and easily windblown, even a 15 mph wind means I spend more time with a paddle in my hand than a fishing rod. 

 

P. S. - You guys are funny in this thread!

"Nantucket Sleigh Ride".....that's epic.

 

Moby Dick is still one of my favorite books.   While the Whaling industry was tragic, it was full of daring and exciting stories.    It's no surprise that Herman Melville wrote a book that touched on this.   

 

I currently hunting my "white whale"

7 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

They live in the Cumberland river near a steam plant! State record is a possibility 

"Yeah I'm kinda of a big deal around these parts, I got a IGFA World Record"

 

"Wow, what species"

 

"That's my phone ringing, I'll see you later"  ?

Alex, if you ever get a 300-pound spot boatside, don't, in your supreme joy and terror, get tangled up in your line and have it drag you into the deep. Don't be Alex Ahab! 

Caught my first decent size smallmouth today, followed by a one-eyed meanmouth (I think), and a LMB. Smallmouth are a very different brand, the thumps were a new experience. All on pearl chatterbait. Not bad for about an hour and 20 of time, especially considering how late I started. I'll take it.

42 minutes ago, thediscochef said:

Caught my first decent size smallmouth today, followed by a one-eyed meanmouth (I think), and a LMB. Smallmouth are a very different brand, the thumps were a new experience. All on pearl chatterbait. Not bad for about an hour and 20 of time, especially considering how late I started. I'll take it.

Nice catch, def looks like a meanmouth to me 

14 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

It's always funny reading about different parts of the country how different the weather is. When guys are bemoaning fishing in 15mph winds while I'm looking at Sunday's forecast hoping that maybe the wind will only be 15mph when I start in the morning before it gets up to the forecasted 25-30mph ?

 

WindS 25 mph

Wind Gusts60 mph

Right! We had 2 days last week of 30-35mph sustained with gusts up to 45. Also love when guys are like oh god the cold weather is setting in...it was already 47 this morning. When I went to work Wednesday it was 14 at 7am.

57 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice catch, def looks like a meanmouth to me 

Absolutely.   Perfect blend between the two.

 

You are the only one that seems to post meanmouths on the reg.    I get it, they are controversial, but in many ways it's the perfect Bass if I was drawing one up from scratch.   If they could reach the DD threshold, they'd be the perfect Bass.    What's the biggest one you know about being caught?

Check out this meanmouth:

 

 

14 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Absolutely.   Perfect blend between the two.

 

You are the only one that seems to post meanmouths on the reg.    I get it, they are controversial, but in many ways it's the perfect Bass if I was drawing one up from scratch.   If they could reach the DD threshold, they'd be the perfect Bass.    What's the biggest one you know about being caught?

Well , meanmouth has different “mean” ings. See what I did there?

 

the ones we have normally are hybrid between spot and smallie. Some also call a hybrid between LM and SM (much more rare) a meanmouth. That’s what is pictured above, and I had never even heard of until the OH Ivie exploration of the last few years 

 

the smallie x spot hybrids max out around 4-5 lbs it seems. Scott Martin caught a 19 lb limit of meanmouth on my home waters in an FLW tournament years ago 

I'm guessing, given the dispositions and power of spots and smallies, that a meanmouth smallie/spot hybrid wouldn't be this equation:

 

A smallie + a spot = a meanmouth

 

Rather, it would be this equation:

 

A smallie x a spot = a MEANMOUTH!

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice catch, def looks like a meanmouth to me 

Thanks, I'm getting better at identifying these things. 
I was most excited about the PB smallmouth...that smallmouth today could probably eat the other two or three I've caught. And such a fat one too, for its size. Two of my rarest catches in the same hour. I should have bought a lottery ticket lol

Lol, I can catch everything but a darn Crappie when I'm fishing for them.     

 

Caught a few small Spots on Tuffy Minnows, and then this happened......I had my revenge over Whiskers 

 

They're finally in the back of the creeks.  No more searching whole lake for bait....for a while.  This gal somehow launched all the way out of 8 inch deep water to slam a buzzbait 

15 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Lol, I can catch everything but a darn Crappie when I'm fishing for them.     

 

Caught a few small Spots on Tuffy Minnows, and then this happened......I had my revenge over Whiskers 

 

Wow! Nice kitty Alex! Gotta admit I saw the net getting hung up when you dipped it at the stern ?. I was saying watch the prop! Watch the prop! My wife was giving me a weird look by then. We’re you bobber fishing? Thought I saw one as you were fighting the fish.

2 minutes ago, sdw215 said:

Wow! Nice kitty Alex! Gotta admit I saw the net getting hung up when you dipped it at the stern ?. I was saying watch the prop! Watch the prop! My wife was giving me a weird look by then. We’re you bobber fishing? Thought I saw one as you were fighting the fish.

Thanks friend, and one night or afternoon we should target these fish.   I'm positive there are much bigger ones than this.   I lost one on that same setup last week that wouldn't even stop.   Yeah I just used the video "Crappie fishing with a bobber and live minnows" by Richard Gene the Fishing Machine on YT.     Used those little Thills, and BB sized split shots about a foot up.    Those little minnows catch everything it seems.  

 

LOL on the net, talk about stupid.    I had tried everything to get that fish netted, but every time he saw the net, he bolted.......then I got the hair brained idea to scoop him while reversing.  It worked until his weight was in the net which pushed the net back into the prop, then he swam right out of the net.    You can tell I have no idea how to handle these Cats both fighting them, and landing them.  Just a totally different beast.  

2 hours ago, Choporoz said:

They're finally in the back of the creeks.  No more searching whole lake for bait....for a while.  This gal somehow launched all the way out of 8 inch deep water to slam a buzzbait 

Nice one, and catching em on a buzzbait is always wild.       I wish I had confidence in it, or topwater in general.   

Whoa, Alex! And, WOW!

 

Alex, I love how you get sooooo excited. The fish deserve our joy. 

21 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Thanks friend, and one night or afternoon we should target these fish.   I'm positive there are much bigger ones than this.   I lost one on that same setup last week that wouldn't even stop.   Yeah I just used the video "Crappie fishing with a bobber and live minnows" by Richard Gene the Fishing Machine on YT.     Used those little Thills, and BB sized split shots about a foot up.    Those little minnows catch everything it seems.  

 

LOL on the net, talk about stupid.    I had tried everything to get that fish netted, but every time he saw the net, he bolted.......then I got the hair brained idea to scoop him while reversing.  It worked until his weight was in the net which pushed the net back into the prop, then he swam right out of the net.    You can tell I have no idea how to handle these Cats both fighting them, and landing them.  Just a totally different beast.  

Sounds like a plan. ? Let me know when. Cats are a whole new ballgame. They fight differently and hard. We’ve still got some in the pond here that surprise me when bass fishing. I’ve almost got to the point where I can tell if it’s a bass or cat now. I plan on targeting the carp with corn and/or bread. I hear they put up a heck of a fight.

Well I went muskie fishing for one last outing of the season this morning and accidentally caught a sizable largie on a giant suick. The water temp dropped from 51 a week ago to 48 and I’m sure that gave em lock jaw. I saw 5 boats out there sitting there with big bobbers and suckers waiting for bigfoot. They’re gonna run out of beer before they catch anything.