On 3/20/2023 at 3:52 PM, T-Billy said:

First outing of 23 today. Guess it seems fitting the temp was 23 when I launched at 7. Fought icing guides and level wind all morning. First bite came about 9:30. The fish came unbuttoned before I got to see it but it felt pretty good. Didn't get another bite until about 1:00. It was a 36"-38" ish fish that shook off at boat side while I was reaching for the net. Grrr.... I found redemption about five minutes later when I put this obese 44" in the net.  One for three ain't good, but given this is the one, I'll gladly take it. I'll be back after 'em tomorrow. Great to be back on the water.

 

Gorgeous fish! Thanks for nudging me into this thread, Tim.

First carps of the year. 

Another 11lber rainbow trout this year

8 hours ago, ATA said:

Another 11lber rainbow trout this year

HOLY $@*%

 

Came here feeling good about our opening weekend with the kids but our 10 trout would barely weigh as much as yours lol.  Congrats man!

 

 

 

5 hours ago, hokiehunter373 said:

HOLY $@*%

 

Came here feeling good about our opening weekend with the kids but our 10 trout would barely weight as much as yours lol.  Congrats man!

 

 

 

Thats beautiful bag, Yes the smallest I catch in this lake is 2,5lb. I just took pictures of double digits.

It was a grind today. Fished from 7-3 and only put this 34" and a little LM in the boat. Lost a nice 40" or so at boatside while trying to net it. Back after 'em tomorrow. 

6 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

only put this 34"

I think its the hat.  You need to go back to being the wolf slayer.

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

I think its the hat.  You need to go back to being the wolf slayer.

It was in the 40's and not much wind. My little pee brain would bake under that hat today. 

My first yellow perch of the year, next cast yielded my first LMB of the year… ending a 4.5 month losing streak.

I’ve never been so happy to catch a dink.

good overnight fishing.

8 minutes ago, ATA said:

good overnight fishing.

Whoa

 

1 minute ago, DitchPanda said:

Whoa

yup, 30 trout couple cats and two bass. Only released the bass, and kept the rest for friends and family.

Caught two new PBs at Limestone Hatchery in PA:

30", 10 lb. 6 oz. Rainbow

5 lb. 7 oz. Brown (my first fish of '23!)

 

Both caught on 3.5" Daiwa Dr. Minnow! Jerkbaits do catch BIG trouts!

Well somebody has to follow up those massive trout, guess I’ll do it 

 

pouring the rain, I stood under the boathouse for a bit and got lucky on a crappie 

 

That's a peach, hun!

 

Two night fishing and thats what I brought for my neigbor  

Change of pace today on the local reservoir. Crappie were the target species, and I caught a bunch. Still early pre-spawn, so many were pretty big-bellied. Bonus fish was a big flathead I managed to land on the crappie outfit after a pretty good fight.

 

 

 

22 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Change of pace today on the local reservoir. Crappie were the target species, and I caught a bunch. Still early pre-spawn, so many were pretty big-bellied. Bonus fish was a big flathead I managed to land on the crappie outfit after a pretty good fight.

 

 

 

I was also bass fishing but I couldn't get anything with power fishing so I change to finesse jighead and swimbait and all I catch was crappie, so I gave up and enjoy catching slabs

34 minutes ago, ATA said:

I was also bass fishing but I couldn't get anything with power fishing so I change to finesse jighead and swimbait and all I catch was crappie, so I gave up and enjoy catching slabs

“Don’t fight the bite!” ?

10 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Change of pace today on the local reservoir. Crappie were the target species, and I caught a bunch. Still early pre-spawn, so many were pretty big-bellied. Bonus fish was a big flathead I managed to land on the crappie outfit after a pretty good fight.

 

 

 

Nice slabs, did you have to chase the cat around with the TM? 

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice slabs, did you have to chase the cat around with the TM? 

Luckily no - caught him right off a channel break and he just kind of bulldogged toward the bottom, right under the boat. Water temps are still on the cool side, so that probably helped a little. Surprised he didn’t pull me right into one of those channel stumps and break me off ?

I was targeting bass today but ended up catching 6 different species.  Spotted Bass, Largemouth Bass, White Perch, Yellow Perch, Crappie and a 17 1/2 pound Flathead Catfish.  I had just caught a few spots in an area.  I spot locked the boat to take a leak.   I looked down at my sonar and saw a ball of baitfish with 3 big fish coming up into them from the bottom.  I grabbed my closest rod and tossed a Bandit 200 that direction.  The Cat took it within a couple seconds of hitting the water.  It was a fighter.   It kept trying to go under the boat.  I reached and trimmed the motor up, then kept moving away from it with my trolling motor while keeping good pressure on it.  After several hundred yards of dragging it was finally tired.  I was disappointed when I saw it.  It was really big, but fought much bigger.  (I caught a 53 pounder last year.  I believe this one fought harder).  The lake was full of boats.  My boat was rocking with waves.  I never could get the scale to settle.  It was bouncing from 17 to 18 pounds.  I snapped a pic on 17.54 pounds.  It was 34 inches long.  

Targeting tarpon, and then snook when Mother Nature would cooperate…this guy ate a fluke…

Set off with a goal of soaking some crawlers I had left over. I had a spot in mind that looked good weeks ago, but today flow was different and tide was low. However carp were all along the bank, breaching and finning. Couldn't get any quick takes with a nightcrawler and I didn't have enough corn to make a chum slick. Spent a lot of time letting it soak. The carp will tease you and play games. I tried the bottom rig at another nearby spot, then changed tactics and tried a float rig, making casts and drifts. Confidence was pretty bad by now. Then I found a pocket of sunfish and perch. Caught about a dozen sunfish. I did see a big carp cruise through near the sunfish, but didn't show interest in the float rig. After catching some fish, and keeping a couple, my morale was rejuvenated and I felt like waiting for a carp take again, but I was only able to get bluegill taps and a snag.

 

I would try a last ditch effort at the park where I was parked to finish my coffee. I walked onto the dock and saw a big carp cruising shallow. I had a piece of crawler threaded on a hair rig, so I set it out and though she might find it. Soon I had a take, fish on. Very far first run, like a lot of line, so I thought it was big, maybe the big one I saw. The battle was quite epic, like Godzilla, people watching and some other anglers, deflating their vessel, were there and had a boga to help drag it in when she was ready. So, state pin is 33", this fish is 32"? Maybe? Regardless, it's the biggest carp I have landed in this river.