Carp

Pikers were chewing today ~

 

A-Jay

On 5/26/2025 at 4:10 PM, LrgmouthShad said:

My guess was spotted gar not shortnose gar? Not sure. I've got plenty to learn about gar. 

That's a small longnose gar. Shortnose and spotted gar have a much shorter, but wider, snout, than longnose gar do. A longnose gar's snout is much longer than it's head. Shortnose also don't have the spots on their body like a longnose, just a few towards the tail. 

11 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Pikers were chewing today

 

I haven't caught a single pike yet this season.  Usually by now I am knee deep in slime.

17 hours ago, gim said:

 

I haven't caught a single pike yet this season.  Usually by now I am knee deep in slime.

That should make you happy!

I haven’t musky fished since October 2022. I was diehard musky were the only fish in the water worth fishing for before than. Yesterday I was out at a lake because the river was not working out for me weather wise. I was looking around at how the lake was coming in. I said this looks like the way u like to fish for musky. Today loaded my musky gear of for a musky day and was rewarded. 

That's a pretty fish @Susky River Rat. Congrats!!!

 

Tammy and I picked up a pair of hers and his 41 inchers today. Tammy would have had a 44'ish fish also, but her net man blew it. 🤦‍♂️

I forgot to add this pic when posting that 45 the other day. Unhooking her almost ended with a bunch of swearing. 😂 Unhooking fish from that crappie rig can be a pretty shady deal. They usually only have one hook in the corner of the mouth, and that other is hanging out there just waiting to bite me. I took one of those 4x strong VMC's through the knuckle last fall. 

@T-Billy thank you sir. I will tell you out of all the muskys I have ever caught and I am sure you can relate none go to plan. There is always something that happens. Whether it’s luck, unlucky, mind blowing or just plain stupid it never seems to go to plan.  I started a social media page and I run two go pros. My chest go pro died as soon as I got the fish in the net. Knowing I was run out of battery I was trying to rush to get unhooked and in front of my console mount go pro knowing that would die soon as well. Net falling in the water and fighting time I managed to pull that still from the go pro. 

11 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

Today loaded my musky gear of for a musky day and was rewarded.

 

What did you catch it on @Susky River Rat?

 

Our season opens here in 6 days.

@gim a reg bulldawg 

12 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Unhooking fish from that crappie rig can be a pretty shady deal. They usually only have one hook in the corner of the mouth, and that other is hanging out there just waiting to bite me. I took one of those 4x strong VMC's through the knuckle last fall. 

That's why all my hooks are barbless...

On 6/2/2025 at 10:38 AM, Further North said:

That's why all my hooks are barbless...

I think if you are running a tandem treble live bait rig, you want all the points and barbs in business.

1 hour ago, MassBass said:

I think if you are running a tandem treble live bait rig, you want all the points and barbs in business.

I know I do. Different strokes for different folks though.

5 hours ago, MassBass said:

I think if you are running a tandem treble live bait rig, you want all the points and barbs in business.

 

I caught a 37 inch tiger muskie last September that had a large partially rusted treble lodged in the bottom of its mouth with about 2 feet of line attached.  Studies have shown that the use of live bait to target muskies results in a much higher rate of mortality than artificial lures.

 

That's the sort of thing that completely turns me off from using any kind of live bait to target a muskie.  The fish is more important that the opportunity to target them.  We have about 1 adult muskie for every 40 acres of water here on some lakes.

 

I removed the treble and revived that fish so it could swim away unscathed after I caught it.  I was amazed it could even feed or eat properly with that thing in there.

 

 

2 hours ago, gim said:

 

I caught a 37 inch tiger muskie last September that had a large partially rusted treble lodged in the bottom of its mouth with about 2 feet of line attached.  Studies have shown that the use of live bait to target muskies results in a much higher rate of mortality than artificial lures.

 

That's the sort of thing that completely turns me off from using any kind of live bait to target a muskie.  The fish is more important that the opportunity to target them.  We have about 1 adult muskie for every 40 acres of water here on some lakes.

 

I removed the treble and revived that fish so it could swim away unscathed after I caught it.  I was amazed it could even feed or eat properly with that thing in there.

 

 

6 hours ago, gim said:

  Studies have shown that the use of live bait to target muskies results in a much higher rate of mortality than artificial lures

Depends on the fisherman. I've caught more than 40 muskie on the crappie rig now. All but one were hooked in the corner of the mouth. Done right, it's no more dangerous for the fish than any lure, and better for them than most. 😉

6 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Depends on the fisherman.

 

Obviously you can see that some don't give a rip about how its done.  Just strapping a piece of live bait to a single hook or a treble hook and waiting until the fish swallows the bait is a recipe for disaster.  And yet, people still do it.

49 minutes ago, gim said:

 

Obviously you can see that some don't give a rip about how its done.  Just strapping a piece of live bait to a single hook or a treble hook and waiting until the fish swallows the bait is a recipe for disaster.  And yet, people still do it.

True, but they're a small minority IME. 

21 hours ago, MassBass said:

I think if you are running a tandem treble live bait rig, you want all the points and barbs in business.

I don't.

...but I put being able to get hooks out of me and fellow anglers quickly without a trip to the Doc at the top of my list...the bigger the hook, the greater the reason to debarb, for me.  Sticking an 8/0 hook in yourself - or someone else - can end a day's trip really fast, and it's a considerable problem on a river float where the take out is hours away.

...and I've never lost a fish because a hook didn't have a barb on it.  I've lost fish for lots of other reasons, but not that one...

 

17 hours ago, gim said:

I caught a 37 inch tiger muskie last September that had a large partially rusted treble lodged in the bottom of its mouth with about 2 feet of line attached.  Studies have shown that the use of live bait to target muskies results in a much higher rate of mortality than artificial lures.

 

That's the sort of thing that completely turns me off from using any kind of live bait to target a muskie.  The fish is more important that the opportunity to target them.  We have about 1 adult muskie for every 40 acres of water here on some lakes.

 

I removed the treble and revived that fish so it could swim away unscathed after I caught it.  I was amazed it could even feed or eat properly with that thing in there.

Great post, good content...and thanks!

I think of live bait here like staking the goat out in Jurassic Park. Not for me personally, but I'm not fussed.

 

If I was fishing to eat, absolutely I'd use whatever rig I had to to catch only what I needed. For sport or having a look, I'd rather skunk than use live bait. Includes worms and minnows for whatever. My fishing trips just turn into birdwatching trips.

 

I've been on a couple trips rigging live shad and herring, but all the delicious catches went in my belly  Don't wanna eat a muskie, and they always take part of my hand away with them

 

[PB muskie 48.5]

26 minutes ago, OHBuckets said:

staking the goat out in Jurassic Park.

 

I'm on a quest to catch a 10" bluegill this year.

 

I came maybe a 1/16" or so last year but I'm not going to cheat the system. Has to be legit 10".

 

Off to a good start.

 

Last night I thought I had a decent sized bass on at first. Come to find out it was a 9" bluegill. Based on the body I really thought she was 10". Dang it. So fun on UL spinning.

 

It was dark and they were eating bugs off the surface. I was tossing a tiny little crankbait and twitching it back.

 

10" here I come.

 

 

 

 

@HawkeyeSmallie I don't think anything fights quite like a big bluegill. Good luck on your quest. Looks like you're fishing the right waters. 

1 hour ago, IcatchDinks said:

@HawkeyeSmallie I don't think anything fights quite like a big bluegill. Good luck on your quest. Looks like you're fishing the right waters. 

 

I agree, they are bulldogs once hooked. 

 

It's a local lake, 10 minutes away.

 

Big bluegills, redears, and crappies. Tons of bass but my guess is overpopulated. Nothing huge.

 

I think I can get 10" on both panfish and a 13" crappie from this lake.

 

Those are the Master Angler award lengths here in Iowa.

 

I don't have any yet.   

 

EDIT: Dang, redears are 11" I guess.

 

Second EDIT: crappies are 14". 

 

This is getting harder every second. LOL

 

 

5 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Second EDIT: crappies are 14". 

 

This is getting harder every second. LOL

Our annual work fishing contest here in MN/WI uses this as a scoring measurement.

 

Bluegill is 11 inches and crappie is 14.

 

Last year, for the first time in 26 years, someone won with a crappie. It was 14 inches.

 

No one has ever won with a bluegill.